LEIOC in the Field: LEIOC ‘Threw a Beautiful Fork’ in the Road of Jessica Heiser’s Career Path
Please introduce yourself and share a little about your professional background before and after completing the Leading Equity and Inclusion in Organizations Certificate (LEIOC).
I’m a double alum of Northwestern University, having first graduated in 2007 from undergrad and eventually starting a law career. I’d been in private law practice for a decade, defending schools and businesses from protected class lawsuits. These organizations would get sued over and over again for the same issues, like a sexual harassment lawsuit one year and a similar situation would pop up again the next year. My law firm was making great money by defending these lawsuits over and over (so I suppose as a “good lawyer” I shouldn’t have cared), but I was frustrated that our clients weren’t making any changes to stop getting sued! Students and employees were bringing complaints of racial-, sexual-, LGBTQIA-, disability-, religion-based discrimination, and our clients would solve them like a “whack a mole” game.
I could see, from the outside, that the organizational culture was really the problem, but nobody was doing anything to change that. Within my own law firm, we were dealing with similar issues.
I started looking for programs that could expand my skill set around DEI concepts and organizational change. I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to use LEIOC in the beginning, but I knew I wanted to learn more about creating inclusive organizational culture at a world-class university with world-class peers.
Only my spouse knew I was applying to LEIOC; I didn’t tell anyone else because I was so certain I wouldn’t be accepted into the program!
How has the Leading Equity and Inclusion in Organizations Certificate influenced your career trajectory?
I was halfway through my LEIO program and sitting in a strategy session with my law firm partners, strategizing our goals for the next five years. At one point, I spoke up and said, “We are thinking way too small here. We need to be thinking bigger! Let’s push ourselves to really make some positive lasting changes in this area, this area, and this area. What would that look like?”
One of the senior partners turned to me, dumbfounded, and replied, “Well, this is a new side of you.” That’s when I realized that LEIOC was actively influencing how I saw my career and my leadership.
I didn’t plan it this way, but LEIOC threw a beautiful fork in the road of my career path. After obtaining the LEIO Certificate, I had the skill sets and the courage to “think bigger”: I left my lucrative law firm partnership and opened my own business law and consulting firm. I now lead a team of nine attorneys and consultants across the country who work to combine protected class law and building inclusive cultures as a long-term risk management strategy for organizations.
How has being part of the community benefited you in terms of connections and/or collaborations?
The MSLOC family, and the NU organization in general, has been the most giving organization I’ve ever been part of. Throughout the LEIOC program, I had excellent career coaching, resources to reach other companies and leaders, and the unwavering support of my peer cohort. We connected outside of class often to support each other’s career journeys or questions: “I’m thinking of how to integrate this concept into my team, can I run some ideas by you?” or “Maybe I need to re-think the structure of my leadership cadre, can I get your feedback on this approach?” or “I want to start an employee resource group but need some tips on how it works in your companies.”
I do not live in the same state as any of my cohort members and we met 95% of the time virtually, but I’m still in touch with at least half of my cohort two years after completing the certificate. The connections generated in MSLOC were intentionally deep, meaningful connections that I would never have experienced in another program.
What advice would you give to current or potential students pursuing the Leading Equity and Inclusion in Organizations Certificate?
This program can change your professional and personal life, if you’re ready to “do the work.” The intrapersonal, interpersonal, and systems work involved in the LEIOC program made me a better leader, lawyer, mentor, parent, spouse, and peer. I’m better equipped to have difficult conversations and to evaluate where people are in change models, so I can understand how the humans around me (and myself) are moving through the world.
The substantive topics, from change management to organizational leadership to DEIJ issues, are applicable to every personal and professional path you could take. Summarize each article and class discussion so that you can refer back to the 1-2 takeaways you want to remember years from now. My family is planning to move homes and in that discomfort of change, I looked back at my LEIOC notes and told myself, “It’s okay. It looks like I’m in [Jeanie Daniel] Duck’s 2nd stage of change. I’m supposed to be uncomfortable. I’ll get to the 5th stage soon. It will all work out.”
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MSLOC in the Field is a series where community members share perspectives on their professional journeys and the roles MSLOC has played in advancing their learning and career goals.
About Jessica Heiser: Jessica Heiser (she/her) is the Founder and Lead Project Attorney at Imprint Legal Group. Drawing on her experience as a teacher and work at Legal Aid Chicago, Centro Romero, and the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Jessica started her legal career practicing education law, representing public and private K-12 school districts, colleges, and universities across the country in the largest school law team in Indiana. She led a team ranked Tier 1 in Education Law by U.S. News. As Jessica became more interested in proactive solutions instead of reactive litigation, she sent herself back to school at night to study change management and inclusive organizational practices. She eventually left her partnership in a traditional law firm to explore how inclusive organizational cultures could serve as long-term risk management.