Glover Delivers Address During OBU Business Forum Sept. 4

Beverly “B.J.” Glover shared her story with students at OBU during the university’s Business Forum Sept. 4. The Paul Dickinson College of Business hosted the event, which took place in Raley Chapel’s Potter Auditorium. Glover is a successful entrepreneur, former news anchor, human resources diversity officer and professional speaker.

She shared about her business, her personal story, and lessons she has learned throughout her professional career. She encouraged students in the audience to prepare now for their own entrepreneurship journey.

Glover’s business, “BJ Glover Learning and Consulting,” helps organizations in their pursuit of diversity, equity and inclusion. She helps them reach their desired goals through consulting, leadership development and professional coaching. She formed her business because she believes our society is not doing well at establishing and nurturing workplace diversity. She approaches her business from a biblical worldview, an unconventional perspective in her field, believing that we should love all people equally.

Glover is a Certified Professional Coach as well as a Certified Equal Employment Opportunity Investigator, working on cases filed against federal agencies around the country. She currently serves as vice president of community outreach for the Association for Talent Development. She previously served two terms as vice president of diversity for the Oklahoma City Human Resources Society and for the Oklahoma State HR Council, where she traveled around the state training HR professionals on diversity topics. She is also an adjunct professor at Mid-America Christian University, where she teaches courses in human resources.

“Research has proven that diversity done well produces positive and bottom-line results,” she said, “but done poorly, it can backfire, create hostile work environments and hurt the organization’s bottom line.”

Glover challenged students to discover their passion and purpose then live them out. In order to do this, she noted that you must know your strengths, weaknesses and preferences. She also noted that in order to succeed, you must be able to listen to your inner voice. The final lesson she shared was to find your uniqueness and be yourself, knowing what you stand for and sticking with it.

She talked about her life growing up in the 1950’s and 1960’s, living in a segregated community. She grew up being taught that she could not do the same things that white people could. She explained that while she rarely saw white people anywhere, except on TV, there were no black people on television. She also talked about choosing a college and moving on to several careers, including being a news anchor before launching her own business.

She cautioned the students to always be prudent about the advice they receive, and to not only know what they want but to stick with it until they achieve it. She encouraged the students to not despise small beginnings, as it may take longer than they expect to achieve their goals.

To prepare for their future careers, Glover advises young professionals to experiment and expose themselves to new opportunities, to find out what they really love, to learn everything they can and to develop a strong work ethic. She likewise recommended they seek feedback, plan ahead and invest in their own development.

Learn more about the Paul Dickinson College of Business at OBU.