What happens when the most passionate voices in your company are also the most overlooked in your leadership pipeline?
Too often, those closest to the culture are furthest from the power.
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) were created to foster belonging—but when under-resourced or misunderstood, they risk becoming silos of emotional labor instead of springboards for systemic change. In today’s rapidly shifting workplace, it’s time to stop treating ERGs as extracurriculars and start seeing them as executive training grounds.
This high-impact session unpacks the tension between mission and margin, culture and capital—and showcases how forward-thinking organizations are transforming ERGs into incubators for leadership equity, strategic influence, and measurable business value.
You’ll hear from corporate changemakers who’ve turned their ERGs into leadership pipelines—advancing both people and performance.
We’ll confront critical questions:
- Are ERGs being empowered—or exploited?
- How do we shift them from “emotional labor” to strategic leadership?
- What does it take to build systems where impact is rewarded—not just expected?
Together, we’ll explore:
- How to evolve ERGs from “culture clubs” into talent accelerators
- The hidden labor of culture work—and why it must be recognized and rewarded
- What it takes to build an infrastructure of equity that elevates, not extracts
- Strategies to align ERG goals with business objectives—without losing their soul
Whether you’re a people leader, ERG chair, or executive sponsor, this conversation will offer fresh frameworks for sustainable impact—and a powerful reminder:
Leadership equity doesn’t start at the top.
It’s built at the roots.
Because culture work is company work—and when we invest in the voices that hold it together, everyone leads stronger.
