Understanding how our colleagues feel is the key building block for empathy and insight.

Last week, I saw a Broadway play that directly tackled the topic of race and everyone’s role in the legacy of racism in this country. It was that type of play that struck me to my core, and I ruminated on it for many days. It prompted me to reflect on why race and ethnicity are topics that, since coming to the US 18 months ago, I have never spoken about so much in my career. 

The play focuses on a complex and hard-to-watch topic, but the real sting is in the premise – the play is not about pitying the oppressed; it is about consciously accepting our inevitable connection to the oppressors and America’s history on race being a severe trauma we all inherit from being here. To say the play had an effect on me is an understatement. 

As a British-born, second-generation immigrant, my West Indian parents embraced the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth with respect and admiration for the qualities and values it stood for at the time. However, since arriving in New York, I have witnessed a vast difference in how people react to skin color; in the United States, complexion seems to be more the focus, whilst nationality appears to be irrelevant.

Coming from a colorful seventies UK childhood, I thought I would have been better prepared to understand some of these complexities, but sometimes the unique opportunity of putting a newcomer into an unfamiliar environment provokes more questions than answers. I believe, at my level of leadership, I owe it to the people who placed me in my current role, my colleagues and our junior staff, to shed light and speak up about uncomfortable topics, especially as we close Multicultural Week, our annual celebration as part of the Bank’s Global Diversity Week.

As the Chief Human Resources Officer for BNP Paribas in the Americas, I regularly witness great work, leadership, and courageous mindsets and acts. Conversely, however, I also see moments of behavior which uncover human motivations and their frailties.

This is only natural in an organization with over 15,000 employees bordered with a framework of conduct, values, and principles. Sometimes, tensions and mindsets veer us off the right road. Part of Human Resources’ role is to help ‘course correct.’ I always believe it is first essential to understand what is happening to that person at that particular moment and to understand what their lived experience might be. For me, it is about creating a safe place to understand what is actually going on and how I might be able to help.

The play I mentioned also touches upon having safe spaces where people feel able to speak their truths, where we can listen to things that make us uncomfortable instead of walking away from each other. I would like to think of Multicultural Week as the catalyst for this as well – to touch upon subjects that perhaps, as a bank, we might not venture into usually, where we can discuss the perceptions and assumptions that having a certain skin color raises with the majority.

Social media highlights daily the ways some people behave and what they say - clearly seizing any safe place; it lessens tolerance and a desire to understand. Have we all just accepted this as the status quo? 

At BNP Paribas, we launched a ‘Challenge Your Bias’ campaign earlier in the year, where we figuratively place some of our employees ‘on display,’ and dare our staff to think differently about the colleagues that they see featured in these photographs and films.

The reactions have been unprecedented, with huge support and admiration from the firm and appropriate kudos to the employees who volunteered to share their stories and experiences. But, I have to be honest, some surprising and less positive views also emerged, ranging from comments as to ‘why we need such a campaign,’ to clear disagreement that racism is even an issue.

Regardless of people’s convictions, and judging from the dialogue and support we have seen during Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, as well as the recent launch of our new Advancing Black and LatinX Leaders Sponsorship Program, it is very evident to me that employees’ voices need and want to be heard.

Thinking about the play again, for me, highlights the importance of ‘listening.’ I believe, as leaders, taking the time to understand how our colleagues feel is the key building block for empathy and insight. 

Let’s challenge each other to seek out a colleague, friend or acquaintance from a different race and ethnicity on your team, department or social environment and ask them about their experiences. Be courageous in this conversation and help create a safe space for one another. That’s a world we all deserve.