CEOs vowed real change on racism. Now the real work begins
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In the wake of protests against systemic racism and police brutality, thousands of executives took to LinkedIn and other platforms pledging to eradicate racism from their organizations.
Kenneth Thomas — a diversity and inclusion advocate — saw those messages and hoped for the best. He also prepared for the worst. Would any of these efforts lead to real change?
“You see a lot of cynicism in this space because so many professionals are perceiving this as a public relations stunt,” he said. “It's symbolic gestures. And I think we need to really distinguish symbolic gestures from meaningful, actionable, tangible initiatives that really facilitate diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Around five months since the protests began, corporate America is now being held accountable to live up to the anti-racism pledges they made. Last month, Citi announced a $1 billion initiative to close the racial wealth gap. This month, Starbucks announced it would tie executive compensation to meeting specific diversity goals. And just a few days ago Yale University issued a directive to its endowment managers to hire more women and minorities to run their fund. All these efforts aim to bring more equity into the workplace and curb the $16 trillion toll that systemic racism places on the U.S. economy.
While more than half of Americans expect CEOs to be actively anti-racist, 71% said that most CEOs are incapable of recognizing racism around them, a recent Edelman survey discovered. To change this, companies need to have difficult conversations about racism and how it shows up at work, said PwC’s Chief Purpose & Inclusion Officer Shannon Schuyler. Schuyler belongs to the CEO Action Coalition, the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. In the past six months, Schuyler said the group saw a 40% increase in sign ups.
Schyler believes the backdrop of the pandemic and the protests has made executives realize they can play a critical role in addressing this problem.
“People are finally understanding that we have to actually say the word systemic racism,” Schuyler said. “We have to make sure that we're realizing that bias comes through in a lot of different ways.”
Companies can use diversity training to reveal biases that are influencing corporate decision making. But these programs are now under threat by an executive order from President Trump that prohibits federal agencies, contractors and grantees from participating in them. The order claims that these trainings promote a “divisive” and “malign ideology” that the U.S. is an "irredeemably racist and sexist country."
Kenneth Thomas says he finds the order troublesome because it positions diversity and inclusion efforts as anti-white male.
“We do have to recognize that there has to be certain concessions made in order to facilitate and extend opportunities to minorities and women,” said Thomas, who is also the co-founder of the Minority and Women Contractor and Developers Association. “It's not about excluding white men. It's about facilitating opportunities for women and minorities.”
And since white men are overrepresented in positions of power across the American workplace, nothing will change if they aren’t included in these conversations, added Schuyler.
“White men are the ones who have created the system. But frankly, white men are the ones who are empowered to help change it,” she said. “They are the most robust group of allies that we can have. And if we believe anything over the last 25 years of data around why diversity [and] inclusion matters from a financial standpoint, this is something about...more people around the table and financial success.”
Check out our full discussion in the video above.
What’s Working
Beyond the business case. We need to stop pointing to the business case behind building diverse teams and focus on the real problem: Inequality is bad for both business and society. When diversity initiatives promise financial gains but fail to deliver, people are likely to withdraw their support. Instead, corporations need to focus on investing in underrepresented groups no matter what, not just because there’s an economic case behind it. [HBR]
VCs push for founders of color. Earlier this year, I reported on the aggressive uphill battle founders of color face when trying to get funding. Groups of angel investors up in Chicago, Detroit and Miami are trying to change that by rethinking how early-stage startups are evaluated. [WSJ]
A first in VC. Kara Nortman of Upfront Ventures is now the first woman to be promoted to co-managing partner at a large venture capital firm. Only 12% of decision makers at U.S.-based venture capital firms are women. [Techcrunch]
“Can someone take notes?” In a remote work environment, it’s critical that male allies think intentionally about how to support women on their team. One way is to ensure office housework — like taking notes in meetings — is evenly distributed, as women tend to take on more of this thankless work. Including and sponsoring women in projects that are critical to the company is important as well. [HBR]
What’s Not
Crisis for Latinas. While 80% of those who left the workforce in September were women, a vast majority of those women were Latina. Latinas left at nearly three times the rate of white women and more than four times the rate of African Americans. Latinas are not only more likely to work in industries that have been hard hit by the crisis, they also are more likely to maintain traditional views of motherhood during the pandemic, NPR reports. [NPR]
Dad is feeling the pain, too. While working mothers have felt the brunt of this pandemic when it comes to dropping out of the workforce and taking on more duties at home, working dads are also struggling. Labor force participation is down among working fathers and their engagement in the office is waning, according to new data out by Pew. [LinkedIn News]
Who’s Pushing Us Forward
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Computer Science Doctoral Student | MSc. Civil Engineering | Project Engineer and Responsible Technician concerning CREAs at Van Oord | Partner, BIM, DPO, Data and Computer Scientist at eTLipse (Continued in "About"!)
3y😍
I help organizations & individuals with tools of respect that guarantee the success of programs historically considered DEI***Diversity Repair & Recovery***Badass Trainer Bootcamp***Teach Like Their Lives Depend On It.
3yI see several challenges in the concept of real systemic change to eradicate oppression: 1) Oppression is, by definition, about disproportionate power dynamics. While policy and procedure, the face of who is running the organization, and exploring compensation equity are all beginnings of the conversation, unless it is linked to the long-term strategic plan of the large organizations who drive industry cultures, the change will take many generations to have an impact and only if it is well maintained with fidelity. 2) The system of oppression and all of its complexity and intersectionalities cannot be dismantled by removing a single "-ism". There needs to be an awareness - driven by deep conversation - of what equity looks like in both benefit and cost to create a vision that is obtainable. 3) People will never all be antiracists, feminists, or other categorical allies. How do we create a culture that doesn't attempt to mandate willingness and allows for diversity of thought, perspective, and even moral compass, while maintaining mutual respect and positive relationships?
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Political and agricultural scientist. Writer.
3y“White men are the ones who have created the system. But frankly, white men are the ones who are empowered to help change it,” ...this racializing of racism is a big problem in the new 'diversity' industry. Framing racism as a 'white' problem, with a 'white' solution creates many troubles: 1. If 'the system' is the USA, giving 'white' people the credit for building 'the system' erases our inherent multi-cultural heritage. 2. An idea that the US was made by and for 'white men' is exactly the belief of actual white supremacists...and it is not true whether asserted by a white supremacist, or an anti-racist. 3. The quote does what anti-racism is trying to undo - centering 'whiteness'. Is the root of racism truly 'white men', and are they truly the solution? 4. Racism is ubiquitous. Cornering the issue's source as 'white men' erases the racism from anywhere else. That is a disservice to anti-racism. 5. Centering 'whiteness' as the cause and cure for racism misidentifies the root causes of racism, and therefore fails to provide effective solutions. Racism is cultural. While it is helpful to see the role of 'whiteness' in racism, 'whiteness' is an ill defined term. 'Whiteness' is not about a 'white race', but a hierarchical power that demands conformity, and locks "others" out. What 'whiteness' is trying to pin down is elitism, and toxic culture. Elitism and toxic culture are not just 'white men' behaviors. While leaders feel panic trying to find good, instructive resources for DEI, there is already a wide swath of instruction on changing toxic, elitist culture in the community, and workplace. For example: https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol7iss1/IJLS_Vol7Iss1_Gilbert_pp29-47.pdf Unfortunately there is a lot in DEI trainings that is counterproductive, mainly: centering 'whiteness' (which increases misunderstanding and racial tension), and micromanaging employees in a very personal way. This time is a great moment of opportunity to understand and address racism. Corps and institutions are doing great things. But, *how* we approach anti-racism in this moment is pivotal. Blaming one group of people as the 'cause' is not a recipe for building healthier communities, it is a textbook recipe for causing conflict.
"Free Thinking is Priceless. Life-Centric Thinking is Abundance Incarnate" ~the trojan GIRAFFE of whiteness~ Seeking Angel Investor> 1-Woman-Improv > HOW TO DEMOLISH RACISM BY 2030 #AutisticAF +Acquired Prodigious Savant
3yAs a philosopher, I have to point out that the word that only the truly fearless will say is DEHUMANIZATION - racism does not live in our systems, as a virus waiting for a host. All Americans should be entirely against any form of dehumanization. Racism is entirely created by acculturation, therefore, if the leader of any entity is stubbornly refusing to address their own internal conflicts, fear & responsibility to make it clear that they are aware that humans are humans, then the subordinates in that organization will mimic the values of the leader as a form of self-preservation. Neither laws, rules or procedures have proven capable of reducing, let alone demolishing racism If you are a staunch & vibrantly anti-racist human please click to follow #WellbeingPhilosophy to learn more about the rigorous thinking that empowers humanity to move beyond the 'delusion of white supremacy' which is entirely outside the reality of the scientific fasts we are one species all descended from African ancestors.