My Open Letter to the CEOs

According to NASA, a black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can’t get out. Gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying. Because no light can get out, people can't see black holes. They are invisible. Special tools are used to help find black holes.

This feels like an analogy for where we are today, June 2020… when so many wronged black people are sick and tired of being sick and tired, squeezed and grieving, with light a distant memory…. when so many white people are confused, some angry, some can’t see their privilege, not understanding it… when so many people still don’t get it; black reality is invisible to them. I believe intelligent people with the same set of facts will come to the same conclusion. Unfortunately, getting people to the identical set of facts is so hard to do. We need special tools and we have to keep trying. I have to keep trying. I won’t give up.

My name is Elba Pareja-Gallagher. I’m a brown person, a Hispanic female, an immigrant. Through my positions I’ve had a front row seat to the tiny spaces in corporate America. 

This week, CEOs appeared one after the other talking, talking, talking about what they are going to do in the aftermath of the racial protesting. CEOs, you talk too much and frankly, we’re exhausted from it. For me it’s about gender inequality but the same things that can fix that can also address racial inequality in the workplace. CEOs, fix what you directly control in your four walls. Your houses are biased and people who are different are excluded from equal upward mobility and greater economic prosperity.

In the case of gender equality, you’ve been paying organizations like Catalyst many thousands of dollars annually for access to their research and “how-to’s.” Those special tools tell you how to fix the bias in your talent management systems. Many companies have done it. Here is a list of the Best in Class. So why don’t you do it?

I suppose the racial protesting is what it took for you to pay attention to the invisible. But diverse, high-performing people- black, brown, yellow, gay- have been there, invisibly visible the whole time, if you only looked past the broken structures. The deeply ingrained social and institutionalized practices that hover around us and bounce off the cube walls and conference rooms squeezing us tight and shutting us out. And you tolerate behaviors around you that drip hypocrisy. Your company is the behavior you tolerate.

CEOs, today let’s be constructive. Stop talking and start doing. Below is a list of things you can do. These address both gender and racial bias and help every employee reach for opportunity on a more level playing field.

Education

• Require that white male managers attend an immersive multi-day workshop to awaken the dominant leadership group to their privilege, enlightening them to what they personally have to gain from bringing outsiders in. An example of such a program is White Men as Full Diversity Partners.
• Teach bias interrupter techniques and self-monitoring… not in a one-time video or half-day class, these should be conversations and tutorials in weekly staff meetings and regular department meetings.
• Start small and affordable by requiring that every department leader sponsor and follow up on regular bias team-buildings using the 50 Ways to Fight Bias program from Lean In or a similar program.

Transparency

• Post all jobs
• Require that all Manager and above positions fill openings from a diverse slate of candidates
• Require that all Manager and above interviews are conducted by a diverse panel that has been trained on bias interrupters and ensure the bias interrupters were used in the interview and selection process
• Create explicit decision rules about how evaluation criteria are weighted and applied for performance evaluations and job selections
• Define the real criteria for a job as it is being done today not based on an old model; define it clearly for both the interviewers and the candidate
• Implement a system of data-driven checks and balances to identify leaders’ promotion and performance review track records and patterns of bias… retrain them timely. Unilver, a Best in Class company, devised the Gender Appointment Ratio which measures senior leaders’ track records in appointing women.
• Publish all development programs and their qualifications visibly for all employees including the “secret programs” reserved for the special “high potential” people so everyone can have access, prepare and compete

Workplace Flexibility

• Establish work practices that create business agility including flextime, job sharing, and telecommuting
• Use employee needs, interests and concerns about burnout as a catalyst for creatively designing work
• Give employees with significant parental responsibilities more time to show they’re qualified for promotion
• Establish alumni programs for women who need to step away from the workforce; tap their expertise to show that returning is possible
• Give equal paternity leave benefits

Executive Accountability

• Demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion and to increasing the percentage of women in senior leadership positions though the visible and vocal personal actions of the CEO and his/her direct reports… talk about equality in front of all levels of employees often
• Teach leaders how to respond when they walk into rooms that are not diverse… how can they role model accountability?
• Require a 360 review of all managers giving employees the chance to rate their immediate managers and two levels above them; include questions about bias perceptions and equal opportunity; count these reviews toward compensation.
• Commit and sustain financial resources to internal employment diversity programs and culture change efforts
• Hold senior management accountable for diversity within all business activities and evaluate managers based on their ability to achieve diversity goals for senior leadership representation across all business units
• Do not tolerate leaders who refuse to engage in diversity and inclusion (see bullet 1 in Education)
• Show results: move statistics meaningfully toward achieving 50% women in leadership... set a goal and broadly communicate it on internal websites and communications… it shouldn’t be only for HR. Have departments share their numbers with everyone on their teams, not just executives.

In closing, CEOs please stop talking and put real change in motion. Use your special tools - power and money. It must start with you.

Elba enjoys writing as a private person on LinkedIn about various topics. All statements reflect her personal opinions. Elba is the founder of 501(c)(3) ShowMe50.org whose vision is to achieve 50% women in senior leadership positions across America. ShowMe50 teaches men and women to influence change in talent management systems and create more inclusive work cultures through research-based actions. ShowMe50.org provides resources to help employees become catalysts for change, and helps companies implement unique lunch-n-learn programs to scale inclusivity. The ShowMe50 Ambassador program addresses both the motivation to act and the skills to execute. Be part of the solution for creating a level playing field for everyone at work. Follow ShowMe50 on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. ShowMe50 is a Lean In Regional Leader. Create your own ShowMe50 Lean In Circle. Learn how here. Or simply join the Lean In Circle here and show your support for inclusive workplaces.