Dr. Sarah Webb on creating globally inclusive ERGs

As employee resource groups (ERGs) grow and organizations navigate increasingly diverse workforces shaped by global talent sourcing, remote work, and inclusive hiring, success depends on employees’ ability to connect and collaborate across difference.

Dr. Sarah L. Webb, author, speaker, and founder of Colorism Healing, challenged ERG leaders at 2025 ENERGIZE to build cultures that are globally unified and locally responsive. Her message emphasized the importance of navigating differences in cultural background and lived experience while actively fostering innovation, trust, and business results.

Here are five quotes from Dr. Webb that illuminate how to bridge differences in our ERGs and work cultures:

Dr. Webb opened her session by sharing personal details—her birthday month, her region, her story—not to highlight difference, but to invite connection. “Maybe you know someone in my part of the world or maybe your birthday is also in June,” she said. These small moments of overlap, she explained, are part of the theory of articulation: a multi-faceted approach to understanding how people relate across difference.

“We've been conditioned to see difference as inherently hierarchical,” Dr. Webb said. But when we approach others with respect and curiosity, we begin to see difference not as better or worse — but simply as different. “They have a different frame of reference, a different worldview than I do,” she said. “But I have enough respect for them to say they might be different, but they are not inherently better or worse.”

Dr. Webb encouraged attendees to back up lived experience with data. “When we are able to listen to the stories, read and accept the research, then we understand and can pinpoint and identify gaps that inform our goals and our visions going forward.” She emphasized that the gaps we must strive to close are those of inequity—not identity. 

Dr. Webb challenged ERG leaders to move beyond storytelling and into action. “In light of my story, in light of what I've shared about myself and my cultural experiences, how do we need to adjust our responses as individuals and as an organization?” she asked. Talking points, she said, should lead to tangible shifts in behavior and policy.

As an expert on colorism, Dr. Webb acknowledged that her work often brings discomfort. “It’s often painful,” she said. “But it’s in the space of discomfort where we find some of our greatest, most meaningful points of learning and growth.” She urged leaders not to shy away from difficult conversations, but to embrace them as opportunities for transformation.