I have no idea how or even when I registered for the webinar yesterday but I am so glad I did. You put together a well-informed panel of leaders and I wanted to congratulate you on having a successful event.
That was a dart to my heart and I’m thrilled that I was able to participate. I’ve admired the careers of several of the panelists and everyone provided *real* value.
I always enjoy hearing from and seeing you on webinars, including tonight’s on the Building a Strong Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Foundation Webinar!
Feedback like this is what motivates our team to host free, quarterly DEI community-building panel discussions. Last week’s panel, Building a Strong DEI Foundation, included a Who’s Who of tenured practitioners in the DEI space. Casey Tonnelly, our moderator, has over 15 years of experience as a leadership development coach, anti-racism educator, and DEI strategist. Casey was joined by the brilliant Monica Davy who serves as the Chief Culture, Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Vizient, the nation’s leading healthcare performance improvement company with 4,000 employees in 20 metropolitan areas across the United States. In addition to being a passionate community-builder, Sarah Hassaine is the Global Director of Diversity at ResMed, a global Medtech company based in San Diego. The panel was rounded out by the gifted MyMy Lu, Director of Diversity & Inclusion for Thermo Fisher Scientific, a world leader in serving science with a global team of 80,000 colleagues.
You can view the replay of the panel discussion below. Meanwhile, here are a few key takeaways from this thought-provoking and powerful discussion.
Q: Share with us your biggest flex about something that you helped to accomplish with DEI in 2021.
Monica Davy: As you may recall, last March was a time when an anti-Asian movement was growing in the United States. So, we kicked off a series of monthly enterprise-wide conversations where we tackled difficult topics around diversity, equity, and inclusion. In March, we addressed the anti-Asian movement. In April, we had a conversation about neurodiversity. In May, my CEO sat down with me for a conversation about systemic racism. We included follow-up resources that team members could use to dive deeper into the topics. Those monthly conversations have been very helpful, and we are continuing to hold those and refine them in 2022.
Sarah Hassaine: I started in my position at ResMed 14 months ago and walked into a company that didn’t have diversity and inclusion practice. So, I began with a discovery tour to learn what the words diversity and inclusion meant to the senior leaders to mid-level managers across the organization. We discussed both what D&I meant at ResMed at the time and where it could evolve. Also, the company had four ERG’s (employee resource groups) when I joined, and we’ve since grown those to ten. Like Monica mentioned, having ongoing conversations around these subjects helps galvanize people, build community that drives engagement, and helps the company speak to real world issues as they arise. I’m really proud that, although we were fully remote in 2021, 6,000 ResMedians engaged.
MyMy Lu: When I walked into my position 7 months ago, Thermo Fisher already had 240 ERG chapters around the world. While it’s important that the people in those groups had a safe space to build community and belonging, the biggest flex for me last year was to be able to help align business strategies and initiatives that would make a difference to the ERG communities. We know our colleagues want to see progress, and I’m pleased that we’re actively working to make that happen.
Q:In January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that a record 4.5 million Americans voluntarily left their jobs in November. That means there were 1.5 available jobs for each unemployed person, the most on record dating back two decades. My question is, how has having a dedicated DEI program helped your organization respond to the workforce gulf caused by the Great Resignation?
Sarah Hassaine: The Great Resignation is one way to look at it. The Great Talent Swap is another. That’s how we framed it at ResMed which helped us consider how we could leverage our competitive advantage for talent. We learned that candidates were asking broader questions around culture, diversity & inclusion, and how they’re going to feel when they join our team. We were able to partner with our Talent Acquisition team to be more intentional about promoting our D&I efforts. I provided toolkits for our recruiters and hiring managers with talking points about how to focus on our inclusive culture and improve the candidate experience.
MyMy Lu: I loved Sarah’s point about needing to be more intentional about both our existing and incoming talent. Thermo Fisher created an intentional, multi-pronged strategy. One was targeted diversity recruiting with HBCU’s and the launch of the JUST Project where we committed to hiring at least 500 alumni from HBCU’s through 2023. For our existing colleague population, we created mentorship and networking programs to address their professional development needs. We also improved the onboarding process in partnership with our ERG’s to drive inclusion right out of the gate, and focused on what belonging needs that some of our population had. For example, last year was both the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Our Veteran’s ERG actively worked to support our veteran colleagues by hosting an event simply titled, “Your Service Matters” to create a space for anyone who wanted to come to share their experience and know that they were not alone.
Monica Davy: One of the things that we’ve done at Vizient is to couple diversity and inclusion with culture. My title is Chief Culture, Diversity and Inclusion Officer, because the leaders understood when they created the position that the two must be inextricably linked to be truly effective. If you ask anyone in our company what our values are, no one will hesitate to answer: Be Bold, Be Accountable, Be Inclusive, and Be Purposeful. We live our values every day. They inform how we hold meetings, how we make decisions, and how we recruit and retain talent. I would also say that The Great Resignation has not significantly impacted our attrition rate, and I believe that our culture of living our values contributed to that.
Q:What would you say are one or two areas that we are falling short in the Inclusion & Belonging work and what would you recommend CEOs and DEI leaders consider to make continued advancements?
Sarah Hassaine: All of today’s panelists represent organizations in the health space. We have the opportunity to not only live our values – like Monica mentioned – internally, but to show our values in action in the marketplace to champion health equity. We have the opportunity to take advantage of the many lenses of D&I such as our branding component, the language used in our marketing collateral, and the accessibility of our content. We need to be asking ourselves every week, “What are we missing?” and “Are we inclusive enough?” It’s really having a holistic approach and incorporating D&I into all of its many lenses.
MyMy Lu: I want to touch on the prioritization of DEI. This work is heavy, and the potential impact can be great. To be truly effective, CEO’s need to show that they prioritize the work by creating a budget and building a dedicated team. The companies that have figured it out have really taken it on themselves to integrate D&I into every aspect of the business. I always say that if I can get this right, I would be working my way out of a job. There would be no need for a diversity and inclusion team because it would be evident in the organizational DNA.
Monica Davy: I agree with MyMy and Sarah. As Sarah pointed out, we are all in the health space and have an opportunity to make meaningful improvements in health equity. DEI should be so much more than internal metrics of who we attract, hire, and retain. But, depending on where your organization is in the maturity model, you must lay the foundation first and get it right internally before applying it more broadly.
Q:Are you seeing any trends in DEI? And what predictions would you make for the future direction of the work?
Monica Davy: I think our external, societal, polarized climate is making this work much more difficult. Identifying DEI work as divisive has been commonplace in the political and external debate. This reaction is permeating into the workplace and we are getting more open resistance. Concepts like bias, or privilege, or systemic racism – that we believe are either scientific, or factual, or not debatable – are now up for debate. If we had resisters in our companies before who weren’t fully on board with what we were doing, we’re now seeing them more openly resisting. Five, six, even seven years ago, I was talking much more about how to create inclusive environments without the need to defend whether something happened in history. I’m hoping that it will get better, but I sit patiently and wait.
MyMy Lu: Sarah and I are nodding our heads, Monica. We’ve definitely seen a difference, but I have a little more optimism on this subject. I feel like more courageous conversations are being driven. As a part of the celebration of Black History Month, for example, one of our white, male leaders wanted to put up a Black Lives Matter flag to show support. When we spoke about it, I asked him if he’d taken the time to have conversations about what the movement meant. If not, his well-intentioned gesture could trigger unhealthy reactions that will not drive progress. This goes back to the maturity model that Monica talked about. We may not be ready to raise a flag and assume that it means the same thing to everyone who sees it, but we have the opportunity to talk about its meaning.
Sarah Hassaine: I agree with both Monica and MyMy. I also want to touch on the growing mental health issues, what a hybrid working model looks like, and the effect proximity will have on our workforce. We want to make sure that people feel included regardless of where they physically do their work. We don’t truly know how it’s going to play out, but it’s important to build inclusion into these conversations now so that we’re not dealing with unintentional damage later.
If you are a leader or practitioner in the DEI space, you know that it is filled with amazing, transparent, generous, passionate people like these esteemed panelists. We are incredibly honored to share our platform to continue to take part in the conversation and growth of this community. Watch this space for more amazing panel discussions and our 2022 DEI training program to help you put these concepts into practice.
Watch the recording of this panel discussion:
Question: Where is your organization on the diversity and inclusion maturity model and what initiatives do you need to get right this year to keep moving forward?
To be an effective leader, you need experience, business acumen, and emotional intelligence. You can build these through years of trial-and-error on the job, or you can accelerate your learning and growth through reading. Reading helps shape your views and learn through others’ experiences. This becomes crucial when your work shapes your organization’s culture, and, ultimately, its performance. This holiday season offers an excellent opportunity to build your leadership library.
Whether you’re interested in learning from history, in building new skills to match 21st century challenges, or get inspired by stories of human interest, here are 8 titles to add to pick up this holiday season.
What it’s about: When we are baffled by the insanity of the “other side”—in our politics, at work, or at home—it’s because we aren’t seeing how the conflict itself has taken over. That’s what “high conflict” does. It’s the invisible hand of our time. And it’s different from the useful friction of healthy conflict. That’s good conflict, and it’s a necessary force that pushes us to be better people.
High conflict, by contrast, is what happens when discord distills into a good-versus-evil kind of feud, the kind with an “us” and a “them”. In this state, the normal rules of engagement no longer apply. The brain behaves differently. We feel increasingly certain of our own superiority and, at the same time, more and more mystified by the other side. New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist Amanda Ripley investigates how good people get captured by high conflict—and how they break free.
Why pick it up: You’ll learn that people do escape high conflict. Individuals—even entire communities—can short-circuit the feedback loops of outrage and blame, if they want to. This is a mind-opening new way to think about conflict that will transform how we move through the world.
What it’s about: Deep in the Appalachian Mountains lies the last truly quiet town in America. Green Bank, West Virginia, is a place at once futuristic and old-fashioned. It’s home to the Green Bank Observatory, where astronomers search the depths of the universe using the latest technology, while schoolchildren go without WiFi or iPads. With a ban on all devices emanating radio frequencies that might interfere with the observatory’s telescopes, Quiet Zone residents live a life free from constant digital connectivity. But a community that on the surface seems idyllic is a place of contradictions, where the provincial meets the seemingly supernatural and quiet can serve as a cover for something darker.
Why pick it up:The Quiet Zone is a remarkable work of investigative journalism—at once a stirring ode to place, a tautly-wound tale of mystery, and a clarion call to reexamine the role technology plays in our lives.
What it’s about: Vaclav Smil’s mission is to make facts matter and making sense of our world. In Numbers Don’t Lie, Smil answers questions such as: What’s worse for the environment—your car or your phone? How much do the world’s cows weigh (and what does it matter)? And what makes people happy? This is probably the most information Vaclav has ever put in a book, and yet it’s by far the most digestible. Each chapter is just a couple pages long and covers one of the 71 facts mentioned in the title.
Why pick it up: Packed with fascinating information and memorable examples, Numbers Don’t Lie reveals how the US is leading a rising worldwide trend in chicken consumption, that vaccination yields the best return on investment, and why electric cars aren’t as great as we think (yet). Urgent and essential, with a mix of science, history, and wit—all in bite-sized chapters on a broad range of topics—Numbers Don’t Lie inspires readers to interrogate what they take to be true.
What it’s about: From the award-wining journalist, a gripping, suspenseful behind-the-scenes look at the corporate dysfunction—the ruthless cost-cutting, toxic workplaces, and cutthroat management—that contributed to one of the worst tragedies in modern aviation. Drawing from exclusive interviews with current and former employees of Boeing and the FAA; industry executives and analysts; and family members of the victims, Flying Blind reveals how a broken corporate culture paved the way for catastrophe. It shows how in the race to beat the competition and reward top executives, Boeing skimped on testing, pressured employees to meet unrealistic deadlines, and convinced regulators to put planes into service without properly equipping them or their pilots for flight. And it examines how the company, once a treasured American innovator, became obsessed with the bottom line, putting shareholders over customers, employees, and communities.
Why pick it up: By Bloomberg investigative journalist Peter Robison, who covered Boeing as a beat reporter during the company’s fateful merger with McDonnell Douglas in the late ‘90s, this is the story of a business gone wildly off course. At once riveting and disturbing, it shows how the iconic company fell prey to a win-at-all-costs mentality, threatening an industry and endangering countless lives.
5. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikol Hannah-Jones
What it’s about:The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning “1619 Project” issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This new book substantially expands on that work, weaving together eighteen essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with thirty-six poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself.
Why pick it up: This is a book that speaks directly to our current moment, contextualizing the systems of race and caste within which we operate today. It reveals long-glossed-over truths around our nation’s founding and construction—and the way that the legacy of slavery did not end with emancipation, but continues to shape contemporary American life.
What it’s about: Hailed as “a brilliant, beautiful book” by the Sunday Times (London), Pastoral Song is the story of an inheritance: one that affects us all. It tells of how rural landscapes around the world were brought close to collapse, and the age-old rhythms of work, weather, community and wild things were lost. And yet this elegy from the northern fells is also a song of hope: of how, guided by the past, one farmer began to salvage a tiny corner of England that was now his, doing his best to restore the life that had vanished and to leave a legacy for the future.
Why pick it up: This is a book about what it means to have love and pride in a place, and how, against all the odds, it may still be possible to build a new pastoral: not a utopia, but somewhere decent for us all.
What it’s about: While at Motorola in the 1970s, wireless communications pioneer Martin Cooper invented the first handheld mobile phone. But the cellphone as we know it today almost didn’t happen. Now, in Cutting the Cord, Cooper takes readers inside the stunning breakthroughs, devastating failures, and political battles in the quest to revolutionize—and control—how people communicate. It’s a dramatic tale involving brilliant engineers, government regulators, lobbyists, police, quartz crystals, and a horse.
Industry skirmishes sparked a political war in Washington to prevent a monopolistic company from dominating telecommunications. The drama culminated in the first-ever public call made on a handheld, portable telephone—by Cooper himself.
Why pick it up: The story of the cell phone has much to teach about innovation, strategy, and management. But the story of wireless communications is far from finished. This book also relates Cooper’s vision of the future. From the way we work and the way children learn to the ways we approach medicine and healthcare, advances in the cellphone will continue to reshape our world for the better.
What it’s about: Soon after his 50th birthday, Steven Petrow began assembling a list of “things I won’t do when I get old”—mostly a catalog of all the things he thought his then 70-something-year-old parents were doing wrong. That list, which included “You won’t have to shout at me that I’m deaf,” and “I won’t blame the family dog for my incontinence,” became the basis of this rousing collection of do’s and don’ts, wills and won’ts that is equal parts hilarious, honest, and practical.
The fact is, we don’t want to age the way previous generations did. “Old people” hoard. They bore relatives—and strangers—with tales of their aches and pains. They insist on driving long after they’ve become a danger to others (and themselves). They eat dinner at 4pm. They swear they don’t need a cane or walker (and guess what happens next). They never, ever apologize. But there is another way . . .
Why pick it up: In Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I Get Old, Petrow candidly addresses the fears, frustrations, and stereotypes that accompany aging. He offers a blueprint for the new old age, and an understanding that aging and illness are not the same. As he writes, “I meant the list to serve as a pointed reminder—to me—to make different choices when I eventually cross the threshold to ‘old.’”
Question: What books are on your holiday wish list this year?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
On October 27th, we hosted our final 2021 quarterly webinar dedicated to the subject of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). If you’ve joined our previous DEI webinars, you’ve seen Arthur Benjamin, Sr. Director Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Tinuiti, take on the role as moderator for a panel of experts in the field. For this webinar, we asked Arthur to deep dive into the subject by interviewing Martina Winston, VP and Senior HR Partner Diversity & Inclusion Leader with Protective Life.
Specifically, Martina came prepared to share her experience with developing and honing Protective Life’s D&I Strategic Roadmap. Here are the top five takeaways from the webinar:
1. Don’t try to keep up with the D&I Joneses. You’re DEI journey must begin by starting with an honest assessment of your organizational readiness. Don’t try to do what everybody else is doing or rush to win awards. Instead, hold one-on-one conversations with executive leaders and key stakeholders about where you are and where you aspire to go.
2. Let the numbers tell the story. Review the demographic data of your employee population to help you determine where to start your DEI journey. At Protective Life, for example, Martina and her team found that improving both gender and racial diversity and inclusion in the areas of recruitment, development, and retention were key areas to focus on and help the organization mature.
3. Not all consultants are created equal. Just as you need to assess the reality of your starting point, finding a partner and tools that meet you where you are and what you need at key legs in your journey is critical. “You’ve got to constantly check where you are,” Martina said. Stay true to your progress, and don’t take it personally if you haven’t achieved 100% of your goals at the outset.
4. ERG’s:We. Are. Not. Ready. When you agree to step into the diversity and inclusion role, be prepared to field a well-intentioned, continuous flow of ideas from your colleagues. This includes starting employee resource groups, or ERGs. “I should have gotten a t-shirt that read, “We Are Not Ready,” said Martina. “If we had started ERGs 3 ½-years ago, they would have failed. We simply were not ready. But I’m happy to share that in 2022 – 4 years into our journey – we’ll be starting our version of ERGs called Growth Network Groups where our employees can learn, grow, and connect.”
5. Share the load. Martina shared samples of Protective Life’s Strategic DEI Roadmap for 2019 and 2021 to show how the work developed and matured. A key takeaway was that no single person could be responsible for developing the roadmap or doing the work. She worked with a diverse group of stakeholders from across the organization to determine what initiatives to include and who should own the work. The 2021 version also designated the Support needed by each Owner to deliver the work.
If you are a student or practitioner in the DEI space, you’ll know that it is filled with amazing, transparent, generous, passionate people like Arthur Benjamin and Martina Winston. We are incredibly honored to share our platform to continue to take part in the conversation and growth of this community. Watch this space for what we’re teeing up for 2022!
Question: What traction did your organization gain with its DEI strategy this year, and what’s on your 2022 roadmap?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
If you read my post last week, you’ll know that we just completed our third quarterly panel discussion on DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). This time, we focused on how to close the gender equity gap in the workplace with a discussion titled, HERstory: A Conversation With Executive Women About Gender Equality. Here’s a recap of who participated and some of the key takeaways.
Monica Davy, our moderator, serves as the Chief Culture, Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Vizient, where she is responsible for guiding the organization’s overarching strategy, program implementation and ongoing support for culture and D&I initiatives. Panelist Nupur Bhushan joined us from New Zealand where she serves as the General Manager for the ResMed business in Australia and New Zealand. Alessandra Lezama is the founder and CEO of TOOTRiS, Child Care On-Demand, a technology platform that is reinventing how parents find, enroll, and pay for quality child care. MyMy Lu recently joined Thermo Fisher Scientific, a world leader in serving science with a global team of 80,000 colleagues. MyMy serves as the company’s Director of Diversity & Inclusion. Antonia Luna serves as the Senior Vice President of Branch Network and Support Services at California Coast Credit Union, where she is responsible for strategic direction, growth, member experience, delivery channels and operational excellence.
Here are a few highlights from this thought-provoking and candid discussion.
1.As you think about your career and how far you’ve come, is there a moment that you can point to that changed the trajectory of your career or propelled you to where you are today?
MyMy: One of my memorable achievements is being able to conceptualize and launch a broadband adoption program to help individuals from low-income families gain access to the internet. The program became an industry standard for closing the digital divide.
At that time, I was asked to partner with my boss to take a meeting with an external partner on how we could collaborate to create this program. My boss had a calendar conflict and opted to attend the other meeting, though I told her I thought this one would be important not to miss. I was extremely frustrated that my boss didn’t see the urgency of this meeting and I was quite junior in my role. But I decided to take the meeting alone and ended up with an opportunity to build the program from the ground up. That program gave me visibility at my company, in my industry and community, and propelled me to leadership opportunities. We even got a shoutout from President Obama!
Lesson learned: never pass up an opportunity to stretch, do your homework and be ready when opportunity strikes, what seems like extra work may end up being your ticket to do much more. And when opportunity strikes, work your butt off to make sure you can show your potential and impact.
Antonia Luna: I started in Credit Union’s when I was a 19-year old single mom. At that point I had no idea what I wanted for a career. I was just trying to support myself. But I remember instinctively knowing that I was not going to stay a back office posting teller my entire life. I was motivated to learn more and asked the bosses to teach me everything about the credit union. They allowed me to work in every department. After learning all I could at that Credit Union, I made the best decision of my career and left my comfort zone and went to work for a Bank as a manager with a ‘can do’ attitude and no management experience. That decision changed the trajectory of my career. I learned from that experience to not be afraid to ask for a job, even if I had no experience. Because I had confidence in my ability to lead people and was able to learn quickly I believed I can do anything. And I still believe that today. I guess you can say I was “leaning in” before Lean In was a thing!
2. The modern workplace has really changed, and the COVID pandemic amplified the need for workplace flexibility. What are some workplace flexibility policies or practices that companies should take action on to support women and accelerate progress in closing the gender gap in the workforce?
Alessandra Lezama: Just months before the pandemic hit, women had crossed a major threshold as they had become the majority of jobholders in the U.S. Since then, millions of women have suffered a big reversal, with nearly 3 million American women leaving the workforce, mainly due to child care demands. When women leave the workforce, they lose much more than just their annual salary; the cost of this decision follows them for life. After taking into account the potential wage growth and lost retirement savings over time, a woman who leaves the workforce loses up to four times their annual salary per year.
Much of the discussion surrounding workplace flexibility especially during the pandemic has been around working remotely when job duties allow, non-standard start and end times, and extended FMLA. While these are all policies that help, they are not the key to supporting women in the workforce. Women need access to affordable quality child care to have the peace of mind required to focus on their careers. Whether working from home or in the office or on the go! Employers need to recognize that child care is not just a family issue, it’s a business issue. We need a digital convergence that connects all stakeholders (like healthcare) – including public subsidy and employer sponsored programs – conveniently available in real time so we can provide a solution that’s good for everyone, not just for the segment of the market that can afford it.
Antonia Luna: I agree with Alessandra. Working moms typically had the “second shift” or “double shift”, taking care of the family after a full day of work. When schools closed, women found themselves having to work a “double-double”. Many of the moms had to choose between showing up at front-line jobs or caring for and educating their children. But it’s not just the children, some women care for aging parents too. Policies such as flexible work schedules and hybrid remote options are important to consider, depending on the job of course. Also, shifting the mindset from time spent in the office to assessing workers’ performance on their delivery and achievements. Providing unconscious bias training can also help create the awareness needed at all levels to close the gender gap.
3. In 2019, more than 180 CEOs signed an open letter opposing state efforts to restrict reproductive rights in America. As of this May, more than 500 such restrictions have been introduced in the U.S. so far in 2021. What role should female leaders play in helping their C-suite navigate the grey areas of this highly divisive issue?
Alessandra Lezama: Personal values are the real pivot of the controversy surrounding reproductive rights in America. While we all have a right to our credence, the prevailing truth is that reproductive rights affect a woman’s body, and this is not subject to be controlled by the government or a foreign party. Women’s leadership is key in magnifying our voice and garnering support from men on women’s right to decide over their own bodies indistinctively from personal beliefs or values.
Nupur Bhushan: This question is a tough one for me primarily because I am not based in the U.S. From afar, this seems more of a political issue than a gender equality issue. That said, many gender challenges are sensitive and need to be navigated with open dialogue with the C-suite. A combination of employee engagement data, open conversations that enable personal experiences and story-telling, feedback from ERGs, external best practices, education, awareness and actual demographic data with trends on hiring, promotions, and turnover can be very powerful tools in getting the C-suite engaged. We’ve navigated pronouns, common bathrooms, and parental leave policies successfully in many cases. Of course, we haven’t always succeeded either, but the key is not to give up!
4. The racial justice movement brought to the forefront some of the systemic barriers that have also plagued the workplace. The concept of a concrete ceiling points to the factors preventing women of color from advancing at work. In your experience and/or opinion, how can companies be more mindful of the hurdles that women of color face, differently from their colleagues?
Antonia Luna: The concept of a concrete ceiling is such an important visual. With a glass ceiling you can see the possibility, but can’t get to it. You can’t see through concrete, so you don’t even get to see the possibility. In my opinion, we need to have an honest and open dialogue about gender, race and ethnicity, biases and micro-aggressions. We need to be intentional about becoming allies for women of color, advocating for them behind closed doors ensuring they are valued for their efforts, and speaking up when we hear micro-aggressions in the workplace.
MyMu Lu: This question underscores the importance of intersectionality. Though a woman of color, what I experience also can’t be generalized to all women of color. But I can share that as an Asian immigrant woman from a traditional Chinese family, these dimensions of my identity do impact my experience at work. (I was taught that women don’t need to be that successful, younger siblings shouldn’t speak up, and subordinates never question authority. Yet the workplace demands that I be confident but not controlling, work harder to prove that I do have the potential, stay on my toes to make sure I don’t give anyone an excuse to believe my success was derived from anything other than my achievements. All of this takes a mental toll and can lead to burnout.)
There are a couple of realities we need to acknowledge. First, the American workplace is often characterized by white and masculine standards of professionalism and qualifications. From superficial things like attire or hairstyle—I once had a colleague who was told she needed to wear more blazers and cut her hair short in order to look more professional and like a leader. Then there are arbitrary things like how leaders must act and work. You’ve likely heard that certain people (men) have executive presence and probably gravitated towards them too. But what are we weighing when say that? Are we truly considering their contributions or making an assessment based on societal stereotypes that have been planted in our heads? Do we let the collaborative nature of women unfairly peg them as lacking control or command? Women of color, in particular, must work twice as hard to fit the mold and disprove myths about their qualifications. I think companies can be more mindful of who they glorify and what they personify as leadership qualities so that women and women of color do not have to exert extra energy to fit the mold. If collaboration and giving everyone a voice is a positive trait, reinforce that at every level. Challenging the traditional “look and feel” of a leader will help us be more objective about performance and potential.
Second, the lack of representation makes it difficult for women of color to feel like they belong. Not seeing people like them (and this applies to any group), can deter women from even entering the field—many male-dominated industries can attest to how difficult it can be to recruit women and retain them. Lack of diversity and representation also reinforces unfair stereotypes of who is qualified to do certain roles. If we’re accustomed to female executive assistants, are we likely to think a male could not do that job as well—is that fair for males or females? I know many of us have heard, “I don’t really see her in that role…” Are those assessments objectives or an unconscious bias? Are we creating barriers to entry if we compare a candidate to a pool that doesn’t include their identity in the first place? Does the lack of women of color in leadership make them less qualified? I believe companies can be more intentional about hiring and promoting deserving women so that women, and women of color, can see a pathway to success. Have objective measures of success and don’t put the burden on women to prove their potential simply because we haven’t seen them in that role.
These are realities and challenges that any group may face. But a woman of color is fighting gender bias and racial bias—a double whammy. A lack of belonging can lead to a lack of psychological safety and self-doubt. The extra effort women of color must exert causes more mental stress, takes a bigger toll and distracts from what we can gain if women of color can bring their whole selves to work. Being intentional about supporting women of color simply levels the playing field and acknowledges that this group faces additional barriers differently from their peers.
5. Allyship, mentorship, and sponsorship are critical for supporting gender equity. What success have you personally or your company experienced in these areas?
Nupur Bhushan: Personally, when I moved to Australia, I really struggled with no network or women of color that I could seek for support in my initial years. Since then, I have been determined to help and support women of color, specifically from Indian sub-continent, if I can. Over the past 4-5 years, I’ve taken on at least 1 if not 2 mentees every year. I believe I have helped influence some career and personal decisions through these experiences but more importantly I learned a lot more about myself and from each of the amazing women I’ve had the privilege to speak with.
ResMed delved in trying out mentoring and coaching in multiple ways such as encouraging each C-suite member to take on 2 mentees as a part of their OKRs; tribally pairing mentors/mentees in a particular function with a diverse set of mentors from alternate areas of specializing has been an amazing opportunity for two-way learning.
Alessandra Lezama: In my experience, men have played an important role in providing me with a platform to have a voice and more importantly to have their ear. While it’s true, and much is said about how important it is for women to help other women in the workforce, in order to achieve true gender equality, we need men on board! Recognizing that men and women in the workplace can both be extremely successful while having completely different perspectives, work styles, etc. must be exemplified by men promoting and sponsoring more women purposefully.
Thanks to our amazing moderator, esteemed panelists, passionate sponsors, engaged participants, and powerhouse team, for showing up, for sharing, and for continuing to build community around getting equity right. We are honored to present quality programs like this to continue taking you from what is to what is possible.
Question: How would you rate your organization on closing the gender gap in the workplace?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
We’ve all come across them. Those leaders who people naturally gravitate toward. Though it seems counterintuitive, the magnetic effect these leaders have on people is not because of how people feel about the leader. It’s because of how the leader makes people feel about themselves.
These leaders have mastered the embodiment of two basic facts:
Fact 1: Every person matters.
Fact 2: Every person wants to feel valued.
By keeping these facts in mind, you can master the skills necessary to achieve leadership excellence. Here are three skills that will have the highest impact:
1. Help People Connect the Dots. In my post, “A Pharaoh Walks Into a Bar,” I illustrate why team members need to understand how their daily jobs fit into the big picture. It is your responsibility as a leader to help your team connect the dots. You may use formal tools like strategy maps, or pull up to your nearest whiteboard. Regardless of your delivery method, take the time to sit with your team members to help them visualize their role in the success of the organization.
2. Help People Grow. I know a CEO who likes to joke that, “The only thing worse than training your people and then they leave is not training your people and they stay!” All joking aside, one of the main reasons people give for leaving companies is that they stop growing. Growth brings energy, vitality, life, and challenge. Without growth, we’re just going through the motions. Create a culture of learning and growth to maximize the collective talent of your team.
3. Give People Sincere Appreciation. People who don’t feel appreciated are often the first to burn out or jump ship. It only takes a minute to recognize a team member for making a positive contribution. But, doing it right requires more than an occasional “thanks”. Give timely and specific praise to show your team members how you value their contribution. Here’s a quick demo to show you how.
One final secret to mastering leadership excellence – you can’t fake it. Leaders who genuinely care about their team members will invest the time to help each one feel valued. Be committed to helping them connect the dots, helping them grow, and giving them sincere appreciation. Every day is an opportunity to help people see the best in themselves and achieve their highest potential.
Question: What is one thing you can do today to help someone else feel valued?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
