Lauren Jackman

What do you do as the Global Head of Inclusion?

My work is focused on ensuring a welcoming environment for all Medallians. I work with our leaders to set strategic goals around improving diversity and creating more inclusive experiences across all levels of our organization.

This involves analyzing our people data to ensure we have equity in everything from pay to employee experience, facilitating workshops on implicit biases and inclusive leadership, building partnerships with organizations who can help us reach more diverse candidate pools, supporting our employee resource groups, and generally acting as a resource and advocate for Medallians.

Why did you choose to major in Psychology and how has that affected your career thus far?

I chose to major in psychology because I find thinking about people infinitely interesting. I love the messiness and the complexity of people problems, and how thought provoking they can be. Being a psychologist has allowed me to be more effective in my role in several ways. I'm able to apply social science research to design systems, trainings, and processes that are psychologically wise.

Psychology also taught me how to analyze and interpret data, and how to be a careful consumer of claims about science- to evaluate methodology myself and make a judgement about what meaning can be extracted from it. Finally, psychology taught me to communicate science well, which is a skill that has helped me to be an effective presenter to a wide range of audiences.

What was your career path like? 

I got involved in UROP on a whim when I was a sophomore, without even really knowing what doing research really meant. I ended up working as a research assistant in Norbert Schwarz's social cognition lab for most of my time in undergrad. I loved that experience, and it changed my life by inspiring me to apply to PhD programs in social psychology.

After Michigan, I went to Stanford and did my PhD in social psychology, working in a moral reasoning lab with Benoit Monin, studying emotion expression and moral judgement. I found that I loved thinking deeply about concepts and experimental design, but other aspects of research, like data analysis and writing papers, were too slow-paced and solitary to feel fulfilling to me. To find more balance I focused a lot on designing and teaching my own courses and working at the Center for Teaching and Learning.
As I was approaching the end of my program in 2014, I heard from a friend that Medallia was hiring on their Growth & Development team. I hadn't really been considering industry roles, but I figured it couldn't hurt to hear what they had to say. I was impressed with the company- the product, the holistic focus on people, and the opportunity to apply my knowledge of psychology in the workplace. I took a leap. It was an adjustment to go from academia to industry, but it's been very positive for me. I get to work in a fast paced, highly collaborative environment, while still thinking deeply about how to apply and teach science. I moved from the G&D team to found the Inclusion practice in early 2016, and since then it's been a total labor of love- challenging and engaging, and highly personally meaningful to me.

What advice do you have for students and recent alumni who are interested in pursuing a career similar to yours? 

If you're still a student, get involved in research! Even if you find it's not for you, the experience will open doors and create possibilities. Also, don't let failures phase you- they're just a normal part of learning. Finally, wherever you are in your career path, continually evaluate what you find most fulfilling about the experiences you have day to day, and whenever you pursue new roles or opportunities, seek ways to shift the balance of your work to get more of those kinds of experiences. On the personal side, identify three activities that are restorative for you and make time for them. Self care is not a nice to have; it's critical to showing up for the people you care about, and to managing stress in your life.

What has contributed most to your career success?

I'd say it's some combination of luck, grit, and having an awesome community of people who support me.

Why do you love Michigan? 

I love that no matter where in the world my life has taken me, I come across Wolverines. I love the diversity of ideas and backgrounds Michigan exposed me to. The opportunities and the people on campus are incredible- and so is the culture.