“iD is the culmination of Betty Ng’s journey “From Pain to Purpose and Promise”. As a woman of color ascending the ranks of corporate America to become a senior executive, Betty encountered her share of challenges as well as successes. Having also been a victim of hate incidents outside of work, Betty has channeled her pain of being “othered” into her purpose of being a builder of inclusive culture. Ultimately this purpose has led to the development of the “promise” – those solutions that Betty felt should have always existed for both individuals and organizations. These solutions include
propelling success for all by empowering authenticity,
embedding inclusive behaviors into cultural DNA to enable diversity and authenticity to flourish, and
deepening cultural competence. Betty’s family has also created the
Penguins & Pals line of resources to help children develop
iD was founded on the fundamental belief that “anything is possible, regardless of your background, as long as we help each other to succeed” – a belief Betty's mother, Po-Ling Ng, instilled in her at a young age.
Betty has been inspired by Po-Ling, a poor immigrant woman widowed at the age of 32 and left to raise four very young children on a social worker’s salary. Instead of giving up, Po-Ling persevered for her vision for her authentic self and obtained two master’s degrees and devoted her life to the community – helping everyone from young children to senior citizens. Fast forward four decades and as my mom recently told me “over a hundred awards” later, we cannot even imagine all the lives Po-Ling has changed for the better. May 24, 2017 was also named Po-Ling Ng Day for the great borough of Manhattan. In January 2021, Po-Ling was honored among the “50 over 50” who made New York great.
Inspired by what Po-Ling has role modeled for Betty and many others, we developed the PO-LING POWER framework, which is an evaluation, decision, and measurement tool for propelling your authentic self and others to success while managing what matters. Essentially the key elements of what PO-LING had to continually focus on to be a successful leader and single mother of four children. Also, they are the key elements Betty has also found to be critical to her own success as well as the success of professionals of many different backgrounds.
That means, focusing on PO-LING, namely (Purpose and personal vision for authentic self; Others, Lead, Inspire, Network, and Grow) while also managing what matters according to the POWER criteria of (Priorities, Obligations, Worthwhile Activities, Energy, and Resources). Imagine building and driving organizational and community culture focused on such PO-LING POWER considerations, where everyone is focused on propelling themselves and others to success while managing what matters. This is the key to building inclusive, collaborative, and high-performing organizations and communities.”