In this episode, we join Cartus' Season Two podcast host, Karen Wilks, VP, Strategic Growth and guest, Lisa Johnson, Director, Global DEI Solutions, Cartus, to discuss the upcoming second season of “Mobility Matters.”
Guest biographies:
Karen Wilks
Karen Wilks, Vice President of Strategic Growth, has more than 25 years of global mobility experience, including key roles in Operations and Account Management. She has had oversight of some of Cartus’ key clients, managing large multinational portfolios, driving innovation, and creating a strong culture that supports clients, employees and their families worldwide. Karen truly understands the power of collaboration and execution. She partners with internal and external stakeholders to drive mobility programs forward and transform in an ever-evolving global environment. She is also an industry leader within the DEI Mobility space, having been invited to various public speaking engagements to present on the topic and is co-chair of the Cartus DEI Steering Committee – a group focused on supporting clients with their DEI objectives.
Lisa Johnson
Lisa represents Cartus in DE&I space as a thought leader and solution facilitator for clients looking to address Global DE&I in their mobility solutions. Among her many achievements—including leading some of the industry’s earliest research initiatives on the topic—Lisa was named one of the Global Mobility Top 100 Professionals in 2021 and was recently named the 2022 Chairperson of the Curriculum Committee for Worldwide ERC®'s Upward Mobility internship Initiative focused on increasing diversity in our industry and she sits on their Editorial Taskforce. She also holds both Worldwide ERC®’s Meritorious and Distinguished Service Awards and is an active member of SHRM.
Executive production: Louise Koncowski
TRANSCRIPT
Mobility Matters, S2 Teaser with Karen Wilks and Lisa Johnson
Karen:
Hi everyone, thank you for joining us. I'm Karen Wilkes, VP of strategic growth here at Cartus and I'm delighted to be the new host of Mobility Matters, the official Cartus podcast. I'm looking forward to having some truly valuable conversations with different folks across the global mobility industry and beyond, and hearing about their personal experiences and expertise and learning lots along the way. Today is really just a quick hello from me to set the scene. and give you a little taste of what's in store for our upcoming second season. And I'm so delighted to be here with my colleague, Lisa Johnson, Director of Global DEI Solutions at Cardus. Lisa, welcome.
Lisa:
It is great to be here, Karen.
Karen:
Lisa, I asked you to join me today because the overarching theme of season two will be optimizing the employee experience. And as someone who is an expert in the DEI space and speaks to organizations regularly about ways to effectively enhance the employee experience, you're going to be an integral part of many of the seasons conversations.
Lisa:
And I have to say, I love the theme for season two, optimizing the employee experience, ensuring relocating employees and their families enjoy a positive experience when going on assignment. It's always been important, but right now it's a key focus for organizations. And what makes a great employee experience, we say EX, right? The employee experience, it changes and evolves. And companies are really putting a lot of effort into creating and implementing ways to deliver truly inclusive and exceptional experience for their employees. So like for me, honestly, dedicating a season of our podcast to this EX and even AX, the assignee experience, it's going to be so valuable for all of our listeners. And Karen, we've talked about this in planning and our goal is for all of you listeners out there to leave each episode with great takeaways.
Karen:
And on that note, this season, we want to ensure that our listeners are getting the very most out of each episode. We know everyone's time is precious, so to spend 20 minutes or whatever with us, we want to make sure you're leaving with something tangible. A key takeaway that you can apply to your own role as an HR or mobility professional and something we're calling the wow factor. This is something that you and I came up with, Lisa, right?
Lisa:
Absolutely. Looking for wow factors in programs and policies and experiences. And Karen and I just fell in love with this concept. So at the end of each episode, we're going to share what we think the conversation's wow factor was. And what was that golden nugget of information or key learning that if you applied it, it could help all of you listeners out there in a really valuable way, no matter how big or how small.
Karen:
Exactly. And looking at the conversations we have ahead of us, I know we're going to have our pick of key learnings. Lisa, you're going to be sharing your DEI toolkit in one of the first episodes. Very excited to hear all about that.
Lisa:
Absolutely. The top 10 ways to make your global mobility program inclusive. We've got so much to talk about there. There are actually two episodes that we're going to dedicate to this topic. And honestly, no matter where you are in creating a more inclusive mobility program, from just getting started all the way to being a leader and innovator in this journey, and some of you know who you are out there, who are those leaders, then this is a discussion that Karen and I are going to share our top 10 ways to make your global mobility program more inclusive to really give that experience of I belong, you know, that I belong experience. And I know there will be some fabulous takeaways during our conversation that you're going to want to implement right away.
Karen:
Lisa, I'm really looking forward to another episode we have planned with Billy Ho from Electronic Arts to talk about all-things mobility. So many of you know Billy, and he's a true influencer within the relocation and talent management space. He definitely has his finger on the pulse when it comes to upcoming global mobility trends. So I really wanna know what his focus is for the next 12 months in terms of talent management strategy. We're gonna be talking about key drivers for this year and beyond and what challenges and priorities he's seeing. We will also be diving into the nuances of the tech and gaming industry. And of course, what comes with the conversation around artificial intelligence, really hot topic right now, and the impact that has had on companies like EA, whether it's influencing the way in which they approach mobility, for example, or in other ways. So there's lots of great things we're going to cover in that conversation and I can't wait.
Lisa:
I'm definitely looking forward to that one.
Karen:
Thank you, Lisa. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me introduce season two of Mobility Matters. And I can't wait to get started.
Lisa:
Season two, it's amazing. We're here, ready to go.
Karen:
Thank you everyone for joining us today. Stay tuned for the official launch of season two of Mobility Matters in the upcoming weeks. And if you wanna catch up on season one, you can subscribe through your favorite podcast streaming platform or visit cardist.com. Take care and see you soon.
Visit cartus.com/podcast for more episodes of Mobility Matters.