Read the latest insights and perspectives in the world of social change and diversity & inclusion.
“I’m not trying to change the hearts and minds of all my colleagues,” she said, “Would I like to? Sure. But my vision is that those already inclined to agree will be on board first. And slowly it will trickle down.”
“As a social studies teacher,” she pointed out, “I know that’s the evolution of our country.”
Read MoreFar from thinking about D&I as a siloed business objective — something you take into consideration only during the hiring process, or when you’re planning D&I — he likes the fact that you can invoke the Equity Sequence™ at any given decision-making moment.
“I’m not necessarily conscious of it every day,” Daniel acknowledged. “But it’s there in your brain. And it comes back to you in key moments.”
Read MoreHaving completed the training (along with his staff), Ian has adopted a take-it-and-run-with-it energy, applying the Equity Sequence™ toward as many aspects of the program’s processes as he can. Toward recruitment. Toward admissions. And toward the curriculum.
Is a traditional science degree truly a necessity toward becoming an effective clinician? If a Black or Indigenous candidate were to come to an interview with a panel of all-White physicians, would their level of ease be the same as a White candidate’s? Does the four-year GPA average disadvantage students who might get off to a slow start but end up academically strong? All this questioning has led their task force to make tangible, measurable, concrete changes to the program.
As extremes of economic inequality, exacerbated by the pandemic, make it impossible to imagine simply going back to business as usual, the viral spread of far-right extremism and escalating nativist rhetoric make it hard to shake off a sense of foreboding.
We need to address head-on, rather than dance around, the parallels between White nationalist groups on the one hand, intent on maintaining the current power structure or even returning it to an outdated past, and the kind of uneasiness and resistance you still find in the professional world; the academic; the world of arts and entertainment; and countless others, toward the idea of expanding equity and disrupting or challenging an existing power dynamic in the process.
So what will all of our questions actually give us? Beautiful graphics and visuals representing analytics that are “hit-and-miss” and rife with bias themselves? “Hit-and-miss” like the effectiveness of so many “gold standard” D&I interventions - namely, unconscious bias training, among others?
How can we prevent metrics, benchmarking, and indexing from becoming the new tick-box risk-mitigation exercise - part of the window-dressing of “woke” organizations?
Read MoreBias training wasn’t created by people with experiences of discrimination and prejudice.
It wasn’t created by folks who were passionate about making a wave that would change the landscape and ultimately create a more equal world.
It wasn’t designed to actually work.
Read MoreWhat we need to recognize is that the many manifestations and expressions of inequity are as numerous and as unique as the individuals who experience them. Only inequity itself if ubiquitous.
Read MoreTrying to quash biased decision-making with unconscious bias training is like sending someone into a mole-infested football field, blindfolded, with a mallet, to play whac-a-mole.
Read MoreSo - this is my call for all the #changemakers: don’t wait for a budget, don’t wait for buy-in. Start innovating, start using strategies proven to work, and then try, and maybe even fail, then try again, and then keep going, for as long as you can. Until you’ve got something that’s working, even if only a little bit. Then refine what you’re doing. Then refine it some more. Then invite others to join you. So we can all make a ruckus, together.
Read MoreJob interviews are like first dates: good impressions count, awkwardness can occur, and outcomes are unpredictable.
But job interviews shouldn’t be like first dates. If your organization is looking to hire right the first time, consider evolving (and debiasing) your hiring practices.
Read MoreAt the end of the day, regardless of the word(s) we use to identify ourselves or the diversity of our experiences as disabled people, we need solidarity and intersectionality in a broader collective pursuit of equality hand-in-hand with others engaged in the same pursuit - women, people of colour, Indigenous folks, immigrants, the elderly, the LGBTQ community, and so on. What we’re all after is an equal opportunity to reach our full potential.
Read MoreWe owe it to the world we’re designing, whether we know it or not, to finally confront the fact that the vast majority of our organizations and institutions have inequality baked in.
Inequality in the NDA.
Black folks know this. Other marginalized and underrepresented groups know this.
It f*cking sucks.
And it is the motherlode of opportunities for reform, for (r)evolution, for re-design, for co-creation.
So, if all it took was the business case. If leaders make their decisions based on ROI and fiduciary responsibility and market value and all the rest of it, why isn’t John the CEO and all the other “John-the-CEOs” pound their fist on the table and declare: “If we don’t have 50/50 gender representation across the ranks of our organization… if we don’t hire and promote all people - regardless of race, gender, etc. - at equal rates… if we don’t create a culture of anti-sexism, anti-racism and so-on… Then people at this company don’t have an equal opportunity to succeed and achieve their full potential. Then - godammit - neither can this company! And that’s not okay!”
Why don’t they?
Read MoreWhat are “dimensions of diversity”? What does region have to do with diversity training? Why bias is so hard to bust (in people). Who holds the keys to solving equity challenges? Why tick-box trainings set you back.
Julie Kratz, host of the Pivot Point Podcast, interviews Tidal Equality’s co-CEO Kristen on these and other topics.
Read MoreMany decision-makers are particularly susceptible in crisis situations to making mistakes and bad decisions due to overconfidence, excessive risk taking, and conscious and unconscious biases of all kinds.
Read MoreOur online spaces are designed in ways that prevent so many people - too many people - from connecting, buying and selling, entertaining, informing, innovating. Their accessibility, or lack thereof, determines whether people have an equal opportunity to access all that the digital world has to offer.
Read MoreSo, let me say again, if your female founder support program (or event or bootcamp or network, or what have you) doesn’t educate women about the gender inequality of the VC ecosystem, you’re setting them up to fail.
Read MoreContrary to popular belief, a good question in an equality context is not one that requires prior knowledge in the terminology of diversity and inclusion. It certainly shouldn’t require a Masters degree in feminist or gender studies to understand it, and shouldn’t require a corresponding thesis to answer it.
Read MoreAsking questions - the right question, first - may be the most effective antidote to resistance around diversity, inclusion and equality, and its biggest aid.
Read MoreWe’ve been driven by the question: How can we empower everyday Changemakers, wherever they live, work, and play?
On the back of years of research, and practice leading a new wave of equity, diversity, and inclusion work, we’re excited to introduce you to the Equity Sequence™ - our evidence-based alternative to bias training.
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