Toxic Dynamics Podcast with Chloe Mills
Check out our limited series podcast with Chloe Mills by clicking play below.
At Inclusive Knowledge Solutions, we are committed to dismantling toxic academic cultures and fostering growth, inclusion, and innovation in higher education. Founded by Trevor A. Dawes and Russell Michalak, our mission is to create equitable and dynamic environments where libraries, leadership, and learning thrive.
We specialize in tailored solutions that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion, ensuring that your institution stays ahead in today’s changing academic landscape.
We believe that academic spaces should be centers of collaboration, knowledge, and respect. Our services empower institutions by:
✅ Enhancing library spaces with cutting-edge tools and strategies.
✅ Developing leaders who can drive positive, lasting change.
✅ Fostering continuous learning and innovation through best practices.
✅ Providing comprehensive DEI education to ensure every voice is heard.
Let’s work together to transform your institution into a thriving, inclusive learning environment.
With over 20 years of experience in higher education and library management, Trevor is a renowned expert in leadership and diversity. He consults with institutions nationwide, leading workshops and training sessions that elevate library effectiveness and institutional success.
🔗Website | Google Scholar | Orcid
Russell brings over 20 years of experience in higher education, dedicated to transforming library culture through EdTech solutions, AI literacy, informatio literacy, assessment, leadership, project management, and AI-driven library innovations. His work focuses on empowering professionals, implementing AI tools, and transforming library operations into hubs of equity, respect, and collaboration.
🔗Website | Publications | Google Scholar | Orcid
🫱🏿🫲🏿Together, Trevor and Russell are redefining how institutions create inclusive, diverse, and equitable learning environments, emphasizing that culture drives impactful change beyond strategy.
✅ Library Innovation & Transformation
Turn your library into a cutting-edge hub for learning, technology, and research.
✅ Leadership Development & Training
Empower academic leaders with skills to drive equitable, inclusive change.
✅ Organizational Learning & Continuous Growth
Create a culture where learning and collaboration fuel long-term success.
✅ Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (DEI) Strategy
Ensure your institution thrives in a diverse, global academic landscape.
Are you ready to create lasting change in your institution or your life? Trevor A. Dawes and Russell Michalak here to help you.
Let’s create cultures that inspire, empower, and thrive.
Stay ahead in the rapidly evolving landscape of higher education with the latest insights from Trevor A. Dawes and Russell Michalak. Whether it's about dismantling toxic cultures, enhancing leadership capabilities, or fostering inclusive academic environments, our newsletter is your go-to resource.
By Russell Michalak, Trevor A. Dawes, and Jon E. Cawthorne, editors
🔗https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/article/view/26686/34611
"Acknowledging the toxic culture and its existence is the first step, and change does not happen overnight, but the strategies offered in this book are essential to consider. The editors offered a great general multi-step process as a starting point: “identify the issues, create a plan, build a coalition, foster open communication, lead by example, lead to promote sustainable change, and celebrate progress.”
28 May 2025 10:32
Check out our limited series podcast with Chloe Mills by clicking play below.
27 May 2025 13:12
In Holding Change, adrienne maree brown invites us to approach transformation not as a crisis to survive, but as an opportunity to deepen our values, relationships, and capacity for collective action. This perspective is crucial in academic libraries facing sustained budget reductions. Too often, budget cuts are treated as inevitable, technocratic events. But they are also political. They reflect institutional priorities, power dynamics, and whose labor and learning are deemed valuable.
1 May 2025 08:29
In an era of increasing consortial collaboration, strategic partnerships, and shared service models, academic libraries are leaning on each other more than ever. From resource-sharing initiatives to cooperative digital preservation, the language of partnership abounds. But behind the rhetoric lies an uncomfortable truth: many so-called “partnerships” are structurally inequitable.
30 Apr 2025 17:09
In academic libraries and across higher education institutions, we often say our doors are open to feedback. But is that enough? A compelling study by James R. Detert and Ethan R. Burris, "Leadership Behavior and Employee Voice: Is the Door Really Open?" challenges us to consider whether openness is truly being practiced—or merely proclaimed.
28 Apr 2025 11:32
In the workplace, communication is everything. But too often, the tone of a conversation—especially the volume of someone’s voice—is used to distract from the content of what’s being said.
25 Apr 2025 15:27
In academic libraries, strong leadership is not about shielding employees from challenges or gatekeeping opportunities — it’s about equipping them to meet challenges head-on, grow, and lead in their own right. Yet too often, librarians encounter supervisory mindsets that, even with good intentions, stifle professional development instead of nurturing it.
23 Apr 2025 14:03
Academic libraries are often seen as inclusive spaces—committed to access, equity, and lifelong learning. But even in mission-driven environments, bias can quietly shape hiring practices, team dynamics, and advancement opportunities. While we may not be able to change institutional culture overnight, academic librarians in leadership roles can make a powerful difference by intentionally interrupting bias in everyday decisions.
21 Apr 2025 15:49
In the world of academic librarianship, visibility is often mistaken for prestige—and prestige, in turn, is confused with legitimacy. For those of us working in small colleges or under-resourced institutions, contributing to the broader professional discourse through writing, presenting, or publishing is sometimes viewed as “punching above our weight.”
21 Apr 2025 13:55
Advocacy from supervisors is one of the most valuable currencies in the workplace—especially in academic libraries, where hierarchical structures, tenure processes, and institutional politics can shape the trajectory of a librarian’s career. But what happens when that support isn’t there? Whether it’s intentional or simply a symptom of competing priorities, lack of advocacy can leave you feeling stuck, unseen, and professionally vulnerable.
21 Apr 2025 10:47
In every academic library, what we choose to reward—and what we choose to ignore—tells a story. Incentives are not just operational levers; they’re messages. They communicate what is truly valued, often louder than any mission statement or strategic plan. And when incentives contradict stated values, they don’t just send mixed signals—they produce noise.
17 Apr 2025 12:30
When morale tanks and teams disengage, leaders often rush to fix the problem by swapping out people—quietly nudging out the “negative ones” or restructuring entire departments. But toxicity doesn’t originate with a few individuals. It spreads when the environment rewards silence, isolates feedback, ignores emotional labor, and favors productivity at any cost.
16 Apr 2025 15:10
In academic libraries, we often encourage curiosity in our users—students, faculty, and researchers—but the most transformative environments are built when leaders foster curiosity in themselves and across their teams. As highlighted in the Harvard Business Review article "What Makes an Inclusive Leader?", curiosity is not a “nice-to-have”—it’s a critical capability of inclusive leadership.
16 Apr 2025 14:42
You’ve been in the meetings. You’ve seen the whiteboards, the slide decks, the draft org charts. You’ve participated in committee discussions, advocated for clearer alignment, and supported the idea that structure should reflect strategy.
14 Apr 2025 14:55
In academic librarianship, we talk a lot about technology, access, and outcomes—but not enough about the health of the relationships that make those things possible. When a vendor relationship begins to falter, it often doesn’t happen all at once. The silence creeps in. A response takes a little longer. Updates stop coming. Negotiations stall. Eventually, what once felt like a partnership begins to feel transactional—something to chase rather than build.
12 Apr 2025 16:37
In times of transformation, academic library leaders are asked to be both builders and bridge-makers—carefully managing details while cultivating trust, shared purpose, and community. Drawing on Albert O. Hirschman's distinction between skill and charisma, we can better understand what inclusive leadership demands of us—and how DEI-centered programming can serve as a proving ground for both.
9 Apr 2025 14:31
Gossip has a bad reputation—and often for good reason. In academic libraries, as in any workplace, gossip can fracture teams, erode trust, and perpetuate bias. As we explored in our earlier blog post, Gossip in Organizations: How Bad Is It?, informal communication isn’t inherently negative—it becomes harmful when driven by exclusion, power struggles, or poor communication structures. And as Fear as a Powerful Motivator for Gossip in Academic Libraries: Insights from Corey Robin points out, gossip often thrives where fear silences more direct conversations. But that’s not the whole story.
8 Apr 2025 14:08
Academic libraries are no strangers to disruption. We’ve been navigating technological change, constrained budgets, and shifting institutional priorities for decades. But the rise of artificial intelligence—particularly generative AI—calls for a different kind of leadership: one that is innovative, inclusive, and scalable.
7 Apr 2025 10:28
Check out Trevor A. Dawes and Russell Michalak's Toxic Dynamics podcast with Michael LaMagna and Erica Swenson Danowitz, Ed.D.
Contact us today to discuss how our inclusive knowledge solutions can benefit your higher education establishment.