Inclusion & Diversity

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others.” -MLK Jr.

Introduction

Everyone of us in the corporate world, at some point, should have come across the term “Inclusion and Diversity”. Lot of efforts have been made to recruit consultants and even hire people to teach what Inclusion and Diversity means and how we should practice these. But little progress has been made; there is still a stark disparity in society when it comes to pay parity and representation of diverse people. Discrimination is actually quite relevant in today’s world. This deep rooted problem has garnered the nation's attention - especially with the last few words of George Floyd “I can’t breathe”. We can all have disagreements on topics and issues, but one thing we can most certainly agree on are the inalienable rights of all human beings. Racism is not up for debate. The intent of this blog is to address some of the prevalent systemic problems and discuss systemic solutions for them. 

What is the real problem?

The problem at its root is “systemic racism” or “institutional racism”. It captures ideas of everyday thinking at a systems level: taking in the big picture of how society operates, rather than looking at one-on-one interactions. These systems can include laws and regulations, but also unquestioned social systems. Systemic racism can stem from education, hiring practices, or even basic access to resources many of us take for granted. Simply put bigotry, discrimination and disparity of wealth is growing too rapidly, despite the best efforts of several people. 

A systemic problem needs a systematic solution.  

Let’s look at a few fundamental problems and potential solutions.

The Social Bubble 

We are raised with a belief of what is right and what is wrong; these are not experiential facts, but are opinions lodged in our minds as facts. Think about it, how many times do we actually refer to things that our parents, friends, and/or colleagues have informed us? Our judgement is often a reflection of what we believe. Our beliefs are influenced by our thoughts. Our thoughts are informed by those that we hear from the most (i.e. family, friends, social media, etc). Thereby, our judgment is actually just a reflection of the thoughts of people we trust and the content we surround ourselves with. It is the “social bubble” we grow up in. 

To reason this further, let’s take a closer look at the current education system and how even minor improvement can help expand this “bubble”. What is the end goal of an education? A degree, a job, a career even. It is certainly not focused on creating a good human being in society; rather just a standardized format to impart curriculum in a haste. It is actually the experience in a college education where you often begin to form a sense of what we term today as Diversity & Inclusion. A few facts about lack of diversity in our college education today: 36.6% of women in the United States had completed four years or more of college in 2019. This figure is up from 3.8% of women in 1940 [1]. A significant increase can also be seen in males, with 35.4% of the U.S. male population having completed four years or more of college, up from 5.5% in 1940 [1]. Although, we have come a long way since 1940; it is simply not enough. Knowing that almost 63.4% of women and 64.5% of men don’t even have a four year degree; it shows us how deep this systemic education problem actually is. This is important because college, especially an undergraduate education, are formative years for many adolescents. It is the time students get to explore the unknown, form opinions, and educate themselves on current issues.

Popping the social bubble starts at home. At home, with family and friends, is where we can first begin to spread awareness and educate ourselves. Here, it is essential to both listen and communicate frequently. A good human is not just born or raised; a good human evolves with the times. A righteous individual is the starting point for lasting change. Today, I am reminded of the speech delivered to the European parliament by the former President of India, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam:

When there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in character. When there is beauty in character, there is harmony at home. When there is harmony at home, there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world.

Therefore responsibility starts right at home by imparting the right values, respecting each other's beliefs, and educating each other; kids are sometimes the best teachers. One thing we should not do is absolve ourselves from this duty - all of us are accountable for systemic problems. It is our responsibility to check ourselves daily for biases, stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. 

An equally significant step in popping the social bubble comes from fixing the education system. We can all agree that the education system is nowhere near perfect today. But what is not acceptable is that it is not a priority for the government or the people. An inclusive, diverse education should be a key agenda for all public schools. This change cannot happen unless we are actively involved. Skills like empathy towards people who look different, accountability for inappropriate comments or worse bullying, and an active anti-racism check for all students are basic requirements. Ideally, we need a dedicated curriculum for K-12 schools and colleges that values soft skills as much as it does academics or sports. In fact, there have been some efforts around this specifically by the likes of Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation around the Nation of Hope project. The project promotes social, emotional, and academic learning; stating that “it is the substance of learning itself” [2][3]. Education should also be factual and standardized across the country. A recent article by New York times titled “TWO STATES. EIGHT TEXTBOOKS. TWO AMERICAN STORIES” [4], brings to light how distorted US History Textbooks are based on the state they are published in. We should not be part of the system which allows two different interpretations of the “Harlem Renaissance”. The truth is simple; fact-based. To be better informed, each one of us is responsible for ensuring that the next generation learns all the facts in history rather than omitted ones. Changing the narrative does not help impart the right learnings, in fact we have witnessed history simply repeating itself if we do not learn from the past. Publishers and politics should not be allowed to distort history. History must be depicted as it happened with all the facts. Even if it was ugly. We all learn from our mistakes. As I often share with my colleagues: “Make lots of mistakes but make each of them only once and learn from them”. In the end, to assure an inclusive future we must be proactive with more educational reforms that put an equal emphasis on soft skills as they do on academic skills there by replacing the social bubble that we grow up in.

Accountability for content 

Another critical, yet widely ignored problem is misinformation. Whether it is quoting wrong facts or targeted advertising that swings elections, we are surrounded by misinformation. And it has become significantly more rampant with the boom of social media. For example, let’s take a closer look at the state of the Union address on February 5, 2020. A quick Factcheck.org [5] check of this speech shows us 14 distorted facts - that’s a lot of misrepresented information coming from the leadership in this country. Politics and party bias aside, the representation of these facts may seem harmless. But, when it is broadcasted to millions around the world, the accuracy and tone of such messages becomes significantly more relevant. Therefore as leaders, it is our utmost responsibility to state the truth.

We must hold ourselves and the people around us to a higher standard when it comes to the information we share and consume. Today we have set a low bar for ourselves and others, unless under oath, we are not obliged to tell the truth. This needs to change. We must expect that news outlets, social media, and individuals review content for factual accuracy, as they are being streamed or published. Recently, twitter exemplified corporate responsibility of information on their platform by placing a warning on the US President’s tweet: “This Tweet violated the twitter rules glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the tweet to remain accessible” [6]. Now more than ever, there is a pressing need to step up and take accountability for content. Simple steps like fact checking content and warning readers about the quality of the content can help reduce a lot of bigotry and discrimination that stems from misinformation. 

Empathy a REQUIRED skill

People in positions of authority simply lack empathy. We can clearly see that for party politics and voter loyalty, many of our leaders promote bigotry and discrimination without giving it a second thought. Several people in positions of power are not evaluated on empathy. When was the last time we sorted out a skilled and empathetic CEO? Even a police officer is never asked to demonstrate their skills in empathy. A leader or manager is never truly exposed to case studies in diversity or training on how to overcome bias. The focus of recruitment has always been in getting an individual to fill a role which is predefined. 

As important as one's technical or academic skills are for a position, employers today must also begin to assess empathy as a hiring requirement. Retraining takes effort, but it is an important first step in the process. Be cautious about this, it should not become another check-the-box exercise! We should mandate the need for a change management plan that can truly drive this amongst employees. Even the people in public service should be held to the same standard as any of us in the corporate world. We have witnessed evidence of leaders in public service openly get away with both bigotry and discrimination. One must realize that employment even in the public service sector is a privilege NOT an entitlement. Jill Suttie, the review editor of Great Good Magazine, has written an insightful article - “Can Empathy Improve Policing” [7]. The research in this article illustrates that novel training programs with a focus on empathy significantly enables police officers to listen, stay calm, and even communicate during charged encounters. This has also proven to lead to fewer arrests and less use of force. Such a policy can strike the balance of and begin to address the systemic problems in policing. We see evidence that building empathy is not optional, but a requirement. Let us embrace such a concept and demand this as a policy. 

Another perfect example of what happens when empathy becomes a required skill in the corporate world is well illustrated in “The Ordinary Heroes of the Taj” - a night under terrorist attack when ordinary people became extraordinary[8] On November 26, 2008 the Taj Hotel in Mumbai was under a terrorist attack where over 1000+ guests and employees were held hostage. It is important to note that the employees of the hotel were trained in hospitality, not how to handle a crisis situation. Yet, somehow, even when the whole hotel was under lockdown they managed to save 1200-1500 guests with only 31 casualties of which 11 were hotel employees themselves. How did they save so many people when they were not trained to do so? When Harvard Business Review investigated this as a case study, they found that the recruitment and training process at this Hotel emphasized customer empathy. This became the primary reason why none of the hotel staff escaped when they had the chance to. None of them put themselves above their customers. Not one of them was selfish that night. It proves that a simple skill like empathy should be the minimum baseline for communities, organizations, and even countries.

A path from disparity to parity

Position of power is measured in wealth creation and often stimulates greed. How many of us know the richest people in the world? Most of us for sure. But, how many of us actually know the top givers in America? Did you know that the Walton family is ranked #4 in America’s Top Givers list?[9] Whether it is a company’s performance or an individual’s success, we value people and corporations based on a very short term proof of financial stability. If we truly want to be inclusive, then we need to start by finding a solution for the huge disparities in salaries today.“In 2018, Fortune 500 CEOs, who earned approximately $14.5 million on average, included just four Black people and 10 Latinos — less than 3 percent of the total” [10]. Additionally, in the United States, “Within racial groups, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows the largest pay gaps between men and women appear among Whites and Asians — not because Latinos and Black women have made faster progress towards equity but because average pay for men in these groups falls far below the compensation of White and Asian men” [10]. We see this stark disparity in salaries because, oftentimes, meeting a budget can be more important than making the right decision for an individual. A lot of businesses base the hiring practices on supply vs demand, current vs future for skill pricing, and incremental over existing pay. In turn, we completely miss out on the bigger picture of Diversity & Inclusion which is role based pay parity.

To fix the systemic disparity, we need more representation of people of color; a solution which provides more opportunities for them compared to other privileged people. To provide equal opportunity, enrollment in colleges and public services must consider a mechanism to level the playing field as well as normalize the level of difficulty depending on the socio economic conditions. Privileged people can dismiss this proposal as a quota system, but such a system is necessary to help accelerate people of color to be represented fairly in societal decision making. One of my colleagues, also Head of HR, stated that: “I would like the recruitment process to redact all information about the person and make public only on skills for shortlisting candidates. I think such a system will remove the bias in the recruitment process and is one of the best practices.” We should mandate that organizations, both private and public, publish pay inequalities as part of quarterly financial reporting. To make a path from disparity to parity, such measures are essential.

There is still hope for a better tomorrow 

For a better tomorrow, we need to stand up for the cause, speak up to be heard, and be vulnerable. Staying silent is not an option - Black Lives Matter. Inclusion and Diversity cannot not remain a slogan. Change begins with me and I am committed to this journey. I am hopeful that many others will join this cause. As indicated in one of my earlier blog’s, I have hopes for a better world. Inspired by the philosophy in Maha Upanishad [Ch. 6, Verse 72] of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - I truly believe that “World is a Family” [11]. The need for Inclusion and Diversity has become more urgent than ever before. To be seen and treated as equal is a right not an expectation, we must hold each other accountable for our actions everyday. We must also hold our policy makers to a very high standard, they should be accountable for their behavior and actions in public. A better tomorrow is when everyone is able to say: 

“Every place is home, everyone is my family.” -Kaniyan Pungundranar 

References

[1]- Americans with a college degree 1940-2018, by gender

[2]- https://k12education.gatesfoundation.org/blog/what-were-learning-2/

[3]- https://nationathope.org/report-from-the-nation/

[4]-https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/12/us/texas-vs-california-history-textbooks.html

[5]- https://www.factcheck.org/2020/02/factchecking-the-state-of-the-union-3/

[6] - https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1266272860961554432

[7[- https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/can_empathy_improve_policing

[8]- https://hbr.org/2011/12/the-ordinary-heroes-of-the-taj

[9]- https://www.forbes.com/top-givers/#52a30c8a66ff

[10]- https://inequality.org/facts/racial-inequality/#racial-wealth-divide 

[11]- First Principles blog 2