Five Ways CMOs Derail DEI
Lisa Nirell
Helping mindful leaders cultivate healthy companies and careers | lisanirell.com | HBR contributor | C-Suite Coach | Marketing Growth Leaders.com | 100 Coaches member | Keynote speaker | Open water swimmer | MEA grad
DEI is a topic whose time has come, yet it’s rife with complexity for marketers, communicators, and leadership teams. During our quarterly Marketing Growth Leaders ? gathering, we discussed the common obstacles CMOs need to avoid with DEI efforts.
The role of marketing leaders in shaping and implementing DEI strategy requires us to be transparent, vulnerable, and open to solutions.?
We welcomed special guest Rohit Bhargava, the CEO of The Non-Obvious Company and co-author of Beyond Diversity . Bhargava and his co-author, Jennifer Brown, interviewed 200 leaders and DEI experts and provided rich perspectives.?
Our “gloves off” discussion helped us avoid common pitfalls, avoid strategy “over-reach,” and?share proven strategies. I’m confident our members are much better equipped to make DEI a successful element of their organizations’ purpose and growth strategy.?
Check out my latest post for our key findings and some useful learning resources.?
P.S. If you are looking to surround yourself with other growth leaders to reduce isolation, accelerate your thinking, and propel your career, drop me a note.
DEI is a topic whose time has come, yet it’s rife with complexity for marketers, communicators, and leadership teams. Here are some common obstacles CMOs need to avoid with DEI efforts:
1. Ignoring people’s emotions around DEI. In our group, our emotions ranged from anxious, curious, ignorant, frustrated, and eager. Recognize that we may make some mistakes along the DEI path, and that resistance is normal. DEI encompasses many different groups, voices, and personalities. That’s part of the learning process.
2. Designing a DEI strategy without a hypothesis or customer data. It’s tempting to build your strategy or programs around a strong leader’s opinion. UVA Professor Kim Whitler recently cautioned us of leading DEI solely through opinion and intuition: “How does this shift reflect some evolved understanding of the totality of consumers — and not one subset of consumers? What evidence is there that this shift will fortify the overall brand-consumer relationship? Or is this an untested hypothesis?”
3. Not knowing where to begin. In our CMO gathering, we discussed what first steps we should take to build our DEI strategy and message. A seasoned strategy executive recently asked “should we focus first on changing our values systems first, or focus on learning new behaviors?
After a robust debate, we agreed that changing behavior is the more prudent option. Revisiting or changing your company’s purpose requires a much heavier lift, and further delays your ability to create a more equitable workplace.
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4. Forgetting the power of competitive spirit. Want to rapidly gain stakeholder commitment? Talk about your competitors’ DEI progress in your messaging – especially if they are outpacing you.?
The pandemic era taught us that talent votes with their feet. You cannot afford to completely ignore your competitors’ positions and their purpose. Great employees could already be entertaining offers from them.?
The space race illustrates how healthy competition can fuel significant change. The USA’s 20-year space race with the Soviet Union exemplifies the power of peaceful competition. It worked—NASA was able to outspend and subsequently out-produce more spacecraft and satellites than Russia.
5. Missing links to real results. It’s common to find CMOs and C-Suite leaders designing DEI efforts around “feel good” metrics.
Case in point: I find it a stretch to connect my M&M? candy craving to feelings of belonging. Yet M&M? ‘s Chief Growth Officer, Cathryn Sleight, attempted to make that leap in this press release . “Offering resources, mentorship and opportunities” (from the lofty press release) carries little to no weight in the boardroom, and rightly so.?
Public companies are especially vulnerable to broad aspirational language. Last September, billionaire Nelson Peltz accused Unilever of “burnishing their sustainability credentials at the expense of financial performance.” The Financial Times described the kerfuffle in some detail. The perils of excessive focus on DEI at the expense of customers and business performance also has a price.
Chief Diversity Officer turnover and disillusionment is real; avoid contributing to it. This Wall Street Journal article offers some clues as to the causes. If you have a CDO peer, help them link their worthy efforts to business KPIs that stakeholders care about.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by this nascent movement. It’s tempting to throw up our hands and return to our marketing swim lane. DEI-minded leaders think differently. They look for small victories and celebrate them. Here are a few:
Today, marketing leaders have an opportunity to write a new playbook for how we market, how we communicate, and how we celebrate diversity. Don’t let tradition and unconscious habits derail human potential and performance.
Copyright 2022, Lisa Nirell. All rights reserved.
I take a handyman approach to the field of experience, bridging the gap between strategic objectives and frontline realities. Experience improves. So does your P&L.
2 年Lisa Nirell your opening comment forewarns "complexity" yet it seems your observations are wonderfully practical.
Helping mindful leaders cultivate healthy companies and careers | lisanirell.com | HBR contributor | C-Suite Coach | Marketing Growth Leaders.com | 100 Coaches member | Keynote speaker | Open water swimmer | MEA grad
2 年Rohit Bhargava - thank you for spending the morning with our Marketing Growth Leaders!
Regional Economic Development Executive - Clarity & Alignment Assessments - Consulting and Executive Coaching - Small Businesses Optimization for Growth & Profit
2 年Thanks Lisa - I always enjoy your content!