Diversity of thought, also known as cognitive diversity, refers to the notion that each of us is unique; that we are raised and brought up differently, and we have different personal and professional experiences which influence how we think and interpret information. And this acknowledgment has become a core part of many companies’ efforts to drive innovation in their organizations and industries.

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In 2020, only 27.5% of the largest U.S. companies had public-facing action related to including people with disabilities (Donovan, 2020). DEI initiatives and topics often leave out disabled individuals (Casey, 2021). It can be difficult to discuss a topic that has so many complexities and nuances, even down to its definition. There is no one universal definition of disability, complicating whether or not an individual will view themselves as disabled (Grue, 2016). Even if someone does identify as disabled or as having a disability, there are further nuances within the disability community.

For instance, some disabled people prefer identity-first language (Andrews, 2019), while others prefer person-first language (Crocker & Smith 2019), and general advice is to ask the individual one is referring to for their preference (Dunn & Andrews 2015). Disabilities can be acquired at any point in one’s life, meaning some individuals are born with a disability and others acquire a disability (World Health Organization, 2021). Some disabilities are visible and some are concealable (Grue, 2016). It can be hard to speak about the needs and struggles of such a diverse group of people.

However, talking about disability is vital in today’s workplace. COVID is estimated to have resulted in 1.2 million more disabled people in the United States in 2021 due to complications of the virus and conditions like long COVID (Roberts et al., 2022). The number of people with disabilities is rising in general, due to factors including increases in chronic health conditions and overall population aging (World Health Organization, 2021). Finally, researchers are increasingly viewing disability as a social-political group and examining social and cultural models of disability instead of simply medical models (Grue, 2016).

It can be intimidating to initiate conversations in your organization about complex identities. However, these conversations will eventually happen – it is simply a matter of when. Businesses should be proactive in starting these talks. There are plenty of disability organizations and activists that provide resources, workshops, and training on inclusivity. Documents like the Research & Training Center on Independent Living’s Guidelines: How to Write About People with Disabilities can serve as a reference in how to talk and write about people with disabilities (The University of Kansas, 2020). It is also recommended to include people with disabilities in designing and implementing any program or event that discusses disability. While some disabled individuals may offer input and volunteer to assist, people with disabilities should not be expected to design an event without any form of compensation. Further, while it is important to be open about the importance of accessibility, businesses should avoid “disability simulations” that are intended to empathize with the difficulties that disabled people experience (Pulrang, 2021). Simulations such as blindfolding a person to describe the challenges of blind people or requiring individuals to use wheelchairs for a day can treat disability as a costume.

The advice for these conversations is often simple: be teachable. Non-disabled individuals who are newly learning about disability-related topics are likely to make mistakes or use the wrong wording. Allow disabled individuals to challenge and correct information, assumptions, or language. Welcome constructive criticism without becoming defensive. Amplify disabled voices and perspectives.

In an age where so many companies avoid the topic of disability together, stand out by telling your employees and consumers with disabilities that they’re welcome in your organization.

~ Nikita Williams is an I/O Psychology graduate student and gothamCulture intern

References:

_{Andrews, E. E., Forber-Pratt, A. J., Mona, L. R., Lund, E. M., Pilarski, C. R., & Balter, R.(2019). # SaytheWord: A disability culture commentary on the erasure of “disability”.Rehabilitation Psychology, 64(2), 111.}

_{Casey, C. (2021, September 13). Do your D&I efforts include people with disabilities? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2020/03/do-your-di-efforts-include-people-with-disabilities}

_{Crocker, A. F., & Smith, S. N. (2019). Person-first language: are we practicing what we preach?. Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare, 12, 125.}

_{Disability Funders Network. (n.d.). Disability stats and facts. Disability Funders Network. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.disabilityfunders.org/disability-stats-and-facts}

_{Donovan, R. (2020). 2020 Annual Report: The Global Economics of Disability. Return on Disability. Retrieved April 15, 2022.}

_{Dunn, D. S., & Andrews, E. E. (2015). Person-first and identity-first language: Developing psychologists’ cultural competence using disability language. American Psychologist,70(3), 255.}

_{Grue, J. (2016). The social meaning of disability: A reflection on categorization, stigma, and identity. Sociology of Health & Illness, 38(6), 957-964.}

_{Pulrang, A. (2021, August 27). 3 mistakes to avoid when including disability in your DEI programs. Forbes. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2021/08/27/3-mistakes-to-avoid-when-including-disability-in-your-dei-programs/?sh=118807c629aa}

_{Roberts, L., Ives-Rublee, M., & Khattar, R. (2022, February 9). Covid-19 likely resulted in 1.2 million more disabled people by the end of 2021-workplaces and policy will need to adapt. Center for American Progress. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/covid-19-likely-resulted-in-1-2-million-more-disabled-people-by-the-end-of-2021-workplaces-and-policy-will-need-to-adapt/}

_{The University of Kansas. (2020). Guidelines. Research & Training Center on Independent Living. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://rtcil.org/guidelines}

_{World Health Organization. (2021, November 24). Disability and health. World Health Organization. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/disability-and-health}

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So what is supplier diversity?

Supplier diversity is a proactive effort to ensure that all potential suppliers have fair and equal opportunities to conduct business within an organization’s supply chain. Organizations that exert this effort create opportunities for inclusion of minority, underserved and underrepresented group-owned businesses such as ethnic minorities, immigrants, women, LGBTQ+ people, armed forces veterans, and people with a disability.

Why is it important to achieve supplier diversity?

Like every genuinely developed and implemented DEIB initiative, supplier diversity is critical for your people, your customers, your business and the bottom line, and the wider community.

People: Across the nation, people have vocalized their expectations around prioritizing DEIB in their organizations. In our own State of Culture 2021 study, we found that organizations performed better from a culture perspective when they openly and honestly discussed diversity and social justice issues. Moreover, the new generation of candidates value working for organizations that are actively investing in DEIB. Therefore, supplier diversity can impact employee satisfaction and in turn retention as well as widen your talent pool for recruitment.

Customers: Social responsibility is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but a ‘must have’ for any organization to remain competitive. Millennials and Gen Z, which are said to be the largest and most diverse generations the world has seen, proactively seek socially responsible organizations to give their business. Moreover, the Chamber of Commerce forecasted that by 2045, the minority population will account for about 70% of the increase in purchasing power. The Hackett Group conducted research that showed that organizations that increase diverse spending are yielding a larger market share and higher ROI than organizations that are not. Therefore, it is important for organizations to understand and listen to the constituents of this growing market and invest in impactful strategies like supplier diversity programs.

Innovation Partners: Diverse suppliers can be micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises and they tend to be more adaptive and agile than larger, bureaucratic organizations. These are favorable qualities to have in a supplier as they are likely inclined to pivot and in a quick manner to meet your needs as a business as well as your customers’. In addition to that and given the previous point on the projections of the increase in minority purchasing power, diverse suppliers are more likely to understand your customers and their needs. Therefore, they give you a competitive edge by serving as innovation partners.

Community: Including diverse and underrepresented suppliers from different communities creates a ripple effect within those communities and contributes to the growth of the overall economy. CVM Solutions found that minority-owned businesses are growing their sales twice (almost 34%) as the national average. In hiring these suppliers, you will be supporting the growth of their own supply chains, by creating more job opportunities and pumping more capital into the communities they operate, creating a ripple effect leading to national economic growth.

Clearly, there is a lot to gain from investing in supplier diversity. Many organizations such as Target, Wal-Mart, IBM, Unilever and Xerox have already integrated supplier diversity programs into their operations and UPS has been setting an example since 1992. Here is what you can do to enrich your organization’s supply chain:

Make DEIB a strategic priority in your organization and ensure you have leadership buy-in: DEIB should be integrated into everything you do internally and externally. You need to have a culture that is open and conducive to DEIB.

Assess your supply chain and identify areas of opportunity to include diverse suppliers then generate options: This will require some thorough research and you will need to look beyond your typical horizons. Set up demos, attend diversity events, and ask around and within your organization. Cultivating a culture of DEIB can lead to natural knowledge sharing, where your employees might know of some options for diverse suppliers.

Make your supplier diversity program a priority: Have someone responsible and accountable for managing the program. Treat it like any other organizational initiative and set goals and success metrics. Measure the direct (e.g., profits, savings, customer satisfaction, etc.) and indirect (e.g., supplier spending in community, induced community spending, etc.) impact of your supplier diversity program.

At gothamCulture, the DEIB conversation is ongoing. We are constantly looking to expand our network of subcontractors and suppliers. As you design and implement your own supplier diversity program, be sure to revisit and reassess your strategies regularly. DEIB is ongoing work and crucial for your business.

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The process a veteran goes through in order to understand where their skills are valued and required in the private sector can take months or even years. It’s a process of self-discovery, devoid of the formal, regimented guidance veterans are used to having. Transitioning from active duty requires setting new civilian expectations for themselves, identifying how they want to use their skillset and ultimately picking a new career.

When transitioning into the civilian workforce, however, veterans often place unrealistic expectations on themselves and misinterpret the way society views them and their abilities. This misalignment of self-expectations and societal perceptions commonly results in a phenomenon known as imposter syndrome.

Seventy percent of people will experience imposter syndrome at some point in their life. Experts describe imposter syndrome as “an internal experience of intellectual phoniness in individuals who are highly successful but unable to internalize their success.” The syndrome often manifests itself through overworking, discounting successes, low self-assessments and anxiety about fear of failure. To understand how veterans develop and experience imposter syndrome, it’s helpful to take a look at their previous military environment.

On the heels of the longest military campaign in our nation’s history, our servicemembers have spent many years in the cycle of constant deployment to some of the most complex, austere and hostile environments in the world. Since lives were on the line, they needed to be the best. They needed to be perfect. This level of seriousness and intensity doesn’t lend itself to praise for a job well done, but rather a sharp focus solely on ways to improve.

This focus permeates into other areas of servicemembers’ lives. As a result, they leave the military as a high-performing asset without understanding how their unique experiences have turned them into a very valuable asset to the rest of the world. Once they transitioned to civilian life, these veterans took the same mindset to work, constantly looking for ways to improve. This mindset is not only the reason veterans are seen as great hires, but also a major component of the imposter syndrome that many of them come to feel.

Young Marine officers are expected to set a very high standard of professionalism, train their Marines to accomplish the mission and have the wisdom and foresight to quickly adapt when plans inevitably go awry. While training for a mission, they are constantly refining small parts of themselves and their teams to be as close to perfect as possible. Excelling in these areas is not met with praise because you’re only meeting expectations.

Falling short of any of these goals or standards is met with critique, shame and the knowledge that you simply didn’t add up that day. These “failures” can weigh heavily on those whose bar is set at perfection. Success equates to things going as planned thanks to over-preparation. This causes veterans to believe their successes are attributed to the plan instead of their talent. They also tend to focus solely on ways to improve instead of considering all the things they personally did right.

Veterans then carry these mental models into the civilian workforce, which doesn’t always use the same measurements for success, failure and value. Veterans discover a different reality in the civilian world.

Since they want to begin pulling their weight as quickly as possible, veterans will often tap into their tendency to overwork. Although this elevated work ethic served them well in a previous life, it can become problematic when the amount of mental calories they burn on a task exceeds the amount required to do the job well. The military fosters intense competition, so many veterans leave the military with a subconscious need to excel.

This need can contribute to imposter syndrome when veterans enter an industry where they’re not yet as skilled as others and compare themselves to the exceptional, experienced talent around them. As a result, they can begin to feel incompetent by dismissing their own skills and abilities. This need to excel in the presence of high-performers mirrors their experience in the military and drives home the need to maintain a perfectionist mindset.

“Perfect” is the enemy

The military breeds perfectionists in its servicemembers. As it happens, perfectionism is believed to have a significant impact on developing imposter fears. These perfectionist tendencies can result in setting unusually high goals, developing impossible self-expectations and ultimately feeling defeat and shame when not reaching such impossible thresholds.

To make matters worse, those who experience imposter syndrome discount positive feedback from others because they view those comments as misaligned with their own perfectionist views of success. This can be especially true for veterans who aren’t used to compliments in their military life. In addition to discounting positive feedback, one can even rationalize why they don’t deserve praise or credit (it was luck, it was the process, it was the plan, etc.). As this cycle continues, so does the presence of imposter syndrome.

Ready for the good news? It’s definitely not all just doom-and-gloom.

At ease, soldiers

Although symptoms of imposter syndrome can cripple productivity, many veterans have found a way for them to fuel drive and determination to succeed. Their maniacal pursuit of excellence can lead to a host of different outcomes, including becoming a powerful force to build a company, excel in academia or invent something new.

Dr. Chris Cancialosi, a former US Army Blackhawk helicopter pilot and managing partner of the consulting firm gothamCulture, told me, “I credit my imposter syndrome as something that has fueled my drive to succeed. I push through one goal and move right on to the next. I may not be the smartest person in the room, but I’m going to out-work everyone else to win because, at the end of the day, I don’t think I’m good enough to be here.”

This is a great example of using imposter syndrome symptoms to succeed and make a positive impact on other people’s lives. Although Dr. Cancialosi spent time and energy building this mindset, his perspective sheds an interesting light on how one can flip a potentially harmful mental model into an advantage. After all, these symptoms and mental models can become tools for success if you don’t let them go to extremes. Keep the chaos in check, because the most important 6 inches on your battlefield still lies between your ears.

For us stubborn veterans, recognizing the symptoms of imposter syndrome might be the toughest part, because they were once essential to staying alive. As we work to grow distant from that context, we should acknowledge the traits that are no longer needed and phase them out of our lives. Let’s face it: Lives are no longer on the line. We don’t always have to overprepare. The compliments from our colleagues, boss, family and friends are meant for us, and they’re real.

We don’t have to be perfect. We’ll never be perfect. We’re better off focusing on how lucky everyone is to have awesome people like us on their team.

It was never the plan. It was you. You were never an imposter. You were that good all along.

This article originally appeared on PeopleScience.Maritz.com.

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LinkedIn, the premier professional networking platform has utilized their massive wealth of user data to understand how a person’s network not only supports their long-term success but what factors contribute to (or stifle) a person’s ability to develop healthy networks throughout their lives.

Meg Garlinghouse shared these insights in her article on the LinkedIn Official Blog

1. Where you grow up. LinkedIn users who grow up in areas with a median income above $100k are 3x more like to have a stronger* network than other users.
2. Where you go to school. Users who attend top schools are 2x more likely to have stronger networks.
3. Where you work. Users who have work experience at a top company are nearly 2x more likely to have stronger networks.

This ‘network gap’ presents a reality that can hinder career opportunity for some simply based on factors that are partially, or completely, out of their control.

Closing the ‘network gap’.

Understanding and acknowledging that some populations have a steeper hill to climb based not on their talent but on their life circumstances it is incumbent upon employers to be intentional about finding ways to expand their recruiting practices beyond the historical methods to access the potential talent that resides outside of the “typical” spots.

RJ Naugle, Principal with REV Consulting and prior service Army officer has worked in the area of veteran transition for years and also brings the perspective of a leader of a B2B business. Naugle suggests that the network gap impacts veterans in a variety of ways, some of which are within each veteran’s control. “We need to meet transitioning servicemembers where they are at. Too often the transition is treated with a ‘one size fits all’ approach versus a more human-centered design that enables each servicemember the ability to take charge of their own transition,” Naugle adds. Regardless of the specific situation, a servicemember may find themselves in when they transition, each one would certainly benefit from a “navigator” to help them chart a course to the over 46,000 veteran-serving organizations that exist and the “sea of goodwill” that can often overwhelm people.

That said, Naugle acknowledges that there are aspects of the transition process that servicemembers can control. He suggests that transitioning servicemembers must, “Take charge of their own transition by not managing their own objections (getting past all of the reasons why they feel they can’t network, etc.), putting a clear plan in place ‘getting ready to get ready’ to engage without ever actually taking action, and doing things to develop a network that expands beyond the military bonds which can feel very uncomfortable and overwhelming to many.” Mr. Naugle speaks from experience as, he himself, navigated this transition and is grateful for the already transitioned veterans who assisted him on his post-transition path.

Not only has Naugle himself transitioned from the military to a successful civilian career as an entrepreneur, but he also has direct experience supporting a great many other transitioning service members in his prior role supervising veteran programs for Microsoft and then Starbucks and the Schulz Family Foundation. When asked what tips he might suggest to companies who are looking to expand their recruiting pools to better find fantastic veteran talent that they may otherwise miss due to the network gap he responded, “For a business looking to diversify their workforce, especially in the midst of great flux like the pandemic we are currently grappling with, they need to first acknowledge that they can benefit by finding qualified talent that can be counted on to be self-accountable, loyal, adaptive, and able to work in dynamic and ambiguous situations.”

Second, Mr. Naugle advocates for companies to take a more long-term view of talent acquisition by, “… seeking out talent that may not have the direct technical skill (but is trainable) but who has the right values and work ethic that will help drive their organizations into the future.” This shift in thinking about talent will help hiring organizations adapt and expand where they are looking for top talent for critical roles.

In closing.

As research into the ways in which an individual’s networks impact their opportunity continues to develop, we will continue to gain a deeper insight into the ways in which certain populations are marginalized. Businesses will also be armed with additional data and understanding from which to continue to find creative ways to find great talent in the spots they typically may have overlooked in the past.

By expanding the pool of potential talent, businesses can bolster their efforts of finding diverse talent that they may have otherwise missed out on.

*LinkedIn measures the strength of a person’s network based on size (the number of connections they have) and openness (the number of connections the user’s network has that extend beyond the user’s immediate network).

For additional information on this topic read Veteran Opportunity Report: Understanding an untapped talent pool.

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com. 

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Some students only came to the library to see me, because a new foreign person was working there. I felt so special that they wanted to talk to me and ask for my opinion. As some students told me, it was interesting for them to get a fresh, diverse perspective and to learn more about me.

Coming from Moscow, which has a population of more than 12 million people, I was not used to a lot of attention for being “different.” But in Santa Fe, my diversity of thought set me apart.

Diversity of thought, also known as cognitive diversity, refers to the notion that each of us is unique; that we are raised and brought up differently, and we have different personal and professional experiences which influence how we think and interpret information. And this acknowledgment has become a core part of many companies’ efforts to drive innovation in their organizations and industries.

Diversity of thought has been found to be helpful to:

• Avoid groupthink
• Overcome subjective overconfidence
• Listen to underrepresented opinions
• Be aware of unconscious biases and look beyond stereotypes

While cognitive diversity is “defined as differences in perspectives or information processing styles” and is less visible than racial or cultural diversity, it shouldn’t be ignored. Recent research by Alison Reynolds and David Lewis found a significant correlation between cognitive diversity and high performance. They have run the execution exercise more than 100 times over the last 12 years with groups comprised of senior executives, MBA students, general managers, scientists, teachers and teenagers. In their research, teams with greater cognitive diversity performed faster, irrespective to their gender, ethnicity and age.

How to Increase Diversity of Thought

There are a number of different ways that leaders can increase diversity of thought in their organizations. Some of these include:

Hiring outside of the box

Once not known as a place that promoted a diverse talent, Silicon Valley is now thinking ahead by embracing neurodiversity. Many people with autism and/or dyslexia have higher than average abilities and can “bestow special skills in pattern recognition, memory, or mathematics.” Everyone to some extent is differently abled, we are all born and raised differently. Our ways of thinking result from both our inherent “machinery” and the experiences that have “programmed” us. Companies like SAP, Hewlett Packard, IBM, UBS and others are starting to adjust their policies to meet a broader pool of neurodiverse talent. Hiring diverse talent creates a major shift, and leaders are trying to adopt a new style of management or provide accommodations to cater to their needs.

Managing differently by facilitating open dialogues, creating a safe environment and assessing your employees:

• Values and styles
• Ways of thinking (divergent and convergent thinking)
• Ways to approach a problem

Brainstorming: To diversify our thinking, consider using the six hat exercise which has been an effective way to approach a problem.

White Hat Thinking: Focus on the data available.

• What data is available?
• What information do you already have? What is missing?

Red Hat Thinking: Look at problems using reaction, and emotion.

• How do other people react to this area?

Black Hat Thinking: Look at all the bad points of the decision. Look at it cautiously and defensively.

• What could go wrong with approach in this area?
• What are the biggest challenges?

Yellow Hat Thinking: This is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it.

• What gets people excited?
• What are my team’s strengths?
• What would success look like?

Green Hat Thinking: This is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas.

• What are the possibilities?
• How would an outsider approach this area?

Blue Hat Thinking: ‘Blue Hat Thinking’ represents process control. Mostly used when there is at least one other leader involved in the decision making process to determine when you need to “put on another hat.”

• What is the next step?
• What is our decision?

In The Medici Effect, Frans Johansson suggests breaking barriers to create innovation by learning a new field, breaking out of your network and reversing your assumptions. But, as illustrated in my personal example, even small changes can make a big difference. By adding socially diverse people to a group, people learn from different perspectives and experiences.

To increase a diversity of thought in organizations, leaders need to keep asking questions and challenge what’s in front of them, whether it is their talent, management style, or approach to a problem. That way they could see an opportunity where others won’t to stay ahead of the competition and to keep an inclusive workplace.

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It’s been over fifty years since Title VII, the section of The Civil Rights Act that prohibits workplace discrimination. But how far have we really come?

Fortune’s data team recently released their findings on the diversity and inclusion practices of the companies on this year’s Fortune 500 list. The big reveal?

Only 3% of this year’s companies are transparent about the demographics of their workforce. And of those sixteen transparent companies, 72% of senior executives are white males.

Now, more than ever, companies and organizations are feeling pressure to not only be more representative but also more inclusive of people from traditionally marginalized groups. Reports on gender and racial diversity in tech have forced the industry to make public commitments to increase diversity in their workplaces and inspired other companies to do the same.

Millennials are demanding more inclusive work cultures. Our sociopolitical environment has made conversations about the inclusion of marginalized people in every area of life absolutely critical. And according to Deloitte’s 2017 Human Capital Report, 78% of respondents now believe diversity and inclusion is a competitive advantage.

But if major companies can’t even talk publicly about diversity, what do conversations inside of these organizations look like?

Old-School Approaches Aren’t Working

“Traditional” approaches to diversity — training focused on compliance and avoiding litigation, or negative-incentive policy (i.e. “do this or get out”) — can actually backfire in terms of diversity outcomes at an organization. In fact, companies that implement required diversity training programs and directives have seen a backlash in the form of more animosity towards other groups; from micro-aggressions that push targeted groups out of decision-making and leadership, to outright discrimination in hiring and promotion decisions.

In spite of the training and policy, workplace culture hasn’t changed. There are numerous articles about how organizations are inhospitable for marginalized people. Giant bodies of research on implicit bias have shown that we continue to act in ways that don’t promote equality, even when we’re not overtly trying to.

These biases have major consequences in hiring and promotion decisions, but also play out in work environments themselves. Rather than confront these biases, most workplaces assume people will “do the right thing” to make the culture a welcoming place. But it doesn’t always happen that way.

So, how are things changing? And what do we have to do to keep moving in the right direction? 

Changing the Conversation About Diversity

As our approaches to diversity and inclusion evolve, so must our language. Diversity is no longer the only word in the mix. In fact, the term has been criticized as a word that actually softens hard conversations about inequality, to the point where folks in the majority absolve themselves of accountability for changing things or confronting their own biases. To really make progress, there are a few more terms we need to consider.

First, our conversations about diversity have evolved beyond a focus on whether different individuals are present in an organization, to focus on inclusion: How are different individuals’ perspectives included in important decisions? How often are peoples’ voices silenced? Is this an environment where people feel like they can “show up” authentically? Are differences valued, rather than merely tolerated?

Second, the conversation in organizations is increasingly about equity rather than equality. In a workplace, equity recognizes that not all individuals start from the same place. Equity aims to provide opportunities for historically underrepresented populations of employees to have equal access to growth opportunities and networks that will help close the gap, from leadership levels to all aspects of institutional functioning.

All of this means that organizations need to start having harder conversations. Conversations that recognize where well-meaning attempts at equality have resulted in unequal outcomes, and challenge assumptions about “what’s right,” “what we know,” “what works,” and “who should be in charge.”

Changing the Culture (Go Beyond Training)

If training doesn’t work, what does? Like most organizational changes, nothing will happen overnight. Real transformation will require intense listening, new knowledge, lots of role-modeling from leaders, and the organizational stamina to keep working.

Listen to the people who are marginalized: Have we ever stopped to consider that our old approaches aren’t working because they’re often prescribed by the people who already have power? Think about it for a second.

There are probably people in your organization who feel marginalized and are trying to talk about it. Talk less, and listen more to them. Give them a seat at the table and the authority to make decisions. Let them lead.

Knowledge: We absolutely need to increase levels of understanding on topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The same research on the backlash from “what-to-do” training showed that when people were engaged in developing their own understanding of issues and developing solutions, diversity outcomes improved.

There are stellar trainings out there. Look for ones that engage participants in a dialogue about new concepts and help people figure out what to do with the information once they return to work. When people return from these trainings, they should be encouraged to talk about what they learned with their colleagues and supervisors. Remember, training is only one piece of the puzzle. It’s not the solution.

Leadership: There are countless studies that show employees take their cues from leaders’ behavior. Leaders have to engage in these same conversations and training and be seen engaging, perhaps imperfectly, in the hard work necessary to change the culture. A lot of this hard work (a lot!) is a willingness to listen (see the first point, above) and accept that there are things that need to change. For many leaders, this is tough. Lean into that. Be open.

Stamina: A lot of people don’t like talking about this stuff. It’s uncomfortable. It’s messy. But Jay Smooth has a great metaphor for this: He relates talking about race to hygiene. Rather than thinking of these conversations as a one-off surgery that takes away the problem (like a tonsillectomy), we have to think of them like dental hygiene: it’s a regular practice. When someone tells you there’s food in your teeth, you don’t stop brushing your teeth. And when the conversations on diversity, equity, and inclusion get tough, you don’t give up on bettering your organization. (See Jay’s whole talk, below.)

Make the Commitment Through Your Actions

Guess what? We at gothamCulture have recently acknowledged that even we weren’t talking about these issues as much as we should be. We realized we had some food in our teeth, and knew that there was work to do. We’ve only just begun, and we know it’s going to take a lot more time to identify what it means for our company to take diversity, equity, and inclusion more explicitly into consideration.

We not only recognize that our building our capacity here is necessary for our line of work, but that it will be a continuous process. One training won’t do it, nor will reading one article. It’s an ongoing conversation for the entire organization.

Ignoring the conversation about diversity, equity, and inclusion is no longer an option for any organization, nor is there an “easy way” through. It’s time to make the commitment to more than training, and start having hard conversations to deeply change our workplace cultures in the long run.

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