2020 and the Decade of Accountability
Last month I sat down with diversity and inclusion consultant, Jennifer Brown, to discuss how brands can resonate with the next generation of talent. The conversation led to reflections on my personal growth and how conversations with brands are changing. The theme that comes up for me centers on accountability -- personal and professional ways we contribute to the workplace environment and help make it more inclusive. Let me share some highlights with you, or if you prefer, you can dive right in to listen in on the full podcast episode from The Will to Change, Sustainability through the Intersectional Lens (embedded at the end of this post).
Embracing intersectionality enhances our ability to affect change.
Our conversation started with how my early life experiences shape who I am today. My mother fought for the preservation of my Spanish given name, Jorge. And my personal and professional experiences have increased in value when I lean in to other intersectional aspects of my identity, as a self-described Afro-Latinx Queer affirming voice of the Puerto Rican diaspora. All of these descriptors influence how I navigate public and professional spaces, as well as what I fight for with an eye towards empathy for other marginalized communities. And while I value what that means for me, I see even more potential in what that means for the 157 million Americans in the workforce employed by the private sector. Statistics from Pew Research Center highlight the shifting demographics of the workforce, starting with Millennials as the largest generation to enter the workforce, to the challenge of employee unions and the well-documented gender pay gaps and inequities in hourly wages between white men and black men. In the spirit of taking an intersectional lens, explained by Kimberlé Crenshaw whom coined the term "intersectionality," while we acknowledge our identities, we also must investigate and understand how policy and legislation has been shaped historically to the detriment of women and people of color.
Employee Activism has led CEOs to center values alongside profit.
Here's a prediction. Next year the annual Edelman Trust Barometer will show a shift in the employer-employee contract, as we saw in 2019. Whereas 58% of employees "look to their employer to be a trustworthy source of information about contentious social issues," that number will not only sharply rise, but employees will begin to demand action. We are already seeing signs of this. Here's a segment from the podcast on this topic:
"I think one of the more interesting examples for me was how far Amazon employees have taken to the position around climate change so far as to issue a climate change proposal to the last shareholders meeting. That which didn’t actually get accepted -- but that lever, that agency being exercised by employees -- I think is the kind of example that we might see more employee resource groups begin to gain energy around." [sic]
That shareholder proxy was signed by 8,000 employees. Later, 15,500 had pledged to walk out a day before Bezos announced that the company would be moving to a carbon neutral position by 2040, largely with an autonomous vehicle fleet. Change is already happening in meaningful ways, and CEOs are listening.
You can expect the 2020 theme published by Edelman to say something like: Trust at Work leads to CEO Accountability. That would be a full 180 degree turn from 2002, when Edelman marked that year's theme as the "Fall of the Celebrity CEO." (see slide 3 of the Slideshare for a summary of "Trust in Retrospect")
Transparency and the availability of data will accelerate social change.
Finally, 2019 was a landmark year for the social impact sector, as the Business Roundtable announced the end of shareholder primacy by calling for companies to redefine the purpose of the corporation to promote "An Economy that Serves all Americans." The absence of the availability of data on equity issues has slowed progress, until now. If the 181 CEOs who signed this statement mean what they say, we will see companies report more on environmental, social and governance issues (ESG) along side the quarterly earnings.
When Just Capital released its 2020 Rankings of America's Most JUST Companies, it made history with its inaugural Quarterly Just Call with the CEO of PayPal, ranked #1 this year. Much like what Human Rights Campaign did with the Corporate Equality Index for LGBTQ inclusion and policy change in the workplace, Just Capital will propel CEOs to take action to create value for all stakeholders. Companies have the potential to allocate the much needed resources and capital to address climate change as well as gaps in education, skills and wealth for millions of Americans. Now we have more of the tools and the permission to hold them accountable.
Listen to more of my conversation with Jennifer Brown on The Will to Change Podcast, and share your thoughts with me about your hopes and predictions for 2020 and the next decade.
Happy new year!