May 18, 2022 – Alonzo Kelly learned the power of language as a young professional.
“I started to realize early in my career that there was an ‘Us and Them’ mentality around this word, 'leader,'” Kelly said.
Kelly said he’s since rejected the mentality.
“I think everybody in an organization is a leader. You’re either the leader of a task, the leader of a team, the leader of other leaders, or the leader of a system. If we remember that we are all leaders, I would assume that the language would not change when we engage each other.”
What People are Saying about Alonzo Kelly
“Alonzo Kelly brought a mix of confrontation, humor, compassion, acknowledgment, and power that made that chilly audience begin to open its eyes and its heart to further work. It was good to be in the room with him.” – Atty. Mary Lynne Donohue, Sheboygan
“Alonzo has an engaging style that temporarily hides his incredible business acumen. Once you get into a deeper conversation with him, you realize that this man is truly making an impact on lives throughout Wisconsin. I can't wait to see what the next couple of years bring!” – Past Client
“He exudes love and concern while unassumingly making us want to change. There is no one else we would want to have these crucial conversations with. There is no one else that could make a mind shift in people that will last a lifetime, in my experience.” – Past Client
Kelly is an executive coach, professor, best-selling author, and radio host. He’s a featured presenter at the State Bar of Wisconsin
Annual Meeting & Conference (AMC) on Thursday, June 16, 2022. He’ll lead a discussion on “The Power of Diversity and Inclusion in Your Legal Practice” and how allyship has emerged as a leading model for achieving authentic diversity and inclusion.
Kelly, a proud Detroit native, said that in his experience the notion of inclusion has been fractured by a too narrow focus on individual experience.
“You cannot have five million different understandings of inclusion and then set policy around that. If we are going to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels they belong, there should be some intention in terms of the language we use and the understanding we have of what it means.”
Kelly holds three graduate degrees and is working on a fourth. He said his mother drilled home the importance of education.
“My mom was non-negotiable on education. In fact, if you trick-or-treated in our neighborhood, she would pass out school supplies.”
And his long and varied CV? Kelly chalks that up to being “professionally claustrophobic.”
“Everybody’s got a thing,” Kelly said. “I love information, and I love what information has done for me and allows me to do.”
Kelly said his AMC presentation will be “a full participation, loving headache experience.”
“I will be asking a lot of questions … no dictionary, no Google. We will be having a family conversation where everybody will be right and we will navigate that terrain.”
Kelly said that climbing the metaphorical mountains thrown up by working on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues is usually less treacherous than the descent.
“As a diverse professional, I am never nervous on the climb up the mountain. It’s when we think we’ve reached the summit that people like me get nervous.”
Kelly's presentation is presented by the State Bar's Diversity & Inclusion Oversight Committee with funds provided by the
Wisconsin Law Foundation.
