Diversity Conversations W/ Eric Ellis & Tommie Lewis
Thought-provoking dialogue to identify leadership solutions to today's most challenging conflicts. Streamed live each week, Saturdays @ 9:30 EST.Hosted by diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies and CEO's Eric Ellis and Tommie Lewis. Join us and add your voice to this engaging Diversity Conversation. Please join the conversation:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Diversity-Conversations-112794377851580Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYVJnaLsMakX5zLNocxCkvAEric Ellis, www.integritydev.comTommie Lewis, https://mipcllc.com
Diversity Conversations W/ Eric Ellis & Tommie Lewis
The Holiday Reality Check: Giving, Gratitude, and Weathering Life’s Storms
The holidays have a way of revealing what matters most, especially when life brings storms you didn’t ask for.
A holiday leadership conversation on giving, dignity, family expectations, and finding joy and faith while weathering personal storms.
In this week’s episode of Diversity Conversations, Eric Ellis and Tommie Lewis reflect on the realities many people face during the holiday season and what it looks like to lead with humanity when expectations, emotions, and finances collide.
They explore three holiday “realities”:
- Those doing well financially and how to give relationally, not transactionally, without making generosity a spectacle.
- Families with limited resources and young children with big expectations and how to protect dignity, redefine “Santa,” and model values that last.
- People who have means but are exhausted by the commercialization of Christmas and how to set boundaries with intention, not moral superiority.
The conversation also turns personal and powerful: Eric and Tommie open up about storms, faith, receiving help without shame, and the clarity that comes when life forces a pivot. They revisit a childhood memory, the Charlie Brown tree, as a reminder that what makes the season meaningful isn’t the transaction, it’s the connection.
Plus: a reflection on the “war on talent,” overlooked potential in underserved communities, and why values associated with DEI still matter even when trends change.
Sponsor spotlight: Game Time Budgeting, helping employees transform their relationship with money through mindset, behaviors, and simple systems.
Merry Christmas from our team to yours. We love you, and we’ll see you next Saturday 🙏🤗
Holiday season, leadership, DEI, generosity, gratitude, faith, community, family expectations, financial stress, emotional resilience, storms, purpose, Charlie Brown tree, war on talent, underserved communities, Diversity Conversations
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