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Many companies have launched Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) programs within the last few years. These initiatives often incorporate some combination of training, executive coaching, networking opportunities, mentoring programs, and other components. Companies benefit when they can find and attract diverse talent, introduce new employees to the corporate culture, identify and retain top talent, and expand into new markets.
OLDER EDITIONS
Many companies have launched Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) programs within the last few years. These initiatives often incorporate some combination of training, executive coaching, networking opportunities, mentoring programs, and other components. Companies benefit when they can find and attract diverse talent, introduce new employees to the corporate culture, identify and retain top talent, and expand into new markets.
This interview features Barrington Salmon, a journalist who works for multiple black-owned newspapers and magazines.
This interview features Dana Beckton, Director of Diversity & Inclusion at Christiana Care, a hospital company in Delaware.
There is always someone, somewhere who needs to see a possible future version of themselves. For every person who has made it through school, out of poverty, beyond an illness or addiction, to the other side of bad choices, or into a profession, there are dozens of people who can't see a path forward. Do you have a mentor or role model?
For a lot of years, and not that long ago, women were not welcomed in business, except in very
low-paying roles. Even then, their success depended on certain unspoken conditions.
In December 2016, I was working for a small company after two previously failed journeys with two different companies that ended miserably. I came into this new role as the Operations Manager. It would be my first time in this role full time but I had run a business like this before as a manager. The good things were that the GM and I had both worked together in both of those previous two companies. We also were fully invested in this opportunity and one another knowing that we both needed some career remediation.
You’ve probably heard the saying, “Your network is your net worth.” Gale Porter coined this phrase with his book by the same title. But let’s take his concept one step further.
Inclusive leadership is a complicated topic. Leadership itself is multifaceted, and we've seen a change in leadership over time. Leadership used to be very focused on command-and-control. Then the concept of servant leadership came into vogue, where leadership was about service to the people that you were leading. I also love the concept of strength-based leadership, which is the notion of finding what drives each person and helping each person achieve their optimum potential within the team.
“Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to re-educate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn...resonant resolutions about brotherhood fall pleasantly on the ear, but for the Negro there is a credibility gap he cannot overlook.” - MLK Jr. 1967
Most job applications do not require that you explain your emotional maturity. They do not test for the ability to manage your own feelings in an non-intrusive manner that does not require babysitting. Emotional maturity is one of those intangible job skills that can greatly impact a person’s experience in the work place but often becomes apparent when it’s too late. There are lot of people managing others who have no business doing so because no one knew or checked on their relational capacities.
I meditate in my office. I have a tea corner. I grow plants. To my current coworkers, I am very conscious about my mental well-being while at work. However, I did not always consider the office a place where I could practice mindfulness and take an active role in my mental well-being. Taking mental health days is just the tip of the iceberg
I grew up in the projects watching my mom work several jobs, barely making ends meet to provide for her four girls. $243.12; an amount forever stuck in my mind. That was the amount on my mom’s check stub for two weeks of work. It serves as a reminder that I control my earning power.
If you aspire to be a leader, you're not alone. So many corporate employees aspire to leadership roles in their organizations. They seek out high-profile projects, promotions, and executive sponsors. To really stand out in a company, though, you need to stand for something other than your own self-interest. Specifically, you can position yourself as a leader in your organization by being an ally to others.
"Networking" is not about what you can G E T. It's about "building relationships" and "building connections" based on using your unique gifts. More importantly as an emerging leader, think about how to use those gifts to G I V E and pour into others. Think about how to sow a seed that grows into fruit only if you are able to nurture and water that relationship consistently over time.
When higher education becomes a tool to develop human souls and create beauty, the next generation will be better positioned to secure the bag.
….analysis from Institute for Women’s Policy Research says if the wage gap keeps narrowing at the pace it has been the last 50 years, Black women will not catch up to white men until the year 2124 (that's 106 years from now), Hispanics until 2248, and white women until 2056.
Honestly, that was a challenging season in my career. Back then, I wish I knew the following two truths as they would have helped me better deal with the anxiety of being exposed as incompetent or incapable relative to my peers:
My hope is that Living Corporate brings visibility to the extremely talented pipeline of corporate leaders from underrepresented groups. It’s time we pull up our chairs and start having REAL conversations about the diversity and inclusion issues in Corporate America.
I also struggle with what it means to bring my whole self to work, struggling with deciding when it’s appropriate to talk about my amazing weekend with my partner while everyone else is sharing theirs. I struggle with not appearing unfriendly or even hostile to my coworkers while also protecting my privacy and sanity.
My experiences thus far in the journey to Corporate America have left me with the shocking awareness that corporate spaces today continue to be the exact opposite of what they market themselves to be; diverse and inclusive.
I knew there were plenty of black people out there in professional spaces, but to see thousands of us in the same convention center was a wake-up call for me. For all of the axes of my identity (including race, gender, and sexuality), I could see that there were many of us navigating often homogenous corporate spaces, and succeeding while breaking the mold.
White supremacy provides the mark by which we measure acceptable behavior, language and dress. It is what makes diversity and inclusion programs necessary -- if only for window dressing -- at our jobs. It is what makes Living Corporate, LLC relevant. Baldwin states that rage is consciousness for the marginalized, and I agree.
“National Coming Out Day” is Thursday, October 11th. So, before you make the choice not to celebrate it, remember that day is a celebration of who you are—everywhere and every day. Better yet, every day can be a “National Coming Out Day” when you choose to truly bring your whole self everywhere.