CEOs vowed real change on racism. Now the real work begins

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In the wake of protests against systemic racism and police brutality, thousands of executives took to LinkedIn and other platforms pledging to eradicate racism from their organizations. 

Kenneth Thomas — a diversity and inclusion advocate — saw those messages and hoped for the best. He also prepared for the worst. Would any of these efforts lead to real change? 

“You see a lot of cynicism in this space because so many professionals are perceiving this as a public relations stunt,” he said. “It's symbolic gestures. And I think we need to really distinguish symbolic gestures from meaningful, actionable, tangible initiatives that really facilitate diversity, equity and inclusion.” 

Around five months since the protests began, corporate America is now being held accountable to live up to the anti-racism pledges they made. Last month, Citi announced a $1 billion initiative to close the racial wealth gap. This month, Starbucks announced it would tie executive compensation to meeting specific diversity goals. And just a few days ago Yale University issued a directive to its endowment managers to hire more women and minorities to run their fund. All these efforts aim to bring more equity into the workplace and curb the $16 trillion toll that systemic racism places on the U.S. economy. 

While more than half of Americans expect CEOs to be actively anti-racist, 71% said that most CEOs are incapable of recognizing racism around them, a recent Edelman survey discovered. To change this, companies need to have difficult conversations about racism and how it shows up at work, said PwC’s Chief Purpose & Inclusion Officer Shannon Schuyler. Schuyler belongs to the CEO Action Coalition, the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. In the past six months, Schuyler said the group saw a 40% increase in sign ups. 

Schyler believes the backdrop of the pandemic and the protests has made executives realize they can play a critical role in addressing this problem.

“People are finally understanding that we have to actually say the word systemic racism,” Schuyler said. “We have to make sure that we're realizing that bias comes through in a lot of different ways.”

Companies can use diversity training to reveal biases that are influencing corporate decision making. But these programs are now under threat by an executive order from President Trump that prohibits federal agencies, contractors and grantees from participating in them. The order claims that these trainings promote a “divisive” and “malign ideology” that the U.S. is an "irredeemably racist and sexist country." 

Kenneth Thomas says he finds the order troublesome because it positions diversity and inclusion efforts as anti-white male. 

“We do have to recognize that there has to be certain concessions made in order to facilitate and extend opportunities to minorities and women,” said Thomas, who is also the co-founder of the Minority and Women Contractor and Developers Association. “It's not about excluding white men. It's about facilitating opportunities for women and minorities.” 

And since white men are overrepresented in positions of power across the American workplace, nothing will change if they aren’t included in these conversations, added Schuyler. 

“White men are the ones who have created the system. But frankly, white men are the ones who are empowered to help change it,” she said. “They are the most robust group of allies that we can have. And if we believe anything over the last 25 years of data around why diversity [and] inclusion matters from a financial standpoint, this is something about...more people around the table and financial success.” 

Check out our full discussion in the video above. 

What’s Working 

Beyond the business case. We need to stop pointing to the business case behind building diverse teams and focus on the real problem: Inequality is bad for both business and society. When diversity initiatives promise financial gains but fail to deliver, people are likely to withdraw their support. Instead, corporations need to focus on investing in underrepresented groups no matter what, not just because there’s an economic case behind it. [HBR]

VCs push for founders of color. Earlier this year, I reported on the aggressive uphill battle founders of color face when trying to get funding. Groups of angel investors up in Chicago, Detroit and Miami are trying to change that by rethinking how early-stage startups are evaluated. [WSJ] 

A first in VC. Kara Nortman of Upfront Ventures is now the first woman to be promoted to co-managing partner at a large venture capital firm. Only 12% of decision makers at U.S.-based venture capital firms are women. [Techcrunch]

“Can someone take notes?” In a remote work environment, it’s critical that male allies think intentionally about how to support women on their team. One way is to ensure office housework — like taking notes in meetings — is evenly distributed, as women tend to take on more of this thankless work. Including and sponsoring women in projects that are critical to the company is important as well. [HBR]

What’s Not

Crisis for Latinas. While 80% of those who left the workforce in September were women, a vast majority of those women were Latina. Latinas left at nearly three times the rate of white women and more than four times the rate of African Americans. Latinas are not only more likely to work in industries that have been hard hit by the crisis, they also are more likely to maintain traditional views of motherhood during the pandemic, NPR reports. [NPR]

Dad is feeling the pain, too. While working mothers have felt the brunt of this pandemic when it comes to dropping out of the workforce and taking on more duties at home, working dads are also struggling. Labor force participation is down among working fathers and their engagement in the office is waning, according to new data out by Pew. [LinkedIn News] 

Who’s Pushing Us Forward 

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