Dr. Dave and Stuart McCalla

Dr. Dave:                      Hello, this is Dr. Dave Cornelius, AKA Dr. Dave. And I’m hosting the Agile for Humanity podcast series in partnership with the Agile Alliance. The goal is to have real talk with people in the Agile community that are black, indigenous, and people of color, as well as people that are white. The conversations will not be limited to people in the United States, so I’m going to do a virtual walk about globally to get different experiences about social injustice for black, indigenous, and people of color in the Agile community. In the Agile community we talk about changing the way we work, but do we change our hearts and humanity to love? Meaning being patient and kind people that look different than us. Today, I’m having a real talk with my friend Stuart McCalla and the Agile for Humanity podcast series. So hey, Stuart McCalla, my brother. How are you and your family? How are you guys doing during this season of COVID-19?

Stuart McCalla:             Dr. Dave, we are doing okay. We’re inside. That’s like my dad joke. Everybody asks us, what’s going on? I’m like, “Oh, we’re inside.”

Dr. Dave:                      We’re inside. Things are good?

Stuart McCalla:             Things are good.

Dr. Dave:                      Good.

Stuart McCalla:             Can’t complain. And in this day and age there’s a lot to complain about, but we’re going steady.

Dr. Dave:                      That’s great, man. So look, I’m grateful that you’re gracious to give us your time, to discuss our humanity and what it means in our lives and to people in the Agile community. When we talk, I know sometimes we go really deep about our experiences and we share some intimate moments and just what it’s like to be black men. We’re Caribbean roots, no doubt, living in the space that we do. And so before we jump into the interview, tell me, what have you been up to lately as a coach, an entrepreneur, husband, a dad, what’s been going on with you?

Stuart McCalla:             So right now I’m a managing partner for a group called Evolution Services. We’re based out of LA. And so we coach primarily high-growth startups and then also larger systems as well too. We do a lot of depth work for our leaders that we coach. We do diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability work. We have an amazing leader that helps us with that named Rudy Nickens, and who we all support. As you can imagine right now he’s super busy and we get to support him as well. And you know, I think a little bit about sort of the Agile space and how does diversity, equity, inclusion, and sustainability… How has it manifested in the Agile space and how will it manifest in the Agile space, and certainly within business as well too.

Dr. Dave:                      Okay, that’s good.