Diversity and Inclusion - Is it Time to Get Real?

Minerva just released their second annual diversity scorecard for BC companies  and the findings are nothing short of disappointing.  We have had a civil public conversation about diversity and inclusion thus far.  We’ve sympathized, empathized and agreed change takes time.  White men need the opportunity to adjust to sharing power; the rest of us need time to develop the competence to exert power.  Being nice about this has gotten us, well, not very far.  Is it time to call a spade a spade?  Is it time we confronted the hard truth that many of those in power don’t want to share and will put up any and every barrier to stop the rest of us from joining their exclusive club, for as long as they can?  The evidence suggests that, if inclined, organizations can fast-track inclusion efforts.  An example is Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers who, in the last 12 months, have added 3 women to its executive team and just appointed a second woman to their board, which is chaired by a woman.

While it is easy to become despondent, we need to reflect on and remember just how much progress we have made as a society in providing each of us with the opportunity and support to step forward and contribute equally.   But we still have some barriers to break down, and we need to get moving.  This is what I believe will help us make real progress in advancing diversity.

1. Men in power need a lot more humility.  White men are not special.  They are not inherently better, smarter, more talented or more deserving.  They do get a lot more opportunities because our collective unconscious biases operate in their favour (to get depressed about your own implicit biases, go to Project Implicit at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/index.jsp).  It is time for men to face up to the fact that, as a group, they have benefited significantly from favouritism and it accounts for much of their differential success.  Any white male who believes he does not have special advantage because of his status needs a serious reality check.  
2. Women need to stop meeting in secret to discuss amongst themselves how to advance diversity.  When I was asked to participate in the Minerva diversity conference, my first question is ‘are there going to be men there?’  While I respect the desire on the part of women to form groups of like-minded others to provide collegial support, it is time for women to stop thinking these efforts are going to advance their cause.  The more time women spend with other women in exclusive communities, the less time they are spending being inclusive and exerting themselves where real decisions around power are made.
   
3. Men in power who are fair-minded need to seriously step up and be sponsors of inclusion and sponsors of actual people.  I cannot express my regard and appreciation enough for those men who ‘get it’ and want to play a role in advancing the cause of women and other minorities.  But while there are powerful men who are stepping forward to say ‘this isn’t fair”, there are not enough of them.   A lot of men applauded Justin Trudeau for putting (so many!) women on his leadership team but so few have been inspired to follow his example.  It is one thing to say you are in support of diversity.  It is another thing to engage in the hard work of identifying and advancing real people.
   
4. The rest of us have power and we need to exert it with the decisions we make, including with our pocketbooks.  If you are irritated by the under-representation of women and other minorities in leadership roles and on corporate boards, the best way to influence this is by choosing to not support these organizations.  Unhappy that Tim Horton’s parent company is unapologetic about having an all-male board and rejecting requests to implement a diversity policy?  Well, stop buying your Timmies.  If every person who cared about diversity stopped spending money with companies who don’t, I guarantee they will find their own fast track to inclusion.   

We have been very, very polite in the conversation we have had about diversity and inclusion so far.  While we are seeing progress, we all know that we can get there so much faster.  And it’s time to get real about that.