A Call to Action: Members of the Majority, and Majority Leaders, Need to Advocate for Minorities
One of the traditional arguments in favor of diversity is that by creating a diverse pool of individuals, you will necessarily end up with diverse leaders and policies. It’s essentially the pipeline argument in reverse: if the reason we don’t have more diversity among business leadership is a lack of diversity at lower levels of the organization, then increasing diversity at the bottom should eventually boost diversity at the top.
But experience has shown us that this is not the case.
Glass ceilings, a lack of mentors and a variety of other factors have meant that women and people of color are still underrepresented at executive level positions across the board, with particularly glaring gaps in certain industries like tech and finance.
In this era of rapid change and demand for immediate action, companies can’t sit back and cross their fingers that their long-term diversity and inclusion efforts will result in a strong voice for their diverse communities five or ten years down the road. They need to be able to act now, and that means members of the majority and company leadership acting as vocal advocates in support of their communities of color.
There may have been times when it felt taboo to even bring up race as a topic, or for a white person to discuss race issues. However, across the country and around the world, the light is being shone on the issue of race in particular. The business community, nation and the entire world need leaders who go beyond avoiding racism and actively promote anti-racism and what it means to be an ally and an anti-racist.
It's no longer optional; it’s urgent.
The big question is: what are you doing about it?
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