The Artichoke of Privilege: Trusting the Experiences of Others

Inspired by personal experience and insights from my upcoming book, From Backcountry to Boardroom.

Now, let me start with a disclaimer: while I am a qualified this is in no way a training on DEI. There are incredible experts who dedicate their lives to this work, delivering exceptional experiences. I do want to bring in my very personal perspective and some starting points to share based on my own experiences and reflections.

I am a blonde-haired, blue-eyed "white" woman married to a man - so that alone provides a walking through the world with a sense of privilege in this country. My partner often jokes about my “white woman voice” when I’m booking a fancy restaurant reservation or my ability to avoid a speeding ticket because of my "ditsy blonde hair" —though I argue those days are behind me post-mid-30s! Nonetheless, I have walked through the world with inherent advantages.

But my journey began in Russia. My family immigrated to the U.S. and I experienced severe poverty at a young age. I grew up watching how differently people treated my family, who had thick accents, compared to how they treated me. By age seven, I spoke fluent English without an accent and "fit" seamlessly into my suburban environment. This dual experience—privilege combined with witnessing the biases against immigrants—shaped my understanding of the nuances of privilege slightly different than my peers with whom I'm looped into a box, quite literally, for any diversity reporting, training, or stereotyping.

A concept that resonates deeply with me is one I learned during a leadership course with Lisa Owens is that privilege is like an artichoke. Imagine the artichoke’s center as the cultural ideal in any given society—An artichoke has a center with leaves facing inward that hug the center as they go out.? It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, there is a human artichoke for your culture. Each culture has deemed certain qualities as better and some as worse. In the US, white heterosexual wealthy men are at the center. We could argue there are certain religions that have their advantages. The artichoke might change depending on your region. Either way, the center of the artichoke is the qualities that walk through the culture with the most privilege. This is based on the color of your skin (or lightness of it), your level of inherited wealth, gender, etc. Whatever is considered desirable in your culture is at the center of the artichoke. As you slowly work your way out is the next level of privilege until the least privileged (as defined in your culture) is the furthest from the center, the outer leaves of the artichoke. An artichoke’s leaves face inward just like privilege - designed so you only see in front of you.

Let’s take a simple example. The US corporate office was designed for and by men - predominantly. Even though women have been in the workforce for over 50 years at this point most office temperatures are still set for men’s bodies. It’s generally set to meet a man’s resting metabolic rate which is too cold for most women. Do men notice their female colleagues wearing sweaters in the summer? Or carrying shawls and fleece throws to meetings? Maybe, but mostly we joke that the woman is too cold and it becomes a lighthearted joke. Most men don’t think “wow my office is set my metabolic rate, I have noticed my female colleagues are too cold over time. What was wrong with this design?”

This is why I love this example. You can only see forward in this metaphor. The design of institutional power and privilege is so that we only see the privileges of those in front of us (the more privileged). As a woman, I notice when my male colleagues speak over me or make football references I can’t relate too. As a white woman, I don’t notice the small microaggressions my female colleagues of color experience when people comment on their hair or ask them to say a comment that’s representative for their entire group of people. So the most privileged cannot even visualize what the outer leaves experience every day. In order to really see or even believe what others experience as uncomfortable or unfair I have to work very hard at it.

As with my life, I had the unique opportunity of standing pretty close to the center of the artichoke because by the age of seven I spoke fluent English without an accent, had blonde hair/blue eyes in a suburb outside of NYC, and had picked up the cultural norms of my country. Also I had a first hand view on the outside as an immigrant whose parents had an accent. That firsthand experience of seeing how people spoke to my parents like they would NEVER consider speaking to me helped me trust the artichoke experience.

That’s really at the heart of it, isn’t it? You simply cannot be a successful leader if you cannot trust the artichoke experience of your colleagues. It doesn’t matter if you experience it or see it. It’s happening.

So where do you start?

Try to lean a little closer to the conversation.?

Now, I recognize cancel culture is a living breathing dragon in offices. People are generally terrified these day to have honest and authentic conversations. People are scared of having their intentions misjudged, not allowed to make mistakes and grow from them. It’s scary to try to lean towards the conversation and fear if you misstep you may be canceled - out of your career. I understand the fear, hell, I’m terrified to write this post. However, we will never fully understand all parts of everyone’s experience. There’s no certification that says “Yes, you have now mastered all power and privilege. You are a management expert.” Even experts will tell you the dialogue continues to evolve and expand as our human consciousness expands.

Why It Matters

It’s still worth it to learn about the conversation. Most people, do not wake up daily and think “I’m going to make someone’s life a living hell.” But the way that institutional oppression was designed is that you won’t know you're not unless you work really hard at it. Not only does it make you a better manager and uncover your blind spots - companies that embrace diversity outperform their peers. There are a few reasons for this as articulated in McKinsey’s How Inclusion Matters Report.

1. Make better decisions. Diverse perspectives slow down decision-making by prompting clarifying questions and discussions, leading to better outcomes.
2. Foster creativity and innovation. Varied experiences uncover blind spots and open opportunities for new markets, products, and insights.
3. Increase employee retention. Psychological safety—the sense that diverse opinions are valued—helps create a culture where people want to stay.

Where to Start

Everyone wants to start with hiring more representation —that’s definitely a big part of it. However, if you only focus on hiring diverse candidates, it’s likely they’ll leave if the culture doesn’t create a sense of belonging. The latest trends all point to the upcoming workforce will call your diversity beliefs into question.?

A recent example is when I hosted a focus group for a company. Their mission is to increase representation in the corporate world for women. One woman I asked to participate who I trust deeply responded they weren’t comfortable with my ask. She told me if this company wanted her opinion they should take a look at their own website and make sure it’s representative of all women. She didn’t see herself on the website and that was enough to dissuade her. The new generation in the workforce is doing this more and more: they’ll ask for evidence your word is not good enough. They want to see how you embrace diversity through training, commitment to equal pay, seeing themselves on your website ,etc.? Even that can be out of your hands as a manager so what can you do?

Step 1: Identify Your Biases

Harvard’s Implicit Association Test (IAT) is a free tool to uncover unconscious associations. For example, the IAT measures the strength of associations between concepts (e.g., gender, work) and evaluations (e.g., good, bad). Start here.

Here's an Example: One of the managers I worked with is married to a fierce woman who believed in equality. He too thought he believed in equality. He would never tell her she shouldn’t work and was a huge ally and supporter of her. We all worked together. His Director would tell me he would immediately throw away resumes if there was a gap between any jobs listed. When we sat down to discuss, he wasn’t aware that often the gap was on a woman’s resume. She left the workforce to take care of her child in the first couple years - a pretty common occurrence in the US with the lack of affordable healthcare and childcare. He didn’t realize he was single handedly contributing to the lack of women in the workforce - not just any women but highly qualified candidates who even were applying under their skillset and salary worth because they left the workforce. What was his blindspot? Did his subconscious shortcut say “women who take time off work aren’t qualified”, or “people who take time off aren’t qualified”? Or was it simply his lack of awareness that people who have gaps on their resumes are often caretakers? I have a feeling it was the latter. When he took the test he saw that he has some subconscious shortcuts that men belong at work and women belong at home. He’s not a bad person - this is a natural shortcut that exists in many people’s brains. After taking the test and talking to his manager he became aware of the connection in his brain and actively worked on NOT throwing away resumes that had gaps.?

• Old Pattern: Resume → Gap → Reject
• New Pattern: Resume → Gap → Evaluate Qualification → Investigate Gap → Decide

This new pattern will take some time to become the new shortcut but each time we try to do better we improve 1%. That’s what we can do each day.

Step 2: Map Your Power & Privilege

Use Sylvia Duckworth’s Power and Privilege Wheel to examine:

• Take a look the Power & Privilege Wheel by Sylvia Duckworth through these three lenses:

• Once for yourself, have you identified all the ways you do and don’t hold power based on the privileges identified in the image?
• Once for your personal life. What’s your circle of friends and family’s power make up? How many friends do you have among these lines?
• Once for your professional community. Are you in touch with understanding some of the challenges others facing who are closer to marginalized?

Now, I recognize this chart isn’t perfect - like everything else you’ll experience learning about there aren’t many things that are perfect. This is one step you could take to shift your own position forward. I could have recommended you take a class on leading diverse teams or increase diverse candidates on your hiring slates - both are which you should absolutely do but I truly believe the self work has to come too. Before looking outward it’s important to fully understand yourself and what contributed to your brain’s shortcuts. If you only have friends and work with people that fall closer to the center it will be hard to understand some of the realities of those closer to the outside circle.

Step 3: Expand Your Circle

Now that you know how you identify, who you spend time with, and have a lens at the makeup of your team, it’s time to expand your circle. Some ideas include:

• Look up your company’s current opportunities to learn. Are there resource groups? Join them and learn more about the discussions groups are having about your current culture and workspace.
• Ask if there are resources or training you could take part of that already exist. Some companies will send managers to workshops to help drive inclusion at their company or have resources on how to set up a job description or interview to be more inclusive.
• Pick up a book or podcast. Do a simple internet search on the “top ten books/podcasts from undocumented/trans/women/mental health/etc authors”. You don’t have to only read about struggles different people have in their life or work. The goal is to expand your shortcuts. The more you learn about a culture the less likely you are to make snap judgements that hold someone’s career back.

Step 4: Audit Your Team’s Dynamics

This is in your locus of control. Start to audit your own group. I can’t tell you how many times a group of men don’t notice they have a whole team of men in a whole organization until it’s brought to their attention (the artichoke). When it is brought up - they’re horrified. “How did this happen? How did we not notice?” Don’t waste time on shame and embarrassment: the system was designed to make sure we don’t notice. It's called systemic oppression for a reason.?

Now, knowing and not doing anything about it… you can place your shame there if you need it. If you have a diverse team, how diverse is it? What I mean by that is do you have only one “check that diversity box” employee? It’s harder to foster inclusion if the only diversity you have is singled out in every meeting. If so, keep that in the back of your mind when you’re looking for new teams. It won’t change without your intentional attention. Remember: that’s by design.

Now, what are the topics you’re discussing?

Are you possibly excluding members of your team?

Recently, at a sales offsite one of the VPs tried to rally 250 leaders. The theme was “we not me.” It was a great metaphor that in order to win we had to think about the team. He used a football metaphor about how the lineman never touches the ball but still celebrates when the team won. Why? Because he cleared the pathway for the runner to get across the goal line. I thought it was a great metaphor. The sales women in the room? Not so much. They were incredibly offended that the only metaphor our VP could find for being a team was a sport dominated by men. For the next week, the women’s resource group brainstormed other sports metaphors to use that are gender inclusive.

Even more granular, what are the topics discussed before your team meetings get started. Is everyone talking?

Are the same two folks dominating the conversation?

Keeping an eye on this will take practice and work but the more you can develop your spidy senses, the less likely you are to let bias go unchecked.

This journey is incremental. Each step forward rewires biases and creates space for a more equitable future. As I reflect during the Day of Understanding, I’m reminded that inclusion begins with awareness and is sustained by action.

Together, let’s commit to doing something differently—starting today.

#leadershipdevelopment #leadership

? 2024 Olga Feingold. All rights reserved. This content may not be reproduced, distributed, or used in any form without prior written permission.