Is DEI Canceled?
“One voice can change a room, and if one voice can change a room, then it can change a city, and if it can change a city, it can change a state, and if it can change a state, it can change a nation, and if it can change a nation, it can change the world.” ― Barack Obama
What is Your Why for DEI?
Happy July to everyone! Here in the States, we celebrated Independence Day. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend the week with family and friends. Throughout this week though, I’ve gotten the same questions from them: "What’s going to happen to DEI?" "Are companies canceling DEI?" "Is anyone doing DEI right now?" I’ll tell you the same answer I told them. You can’t cancel DEI. Because DEI is now and has always been about people. So instead of asking if companies are canceling it, let me turn the question back to you? Why are you continuing to commit to it?
Maybe it's your children, or your family. Maybe it's because you've experienced prejudice. Maybe you want to make your workplace better for you and your colleagues. Maybe you want to grow as a leader. Or maybe it's the legacy you want to leave behind. I want to share with you my reason for doing this work, my why.
My Why for DEI
This is a story I’ve told to many people over the years. Now I’m sharing it with you. I came to this country twenty years ago to go to college. This story is about my very first time flying back home after winter break with my family. I’m going from Kingston to Miami to JFK, after which I must take a shuttle and two trains to get to school just outside of New York City, in the middle of the night. I'm connecting through Miami airport and just a few minutes away from boarding my flight; I have my wallet safely in one pocket (with just enough cash to get home) and my boarding pass safely in my other pocket when I feel a slight brush on my side.
Someone has stolen my wallet!
I have no money, I have no credit cards, I have no cell phone (it was a different time, y’all), I'm eighteen years old, I don't know what to do. And my mother, who is living in Botswana and who I’m supposed to call as soon as I get back to school, is going to be so worried when she doesn’t hear from me. I'm scared, and I start to cry. So, what could I do? I could still board the plane; I still have my boarding pass and passport. So, I go to board the plane and the flight attendant sees me and says, “Oh honey! What’s wrong?” I’m crying and I tell her. I tell her that my wallet has been stolen and I’m just trying to get back to school, I tell her that my mother is going to be so concerned, I tell her that I’m scared, and I tell her I don’t know what to do. She looks at me and says, "Don’t worry about it. We got you." As I’m sitting in the back of the plane, trying to get myself together, I hear the pilot come on the intercom. He says all the typical things a pilot says before a flight, but then he says something different, something I will never forget.
“This is going to be a great flight for a lot of you, but for one person it’s not going to be. See, her wallet was stolen and she’s just trying to get back to school. I know if you were her mom, you’d want her to get back safely. I’m going to pass around my pilot’s hat, if you could put any money in it for her, I want to be able to tell her mom that we got her back home safely.” He did pass around his hat. And that plane raised $300 for me. I got back to school safe, I called my mom, and she was very happy to hear from me.
That's my why. That's why I do this work. Because I believe in us. Because that's what inclusion is. Because I believe in a world where we will support each other, where we will lift each other up when we stumble. Where we will absolutely make sure nobody gets left behind.
That is the work of diversity, that is the work of equity, that is the work of inclusion.
Now you know more about my story and my why. What is your why? Why are you committed to this work? As you reflect on your various reasons why, it is my hope that these 10 Guiding Principles of Diversity Work inspire your journey and help you to enact the real changes needed.
Do the work
This week, I commit to reviewing the Guiding Principles for Diversity Work, reflecting on the many reasons this work needs to be done and determining my own Why for DEI.
Spread the word
If you want to keep going
Bias Interrupters for Interviews and Evaluations
Now that you have started your unconscious bias journey, it's time to enter the next phase - diving into the hiring and evaluation biases that arise throughout the recruitment, onboarding, and evaluation processes. Join me for a one-of-a-kind program where you will be challenged to reflect on how you recruit new employees, your checklists for interviewing, what considerations you should have before during and after each conversation, and how we can effectively and fairly advocate for whom we want to bring into our organizations.
