It's time to get on board, change is inevitable.

I don’t claim to be an expert on DEI, because there is always more to learn. The reality is that I can never fully grasp the lived experiences of those with different identities as I will always be in my own body. However, what’s important is the ongoing commitment to learning and openness. Today, and for the last several years (and in many ways over the last few decades), my work has been focused on building diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces. But learning and growth are constant. Being intentional about listening to and understanding others’ experiences is crucial if we care about growth and social change. This journey demands relentless curiosity, humility, and the willingness to admit when we are wrong. It requires empathy, compassion, deep listening, and a profound appreciation for the power of diversity..

Through this learning, I've reached a point where I can’t “unsee” the things that require change --Change that?I?myself must still undergo. Change that?organizations?must undergo. Change that?society?must undergo.?

In addition to our coaching and leadership work today at The Huuman Group?, I have been doing equitable and inclusive cultures work on various levels since, what feels like, the beginning of time –long before organizations even recognized the full importance of having a diverse and equitable workforce. For decades, my background in international business had me living and/or working in Latin America and Africa, Asia and Europe, in addition to the US.??My role in strategic marketing and “Rest of World” business (a term now outdated) required my “feet on the street” and a deep cultural understanding of the people, culture, geography, socio-economic factors, religion and politics, of the region. Alignment with the local region meant embedding myself within the culture as much as was possible and working hard to view the world through their lens.???The locals in every country in which I lived and/or worked were my teachers. I grew as a human-being in every country, every time. I understood the feeling of being an outsider (because of my skin color, my language, my (lack of) religion, my socio-economic status, my gender, my marital status, my motherhood status (or lack of), etc and what it took to build trust and earn respect. I became a better version of myself, the more I learned about others.

But, the?biggest?challenge was always in bringing back that learning to the US in a way that could evoke positive change --change in the way these US centered organizations had been operating and existing since their conception. But doing so was always difficult when the insides of the organization did not emulate (or understand) the markets in which it aimed to serve. Without representation at the leadership level, mis-alignment was common and unintended negative consequences arose more often than not. My job became more about coaching leaders not only in the cultural nuances of regions but in self-awareness, empathy, opening them up to “seeing” things in new ways, and the opportunity that existed in difference.?

When we build an organization that does?not?emulate the markets it serves, growth is virtually impossible.??Let me repeat that. When we build an organization that does?not?emulate the markets it serves, growth is virtually impossible.

While the work of DEIB as a corporate focus is becoming much more sophisticated, representation is the requirement in its most basic form.?Plain and simple. Making the inside of your company look more like the market you serve means you have decision makers/leaders that have differing views on things. If looking at this from purely an investor standpoint (without the obvious humanity element) every ounce of research proves that diverse companies have better performance. The caveat here is that diversity without psychological safety won’t cut it on its own. We must have psychological safety and only then can connection and belonging be felt.

So, my glasses can no longer come off. Through them I only see “change is needed”. My work today is about engaging with leaders in a way where they too are empowered with the knowledge and skills to not only “see” that this change is necessary, important, and a part of our human evolution, but that change is happening all around them regardless of their willingness to get on board or not. It’s time for representation, its time for fairness, its time for action, and its time we all have the opportunity to feel connected to and engaged in, our jobs, our lives, our full human-ness.