Representational Opportunity
How do we turn the checkbox values of Diversity and Inclusion into real progress?
Feature article from "The Day After Tomorrow" series in the Spring 2021 issue of Sacred Heart University Magazine
by Steve Neumann
One of the apprehensions surrounding diversity, in a company as in a country, is that it represents different wants, needs and interests that might put people at odds with each other. But precisely because the challenges of modern life are so complex, the benefits of viewing them from the multiple perspectives of a diverse populace greatly outweigh the risks. Besides, far from being combative, healthy debate is a boon for both business and democracy.
For a long time, corporate America seemed to ignore the fact that diversity could be good for both the organizational culture and the bottom line. However, thanks to the searchlights provided by the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements of the past several years, companies have begun not only to embrace diversity but to realize that it means nothing without inclusion, without employees from underrepresented groups feeling like they’re not just there, but that they belong there. In the words of educator and activist Verna Myers, “Diversity is being asked to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.”
Companies are also beginning to discover that, when all members of an organization take responsibility for their own behaviors, educate themselves about racism and privilege and get and accept feedback from people in underrepresented groups, their organization not only can recruit but can retain the best talent from that wider pool diversity has to offer.
Aisha Lubin Losche ’07, senior vice president of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) at marketing agency Hill Holliday, has been working within that crucible of diversity, turning the lead of difference into the gold of business success and interpersonal growth.
For Losche, one of the ways to retain the best talent is to shift the onus onto those who don’t have the explicit role of EDI—to become allies and advocates for change. EDI cannot be owned by one person or team. It is the work of everyone within the firm to move inclusion further. Without that accountability, the deck of cards that is the diverse workplace just gets shuffled around, preventing the organization from playing its strongest hand. “If the diverse talent is in the room but not being heard or rewarded by management,” Losche says, “then the equity of the underrepresented is going to remain on the plateau where it’s been for decades.
“You will be hard pressed to find an EDI practitioner who hasn’t heard resistance from a small population of their talent,” she admits. “Some people don’t feel like it’s appropriate or that it’s political. However, we must uproot and update systems of oppression within corporate cultures. The business case for diversity has always been valid. Having an equitable workplace is the goal, and a beneficial consequence is that companies’ performance and profits increase due to the diversity.”
Brittany Brown ’11 is another Sacred Heart alumna working on education and accountability in the EDI space. In her role as chief of staff, Brown helps build EDI strategy with her leadership team for a global organization of 64,000 employees.
Brown cites the killing of George Floyd and subsequent protests this past summer as a catalyst for companies to approach the topic of race in the workplace and to reflect on how they support raising awareness of the effects racial violence has on its employees of color and how inequity is perpetuated within an organization.
“Those were conversations most companies weren’t even having,” Brown says. “How do we make sure your colleagues feel comfortable to even have those conversations and bring up those topics with their leaders? And how do you ensure that your Black employees aren’t the ones who are doing all the educating?”
Brown agrees with Losche that accountability has to accompany education about equity, diversity and inclusion. To that end, Brown believes that a promising way forward is for companies to have all members of the organization focus more on allyship.
As outlined in an article published in the Harvard Business Review this past November, the concept of allyship is “a strategic mechanism to become collaborators, accomplices and co-conspirators who fight injustice and promote equity in the workplace through supportive personal relationships and public acts of sponsorship and advocacy.” 1
The authors of the article go on to delineate some of the steps needed to shift the onus of responsibility that Aisha Losche believes is necessary for there to be actual, as opposed to theoretical, equity in an organization.
First and foremost, the authors suggest that employees educate themselves on the history of systemic racism and other types of exclusion in America. Then, if they benefit from any privilege because of their race, gender or other advantage, they should acknowledge it and use it to benefit others. They should also seek and accept feedback from marginalized groups, even becoming a confidant or sponsor of marginalized coworkers. Finally, they should actively work to build a community of allies.
Brown says allyship has to start with the acknowledgment that there is inequity. But looking honestly into the mirror can be hard, and so both Brown and Losche believe that bringing in external experts to start the process of education can help with that realization. Then, once a more honest assessment has been taken, employees can focus on the different types of ally they can be.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re an ally to somebody who’s disabled or somebody who’s Black or Hispanic,” Brown says. “It’s about putting yourself in the shoes of somebody who might not have had access to the same types of programs and opportunities that you have.”
The past year’s perfect storm of racial violence and deadly pandemic—which has hit both people of color and women the hardest—has begun to force conversations in the nation’s cubicles and boardrooms about what makes an organization more inclusive and equitable.
Though researchers have struggled to establish a causal relationship between diversity and financial performance—especially at large companies, where the effects of any individual’s business decisions can be tough to quantify—a McKinsey & Company report presented evidence in 2015 that companies in the top quartile for gender or racial diversity are more likely to have financial returns above their national industry medians.2 Conversely, companies in the bottom quartile were less likely to achieve above-average returns. Additionally, a 2018 Boston Consulting Group study claimed that companies with more diverse management teams have 19% higher revenues, which they attribute to an increase in innovation.3
While the McKinsey report also included the caveat that “greater gender and ethnic diversity in corporate leadership doesn’t automatically translate into more profit,” the authors nevertheless concluded that “the correlation does indicate that when companies commit themselves to diverse leadership, they are more successful.”
So whether it’s a matter of attracting and retaining talent, improving responsiveness to the diverse needs of a diverse world or, more likely, a combination of the two, diversity is more than a moral mission—it’s also good for business. Sacred Heart University alumnae like Aisha Losche and Brittany Brown are in the trenches of those corporate environments, making sure those self-reflective conversations are taking place.
1 Melaku, Tsedale M, Angie Beeman, David G Smith, and W Brad Johnson. “Be a Better Ally.” Harvard Business Review, October 20, 2020.
https://hbr.org/2020/11/be-a-better-ally
2 Hunt, V., Layton, D., & Prince, S. (2015, February). Diversity Matters.
https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/organization/our%20insights/why%20diversity%20matters/diversity%20matters.pdf
3 Lorenzo, R., Voigt, N., Tsusaka, M., Krentz, M., & Abouzahr, K. (2018, January). How Diverse Leadership Teams Boost Innovation.
https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/how-diverse-leadership-teams-boost-innovation