The C-Suite Must Let Go of its Tired Playbook

I’m a black, Latinx, immigrant woman living in the United States and working in the private sector. Every day, I confront so many roadblocks that don’t allow me to achieve and ultimately realize my full potential, whether in our communities or in the “C-suite,” where the heads of a corporation sit. While recent national events have made this situation painfully evident, the more tragic reality is that it's always been true.

I’ve been attempting to climb a ladder with no rungs.

Like many black and brown professionals, I'm both subject and witness to the racism, micro-aggressions and overt prejudice that is rampant in corporate America. I'm forced to repeatedly correct myths and distortions, among liberals.

I have had to explain that “reverse discrimination” is not a result of affirmative action, all the while being the only black, brown or Latinx person in the room. I have played shrink for the white woman who, after taking over a team of mostly black women with more experience than her, found it difficult to acquiesce to their request to be acknowledged as Black (versus African American). I’ve sat across white human resource leaders who have pointedly asked why it’s so difficult to solve the “diversity problem,” but don't have one single person of color directly reporting to them.

These “We Got Ya’ll” scenes out of Issa Rae’s Insecure series elicit sighs and head nods for a reason. We know them too well.

Each of these scenarios manifests symptoms of the same disease: inherent structural inequities. These can only be addressed by ensuring more visible diversity in the room where decisions happen—the C-suite.

The chief suite or C-suite, as it’s commonly called, houses the most senior executives of any given company – for example, Chief Human Resource Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operations Officer, and Chief Executive Officer. The lack of representation of people of color in the C-suite persists even in the face of compounding evidence linking greater diversity in leadership to better financial performance. Black and Latinxs, who make up only 4.3% of executives, hit a ceiling that keeps them in the middle of the organization, where they are rarely tapped for leadership or receive coveted promotions.

Human resource efforts are falling short and it’s because they stress the operational aspects of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, such as unconscious bias training or talent development initiatives. But all of this focuses on changing individual behaviors instead of internal company policies. These initiatives are a “smoke and mirrors” attempt to address the lack of racial diversity and have negligible impact on changing the demographic makeup of companies. CEOs then often lament the lack of available “qualified” diverse talent but at the same time, don’t properly staff, fund and support their own diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) teams. As a result, many chief diversity officers are set up to fail, laboring against apathy and skepticism.

With more corporations releasing anti-racism statements and also being asked to post photos of their leadership teams and boards, I’ve experienced a surge of inquiries seeking my expertise. As with many areas of our society, the response is weak and arriving too late. The corporate sector has refused to be ahead of the curve in diversity and inclusion even though many like me have been sounding the alarm all along. All the while, this same sector has been capitalizing on the dollars of diverse consumers.

The lack of proactive action persists even though volumes of empirical evidence prove that a diverse workforce is one more likely to be successful and profitable in the 21st Century. HBR, Deloitte, McKinsey, and Center for Talent Innovation, to name only a few, have documented not only the challenges I refer to but also offer innovative and plain common sense approaches to building more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces.

As protesters challenge corporate America to heed the call for equity, for companies to be authentic, transparent and holistic in their anti-racism efforts, it’s important that CEOs not resort to the same tired playbook of simply naming diversity, equity and inclusion officers without providing them with the influence and power to transform workplaces.

Instead, corporate officers and CEOs must give diversity, equity and inclusion the seriousness and investment it deserves instead of parking it in human resources. DEI is a multi-disciplinary function involving strategic business planning, community and stakeholder relations, crisis management, compliance and communications. DEI officers must have a wide remit and become indispensable members of executive committees. Tokenizing DEI officers is not going to hold in an era that is demanding deep change and receipts, not public relations.

The steps to take are simple.

One, look to DEI leaders for advice on building teams, making critical leadership decisions and beefing up succession slates with diverse talent. Two, rely on DEI leaders to help focus on performance, not potential, as the basis for merit increases and promotional opportunities. Three, engage DEI leaders in a deliberate evaluation of board composition, and devise strategies to ensure diverse candidate slates. Four, extend the role of DEI officers to include C-suite and board diversity efforts. And five, the most important point, diversity leaders must have full support, which starts by providing them with the significant budget, resources, staff and respect they need to transform companies.

You want your company to be part of the change sweeping the country? It’s quite simple, don’t say it — do it.

“Tokenizing DEI officers is not going to hold in an era that is demanding deep change and receipts, not public relations.”