Irshad Manji

Founder, The Moral Courage Project | University Professor | Human Rights Activist | Best Selling Author

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About This Speaker

Irshad Manji is the founder of Moral Courage College, where she teaches businesses, universities, and K-12 schools to transform contentious issues into constructive conversations and action. Through her work, she empowers individuals to challenge political correctness, intellectual conformity, and self-censorship.

Irshad is the best-selling author of Don’t Label Me, a guide on achieving diversity without division. Chris Rock has even called her book “genius.” Furthermore, she is the first recipient of Oprah Winfrey’s Chutzpah Award for boldness and conviction.

As a professor of leadership at New York University, Irshad Manji has inspired students for many years. She now teaches with Oxford University’s Initiative for Global Ethics and Human Rights. Her expertise on Islam and its role in today’s world has earned her recognition as one of the leading reformist voices.

Her earlier works, including The Trouble with Islam Today, are internationally acclaimed for their calls to reform and reconcile faith with freedom. Irshad’s PBS film Faith Without Fear, which was Emmy-nominated, continues to spark conversation on Islam and women’s rights, especially in the Middle East and North Africa.

Irshad’s journey began when her family was expelled from Uganda in the 1970s and resettled in Canada as political refugees. Upon graduating from university, Irshad worked as a legislative aide to Canada’s most feminist member of parliament. She went to on become press secretary for Ontario’s first women’s issues minister, and then speechwriter for the leader of the New Democratic Party. In 2005, she became a visiting fellow at Yale University and later, a senior fellow at the European Foundation for Democracy.

Irshad Manji’s mission is clear: through moral courage, any individual can challenge the status quo and spark meaningful change. Her engaging talks, filled with passion and humor, inspire audiences to confront challenges and find common ground in a fractured world.

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Speaking Topics: Irshad Manji

How to Make Diversity Truly Inclusive

The phrase is everywhere: “Diversity and Inclusion.” To our pattern-seeking brains, it suggests that diversity comes before inclusion. Wrong. Behavioral science repeatedly confirms that a culture of inclusion must are fostered at the same time. That’s because everybody from “BIPOC communities” to “white straight guys,” conservatives and progressives, younger and older, need to trust that they’ll be treated with respect under the banner of diversity. In the absence of trust, differences plant seeds of resentment — and, ultimately, of conflict. So how do we create a truly inclusive culture? Prof. Irshad Manji, bestselling author of Don’t Label Me, Oxford scholar, and founder of the award-winning Moral Courage College, will reveal the answers. In this fireside chat, you will learn: • Where mainstream diversity programs go wrong. • What is the difference between “honest diversity” and “dishonest diversity.” • How to reconcile social justice and free speech. • Why labeling people is easy but listening takes guts. • Who to think about when you need a hint to do diversity and inclusion well. (You’ll never guess!) Above all, Prof. Manji will teach us the skills to engage productively across differences and divides. Prepare not only to be inspired, but also to be impactful with your newfound insights about courageous communication.

Moral Courage in Messy Times

With Americans reeling from a botched response to the pandemic, deepening cynicism about economic opportunity, heartbreak over continued racial injustice, and amplified noise from media left and right, it’s time to voice what we’re all thinking: Does this country have a hope? Yes, says Irshad Manji, as long as we the people develop moral courage. Robert F. Kennedy defined moral courage as being more important than “bravery in battle or even great intelligence.” It is, he added, “the one essential, vital quality” for changing a stubborn world. And with expert guidance, more of us can build our moral courage muscles. As founder of the ground-breaking Moral Courage College, Irshad Manji provides that guidance. She inspires each of us to take a stand for what we believe as well as to engage those who believe the opposite. Backed by scientific research and driven by the need for solutions, Manji offers this game-changing insight: Only by turning disagreement into engagement will any of us cut through the noise and be heard. Her tips, techniques, and tactics can be applied immediately – with results that are sure to surprise the skeptics. She doesn’t talk about what’s possible. She shows it. Whether addressing employees, congregations, educators, students, or everyday citizens, Irshad Manji is the Moral Courage Mentor summoned by our messy times.