Discovering Diversity Success: 10 Questions to Ask Yourself

 

By Jessica Alvarez, Chief Management Officer

A few years back, I was yearning for a community to embrace me, a tribe that would understand and respect that I’m not just a few general categories of a person, including female, Latina, mother. I needed a community outside of my corporate life that understands that the indigenous roots in me are not only from the Americas but can be traced back to slave trafficking from Africa to the coasts of the Caribbean, central and south America. My grandmother’s knowledge of the use of roots, herbs, and plant medicine has been passed down the generations through song and story.

In my search for such an embracing community, I found Centro Ashe, now the Wild Ginger Center in Washington D.C., which shares, protects, respects, and promotes the connections between plants, earth, and people. I enrolled in their training program to spark and renew the love and knowledge of plants I had in me.

Yes, it sounds very urban hippy, right? The first day I was amazed to be surrounded by an astonishingly diverse group of people, all coming together to learn and share experiences. Here, I didn’t need the emotional and mental protective walls I habitually built around me.

With my corporate and human capital lens, I tried to analyze the reasons for such “diversity success.” They didn’t use a sophisticated recruiting system with algorithms tweaked to maximize diversity. The curriculum was the same for everyone. The setting was a barn on a small farm. Yet, the diversity success was evident with race, ethnicity, creed, preferences, identities, age, careers, education, and social-economic levels all in one room, ready to learn. Everyone showed up with a smile and open to an embrace. Cell phone connection was awful, the conversation was great, and we all had meals together where we learned about each other’s families, interests, and even dreams. It struck me how different this was from work and school settings. Although there was a lot to learn and do, there was ample room for each person’s personality and voice to shine equally. They organically met the diversity and customer loyalty aspirations of the corporate world.

After months of enjoying the camaraderie, I concluded that the Wild Ginger Center’s secret ingredient for their diversity success is the kindness and respect that runs through its core. Empathy and respect not only for the plants and the earth but for people. Each person that walks into the center is unique, respected, acknowledged, encouraged, and celebrated for showing up as who they are.

By the time the workshops concluded, I had acquired lifelong friends, carpool mates, herb/veggie exchange buddies, but most importantly, I found the tribe I yearned for. I belonged.

Can we translate this success to the corporate world? Yes! Below are my top 10 questions to ask yourself.

1.    Is your mission clear?

2.    What is the human connection to your work (the back story of why we do what we do)?

3.    Are people working with a purpose?

4.    Is everyone’s uniqueness equally celebrated and acknowledged beyond the basic categories?

5.    As employers, are we creating safe spaces for team members to connect beyond transactional tasks?

6.    Does each employee feel encouraged to grow, to say, to be?

7.    Does every employee feel free to show up as who they are (i.e., my big curly hair vs. straightened hair, my ethnic wear vs. pantsuits and heels)?

8.    Is respect and compassion part of your corporate vocabulary?

9.    Is diversity even valuable to your corporate goals?

10. Are you aware of your company’s diversity standing?

I can help you start diversity conversations too. I’m pleased to announce DEI360, an organization’s starting point for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI). It’s an easy, customizable, online assessment that quickly allows organizational leadership to see how they’re doing from the employee’s perspective. Once an organization takes the assessment,( our team walks through the final report giving clear DEI data, a snapshot of the internal DEI landscape, and actionable next steps. Have questions? Check out our FAQ or contact us directly.

 

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

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Book Review: The Disordered Cosmos

 

Even today, you won’t hear many perspectives from black, women cosmologists/theoretical physicists. Not surprisingly then, this incredibly personal, emotional, and scientific work, The Disordered Cosmos, might be the most unique and original book you’ve read in years.

Associate Professor Chanda Prescod-Weinstein teaches physics, astronomy, and gender studies at the University of New Hampshire. Her professional recognition includes the 2021 Edward A. Bouchet Award from the America Physical Society.

Though many will label her views and words radical, we urge you to read this partly autobiographical, partly historical, but always withering social critique of America. Even if you don’t completely agree with any of her views, you’ll gain a vital and necessary perspective, one that speaks to almost unbearable pain, yet remains cautiously hopeful.

Over the centuries, through overt and subtle words, advertising, the media, movies, books, leader behaviors, and the like, the colors black and brown have become associated with dirt and negativity, while goodness and cleanliness have attached to the color white.

Oppressors have long used the color of people’s skin to reinforce power and to justify horrific deeds. As a result, people with more generous amounts of melanin identify as black and have created a black culture. They face more challenges and greater odds of dying at the hands of police. Many people with little to no melanin consider those with more melanin less intelligent, and less capable of physical and emotional feelings, even though melanin has no bearing on these things.

Scientists have played no small part in creating these fictions. Science and pseudo-experimentation, including eugenics have deliberately supported and championed racism or turned a blind eye.

Of late, however, because of shifting demographics, American leaders have begun to encourage black and brown youth to enter the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). This is for fear of having too few scientists and falling behind competitor nations.

Here are a few key takeaways from the book:

·         All things, including humans of all colors and all gender and sexual preferences, formed from the same stardust.

·         In physics, with its captivating theories, wonderful weirdness, and mysteries, anything is possible.

·         ‘Western’ science ignores the perspectives of marginalized people and often claims credit for their contributions.

·         The author’s experiences, beginning at Harvard, demonstrate that racism in science remains an insidious force.

·         Varying amounts of melanin determine the color of a person’s skin and hair, but race was a construct before the discovery of melanocytes in the 1800s.

·         White supremacists still pervade science, ignoring racial injustices and perpetuating centuries of inequities.

·         Instead of opening doors to the marginalized to do right, white leaders, including scientists, do so mainly for economic, military, or personal gains.

CHCI weaves over a decade of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) expertise into all of our core offerings. If you want to determine your company’s DEI strengths, opportunities for growth, and actionable next steps, check out DEI360, our new online assessment tool. We’d love to help.

 

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

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