The best way to start us off is to have a shared understanding about what D, E, and I means. I remember my first year at law school, I had to take contracts and we learned that a critical element of a contract is that there has to be a meeting of the minds, or a mutual agreement of all obligations or terms within the contract. If the terms of the contract unclear clear, your contract may be ruled as unenforceable. Let's define what we mean when we say or use the terms diversity, equity, and inclusion so that we have a meeting of the minds. The term diversity is so common, I hate to define it. But it means so many different things to so many different people, so I think that we should have a shared understanding and start there. In the context of your workplace demography, diversity encompasses all of the seen and unseen sociocultural identities, characteristics, and experiences in which people are different. That includes the surface level or observable differences such as outward presentation or expression such as race, gender, age, and other physical qualities. Diversity also includes the invisible or deep-level attributes. Those traits that can be concealed or revealed at the person's discretion, such as their beliefs, their attitudes, their values, or their class, religion, sexual orientation, neuro or cognitive differences, or their life experiences. These differences not only shape who we are as human beings, but also what defines us within the group. With that definition, I want to make a quick point about diversity. I'm a huge rap fan and one of my favorite rappers talks about himself being a one of one. What he means by that is that while he may be considered by some as just being a regular rapper, he claims that he is so unique, so distinct that there's no one like him. He's not a clone, he's one of one. This is important to me and something I convey when I'm exploring diversity within my work route because I want my employees to know that they shouldn't assume that what is true for one person who shares a particular identity is also true for another person that shares the same identity. While diversity is concerned about the group, don't forget that every person should be considered a one of one, distinct and unique, and should be given the opportunity to define themselves and tell their own story without any assumptions, without anything being prejudged about them, without stereotype, etc. From that premise, let the shared experiences from the group form the truth for the team to consider. With that said, diversity is a concept that can only exist within the collective. What I mean by that is, in order for something to be diverse, it can not be singular or alone or separate from the group. Let's use a puzzle as an example. Diversity is not about one piece of the puzzle or the fact that the piece is shaped different than the others, or varies in color or shape. Diversity is about the entire puzzle. All of the pieces. For your organization the puzzle pieces symbolize all of your people and the extraordinary illusion that they will make when all of the pieces come together. Just think of a puzzle. The pieces do not have to bend or reshape themselves in order to fit. The puzzle was not complete until all of the pieces are fixed. It's not complete if you leave out one of the pieces. If I am a piece of your employee puzzle, diversity means that I can come as I'm with no assumptions about my own unique shape, size, or color, and given a chance to equally shine with the other pieces regardless of how they are made. One more point, the term diversity has been politicized so much as some people reject it because some argue that it diminishes merit or only concerns itself with certain pieces of the puzzle and not others. That's not true and to combat those notions, I constantly message the importance of every piece, including those that aren't buying it, how they benefit from diversity. When the entire organization thrives, they thrive. When everyone is treated with dignity and respect and accepted as a valued contributor, we all win. Diversity is the antithesis of the zero-sum game. We all gain when you understand that when our differences come together and we can be whatever marvel we envision for ourselves it's only then that we can realize that it was worth the time and effort it took to put the puzzle together. Where our competing ideas fostered a breakthrough of thought, products or services of the absolute best kind. If diversity is about the assortment of various puzzle pieces that comprise the organization, equity is about getting the puzzle pieces to the preferable table and giving them an equal opportunity to be a part of the puzzle. At its core, equity is about justice and fairness, and aims to identify and eliminate barriers that prevent the full participation of employees within your organization. Imagine getting a puzzle and deciding. you know what, I am only going to use some of the pieces and not others. Look around. Are there certain puzzle pieces missing from your staff, your board, management teams, or other areas? Creating equity is the exercise of finding out why certain puzzle pieces of your employee puzzle are missing, like were they not included in the box with the other pieces, i.e., your applicant pool just wasn't diverse or were they included, meaning you did have a diverse applicant pool, but they were still left in the box by your hiring manager because they didn't like their shape or size or color. An organization that is equitable is one that intentionally, meaning with regularity, assesses the reason why your workforce looks the way it looks and acts the way it does towards its employees. When it discovers something that isn't producing a just or fair result, an equitable organization removes any correlation between success or failure and socio-cultural factors within its employees decision-making. The I in DE&I means inclusion. Sure, inclusion means creating an environment of respect, connection, and community where all people feel valued, leveraged, and empowered to be their full authentic selves. Over the years, I've heard some unique ways to describe inclusion. One popular way of describing inclusion, as diversity is being invited to the dance, inclusion is actually being asked to dance. Another is inclusion feels like a fish in water. If you think about it, a fish in water is able to swim and grow and navigate through water with finesse and degree of ease and freedom because water is the fish's natural habitat. That's what an inclusive environment should feel like. Environments that are not inclusive, as you could imagine, are like a fish out of water. They flop about, unable to swim or grow, and struggle to breathe. When employees feel like a fish out of water, their contributions are hindered because they never feel like they are a part of the team. Or that they must assimilate to an unnatural habitat that feels hostile to them, or like the other example, they arrived at the dance and nobody wanted to dance with them, or they're forced to dance to music that is foreign to them. But I think my favorite way to describe inclusion is this way, when I get recruited by employers, the pitch is almost always the same. It's come join us because not only do we need you, which is important, I want to feel needed, but you will be welcome in our house. I call this the my house is your house pitch. Nothing wrong with that approach except an inclusive speech would be a little different. Instead of saying, welcome to our house, make yourself at home, an inclusive organization would be asking me, how can we make our home feel more like your home? What can we do to put you at ease? Make you comfortable here so that you can focus on the reason why we invited you in the first place, to do great work. That's why inclusion is the goal. Inclusion is the extraordinary illustration that we are looking for. I know you probably have heard all this before, the definitions and charge has not changed. At the end of the day, DE&I is the same. It is the means by which an organization is going to optimize the capability and synergy of a 21st century workforce. DE&I is the illustration at the end of the puzzle, and as the pieces of the American workforce change, and it is changing faster now than it ever has, in at any point in our history, our organizations have a mandate to adapt or fall behind. Now is the moment to reset and recommit. I hope you recommit and come back next week. See you then.
