I’ll never forget a meeting I once had with, Michelle, a senior executive at a large company.

No one benefits from not having difficult conversations around inclusion, but they must be carefully designed — especially in a hybrid or remote workplace where we are more likely to misunderstand each other.

In our daily communications, we get messages like this all the time: “What does this mean???????” — Is it a simple question or an accusation? “We need to talk.” — Is it as ominous as it sounds or a meeting request?