{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2F26e4605b-a705-4d16-ad83-5c9bf3f76586","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"<iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px;\" title=\"Vincent Pierson: MiLB Director of Diversity and Inclusion \u2013 Work In Sports Podcast\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allow=\"clipboard-write\" seamless src=\"http://player.captivate.fm/episode/26e4605b-a705-4d16-ad83-5c9bf3f76586\"></iframe>","title":"Vincent Pierson: MiLB Director of Diversity and Inclusion \u2013 Work In Sports Podcast","description":"It\u2019s one of the hottest topics in all of sports; Diversity and Inclusion. In this episode of the Work in Sports podcast host Brian Clapp welcomes Vincent Pierson, Minor League Baseball Director of Diversity and Inclusion for an insightful conversation on equality in our industry.\u00a0Hi everybody, I\u2019m Brian Clapp Director of Content for <a href=\"http://WorkinSports.com\">WorkinSports.com</a> and this is the Work in Sports podcast\u2026People tune into sports as an escape. Their day to day lives hold stress \u2013 bills to pay, meetings to attend, promotions to fight for, sickness, relationships \u2013 all stressful endeavors.<a href=\"https://www.workinsports.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/episode60_cover.png\"></a>Sports, either playing or watching, in theory, is a release, a chance to tune out the external stressors and enjoy an art form not on canvas with oils and acrylics, but on the turf with muscles and mind power.My career has embodied this to a tee.\u00a0I thought about working in hard news, but the constant stress of politics and death and fires and traffic and tragedy and peril \u2013 was too much for me. Sports was light. A passion play that I could engage my mind into the strategy, but stay loose and separate from the constant constriction of life.But this is a na\u00efve viewpoint because sports isn\u2019t separate from society, quite the opposite. Sports is a microcosm for society, mirroring the way it operates and often dealing with large-scale issues before they become large scale. Call sports a precursor to global events, almost a trial society where issues are played out int real-time, then graduated to the society at large.The sports world is complete with societies conflicts, assets, and defects.Our escape world is not bereft of greed, corruption, inequality or entitlement. Our personal utopia isn\u2019t all upside, it\u2019s flawed and broken just like the rest of the world.In sports, we deal with real-life issues like Ray Rice and Kareem Hunt\u2019s issues with abuse, Tonya Harding conspiring to assault a competitor, Pete Rose gambling.\u00a0\u00a0We deal with people ruined by drugs or alcohol like Roy Tarpley, Josh Gordon, Mickey Mantle, and Lance ArmstrongWe talk about social justice issues in the context of Colin Kaepernick, but the use of sports as a platform for social justice started decades ago.Why does sports act as a microcosm of our world? Because it is the ultimate meritocracy.Elite athletes are put into the position to thrive based purely on their skills and ability, not their color or gender. \u00a0If they stink they get cut, if they thrive and achieve and lead they get signed to massive contracts.When you have a meritocracy it almost forces diversity, because different people in different sports succeed in different ways. There is *some* balance.Alas, not all is rosy. The workplace in sports is just like the workplace in every other business in the world \u2013 there are struggles to enforce diversity and inclusion. Teams have had massive problems with these tenets. Google stories on the Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks and your jaw could drop \u2013 they are far from the only two.This issue is hot. It\u2019s important, and it deserves constant conversation and more importantly action. There are leaders in the field of Diversity and Inclusion as it relates to sports, none more impressive than today\u2019s guest \u2013 <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/vince-pierson/\">Vincent Pierson, Director of Diversity and Inclusion for all of Minor League Baseball</a>. \u00a0Let\u2019s get to it \u2013 here\u2019s Vincent Pierson.Questions for Vincent Pierson, Minor League Baseball Director of Diversity of Inclusion1: Before we get into the larger and extremely important issue of diversity and inclusion in sports, let\u2019s talk a little about you. For undergrad you attended Virginia State, graduating in 2011 \u2013 at this point did you have the intention to work in sports or was that something that developed over your college experience?2: You have a Masters from Central Florida \u2013 how much did getting that extra ...","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/50e003ef-f7b0-47e3-baba-e04faefa4700/wispod-cover.png"}