Jennifer Sarrett Speaking Topics

• The Culture Design Manifesto: Moving Beyond DEI Theater

  The Problem: Organizations have spent billions on DEI training, hired Chief Diversity Officers, and tracked demographic metrics—yet employee surveys show belonging and psychological safety haven't improved. Many have gotten worse.

  Why DEI Failed: Traditional DEI treats culture as a program to implement rather than a system to design. It focuses on representation without addressing the organizational structures that prevent diverse teams from thriving. It asks employees to "bring their whole selves to work" while maintaining rigid policies that only work for some bodies, brains, and life circumstances.

  What Works Instead: Organizational Culture Design™ embeds six core principles throughout organizational systems:

  • Trust & Transparency

    • Making decision-making visible, from pay to promotions

  • Expecting & Respecting Expertise

    • Valuing knowledge beyond job titles and credentials

  • Collaboration & Healthy Conflict

    • Creating space to question ideas without attacking people

  • Embedded Flexibility - Building flexibility into systems proactively, not reactively
  • Questioning the Status Quo

    • Regularly auditing "that's how we've always done it"

  • Celebration

    • Strategic recognition that drives performance and belonging

  Audiences leave with actionable frameworks to audit their current culture, identify where traditional DEI approaches are failing, and implement systemic changes that actually transform organizational dynamics.

  (60-90 minutes)

• Disability-Driven Innovation: The Competitive Advantage Hiding in Plain Sight

  Organizations chase innovation while ignoring the community that's been innovating solutions for centuries. This presentation reveals how disability perspectives drive breakthrough thinking—from technology to workplace design to organizational flexibility.

  Key Insights:

  • Why "designing for disability" consistently creates solutions everyone wants
  • How remote work, flex schedules, and async communication became mainstream (spoiler: disability advocacy)
  • The business case for centering disability expertise in research, product development, and culture design
  • Real examples from healthcare technology, digital platforms, and organizational transformation

  Drawing from her PhD research, teaching disability & bioethics at Emory, and consulting work with Fortune 500 companies, Dr. Jennifer Sarrett demonstrates why disability justice isn't just the right thing to do—it's the smart business strategy most organizations are missing.

  (45-75 minutes)

• Additional Organizational Culture Design™ Topics

  Why DEI Failed—And What Actually Works: The 6 Principles of Organizational Culture Design™

  DEI programs promised transformation but delivered workshops and metrics. Dr. Jennifer Sarrett reveals why traditional approaches fail and presents her research-backed framework for systemic culture change. Audiences learn how to embed trust through transparency, respect expertise across all levels, create healthy conflict, build flexibility into operations, question outdated practices, and strategically celebrate progress.

  Trust & Transparency: The Foundation DEI Forgot

  Organizations claim to value trust while hiding pay scales, promotion criteria, and decision-making processes. This presentation explores how true transparency—in pay, policies, hiring, and operations—builds the foundation for everything else. Based on employee research revealing what creates and destroys organizational trust.

  Beyond the Diversity Hire: Expecting & Respecting Expertise at Every Level

  When organizations hire for diversity but don't respect the expertise diverse employees bring, they fail. Dr. Sarrett demonstrates how recognizing knowledge beyond job descriptions and formal credentials—from hobbies, lived experience, partners, reading—transforms team performance and innovation.

  Embedded Flexibility vs. Accommodations: Designing Organizations That Actually Work

  Requesting accommodations puts the burden on employees. Embedding flexibility into systems benefits everyone. This presentation shows how to proactively design flexible parameters into policies, work arrangements, and operations—turning legal's nightmare into competitive advantage.

  Questioning the Status Quo: When 'That's How We've Always Done It' Kills Innovation

  Most organizational practices exist because "that's how it's done." Dr. Sarrett provides frameworks for regularly auditing policies, procedures, and practices—and the courage to change what doesn't serve your team. Features case studies from healthcare, tech, and corporate environments.

  Celebration as Strategy: Recognition Practices That Actually Drive Performance

  Most organizations are terrible at celebration—or only celebrate top performers. This presentation reveals how strategic celebration of individuals, teams, and milestones creates momentum, builds psychological safety, and identifies goals worth achieving.

• Healthcare, Science & Disability Expertise Topics

  The Disability Advantage: Why Disability Perspectives Drive Innovation

  Disability communities created closed captions, voice assistants, flexible work, curb cuts, and countless innovations now used by everyone. Organizations that center disability expertise in product development, research design, and organizational culture consistently out-innovate their competitors.

  Bioethics in Business: What Science Taught Me About Organizational Culture

  Drawing from her neuroethics fellowship and years teaching bioethics, Dr. Jennifer Sarrett applies scientific rigor to culture design. Learn how ethical frameworks, research methodology, and disability studies inform better organizational decisions.

  Beyond Compliance: Accessible Design as Competitive Advantage

  Accessibility isn't a legal requirement to meet—it's a design principle that expands markets, improves user experience, and drives innovation. Features examples from healthcare technology, digital platforms, and workplace design.

Read More +