Data and disparities don't lie. Narratives and lived experiences across diverse and inclusive populations tell an undeniable tale of two cities. One with advantages and privileges rooted in a social, economic, political, and racial caste that positively impacts individual and population-level health outcomes and another with disadvantages and barriers borne out of the inequalities found on the flip side of the coin. This session covers a range of topics in health equity and the social and political determinants of health, including how best to design brave practices that heal and uproot system sickness and advance human-centered solutions that spur all people to thrive.

Language is the frame that sparks mutual understanding and coalesces a shared vision that catalyzes action to build and shape a more just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive world. This session shows how J.E.D.I. (Justice. Equity. Diversity. Inclusion) is a tool to drive population health, the human experience, and creative and innovative business environments that transform deficits and inequities in our organizations, systems, and communities into opportunities for growth, accountability, human intelligence, and social and cultural fluency. Through a historical and contemporary lens, the session challenges the audience to withstand the race to deny our past, face our present, and dare the catalyst for a more secure future. Ultimately, it provokes each person or organization to see that our mutual web of humanity is only as strong as the assets we intentionally seek and cultivate in one another and how effectively we share power!

The human experience is defined as the interplay and connective tissue that links all people along the many intersections of identity and across various groups. At a time when division is palpable, and systems of inequity and othering like racism, sexism, and health and wealth inequalities risk our collective well-being, this session sets out to define "critical mass" as a theory of change/action that tips the scale in the direction of progressive transformation and sustainable change movements. Even if those catalytic opportunities represent nascent ideas among a sea of well-established and rehearsed rhetoric and practice norms, a critical mass of doers and innovators can engineer "upstream" interventions that demonstrate impact and viability and then steer the diffusion of innovation. For instance, how best do we incentivize prevention and wellness to keep people from falling off the Cliff of Good Health, as Dr. Camara Jones has described? In the 21st century, how do we spark change in the face of glass cliffs, glass ceilings, two-sided social coins, and skewed and bent trees? We build the critical mass.

VUCA is an acronym for volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environments. Today's leaders and change architects must convert chaotic VUCA conditions into systems and experiences rooted in vision, unity, clarity, and agility. System disruption and innovation require discerning when an opportunity presents itself, how best to see around corners, and knowing when to bend the system or whether to break it all together and redesign it from scratch. In every VUCA circumstance or time period, new voices and disruptors emerge to engage in sensemaking akin to making magic out of mayhem. We experienced this phenomenon during the recent global pandemic. Unless we can anticipate the pendulum swing that endangers our collective progress, we risk a precipitous slide away from the values that will champion and produce new heights. Knowing the difference between value on investment (VOI) and return on investment (ROI) is key. This session will teach the audience how to perform that assessment and find the unique intersection of passion, pain, and purpose to harness power and deliver wholesale solutions.

Now more than ever, the public's health is susceptible to attack because science, data, and facts have been assailed, and misinformation and disinformation have gained a competitive advantage. Public health must build and strengthen its narrative muscle in authentic, inclusive, and human-centered ways. It matters the data and impact stories we elevate, who plays the role of storyteller, and the accountability we live out that invites mutual trust, especially among historically excluded populations and other groups who have been marginalized or made vulnerable by policy violence and information wars. Every so often, we in public health name a new iteration: Public Health 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and beyond. But to influence human behavior and collective action in the most health-promoting and lifesaving efforts, to advance equity, to close gaps and eliminate disparities, to design hubs of healing and captivate the imagination of society, we need a deeper, more creative, and cross-trained field and bench.