Friends of Dave #233: omg becky...
Being inclusive starts with these three things.
It is June and you may have noticed companies changing their logos on LinkedIn and social media this week to have rainbows incorporated in some fashion.
That is because June is Pride Month.
We talked about this growing trend in our house this week as my wife is currently taking a Diversity class as part of her part-time MBA curriculum.
It's really easy for companies to have a designer restyle a logo with a rainbow on it. It can be done in less than 15 minutes and then uploaded in all of the right places by an intern. Then all you need to have queued up is a few posts that talk about "diversity and inclusion," use a hashtag and, before you can say "Sassy Justice," *BOOM* -- your firm too can feel like it is an "ally."
Box checked. Nice job. Now let's start planning for July and "National Ice Cream" month everyone....
Except most of the time, as we discussed at the dinner table this week, it is complete BS.
The example above illustrates how it is easy it is to SAY we are inclusive to make ourselves feel better. But what it does not show is how hard it is for people and companies to actually truly BE inclusive.
A lot more effort and alignment than a marketing campaign a few weeks a year is required to make it authentic.
Sharing what she learned from her class, my wife asked the family what we all thought it took to BE INCLUSIVE. Here are my thoughts on where to start:
COMMITMENT: when you want to include someone or some people, you need to commit to doing so. This means being willing to stick to this ideal even when it is hard or inconvenient for you and making it a priority every day. When it applies to groups or companies, it means everyone is committed -- not just a few people in the organization.
EMPATHY: this is all about giving ourselves the room to envision and understand what it is like to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. In my opinion, to be inclusive means we care about the challenges others are facing and are willing to stand beside them as they face them. This is what allyship is truly about.
TRUST: trust is granted, not earned. If you want to be trusted, it is YOUR responsibility to go out of your way to show your worthiness through your actions, not the other person's (too often companies think it is the other way around). Therefore, being inclusive requires people or organizations to take time to allow those they wish to include to be trusting of them. If someone or a group doesn't believe you are really going to be inclusive, they will never grant you that trust.
To me, you cannot start to "be inclusive" without these ALL THREE of these elements. And this really applies to any relationship with anyone -- not just in the area of diversity.
So now, back to how this preamble started. It's Pride Month and your company has changed their logo to include a rainbow on social media to signal alignment with the cause. The hope is also to earn some social capital amongst employees, prospects, customers and the market.
Does it have the level of commitment, empathy and genuine interest in being granted trust by the community to make this authentic? Or is it really BS?
I'll leave that for you to ponder as you scroll through your LinkedIn or Facebook feeds this week.....
In the meantime, I hope you'll take the time to scroll through the rest of this email and check out the links I hand picked for you in this edition.
Stay cool. As we say in the Boston area, this weekend looks like it will be a SCORTCHA!
XOXO
Dave
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