5 Things / patience with process
This week I found myself continually frustrated by things I couldn't control. To be honest, I'm not very patient with "process" - but of course the reality of bringing something new into the world (in this case, my book Inclusive 360), requires an awful lot of process.
The reality of bringing your diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative into the world also requires a lot of patience with process. There's a lot of stakeholders, competing priorities, and resource constraints. Because of that, I've come to truly admire companies that have quickly (and by quickly, I mean since last summer) taken action -- and stayed in action towards their DEI goals.
Sephora is one such company. In the past year, they've made measurable progress towards promoting more Black employees, increasing supplier diversity spend, expanding inclusive marketing, and launching inclusive leadership training. Their approach is impressive -- it's holistic, and it's Inclusive 360.
Here are some good vibes I found this week:
The Grammy Awards will have an inclusion rider for their 2022 awards, guaranteeing that more underrepresented talent will be involved in the production process. This matters because the entertainment industry has historically lacked diversity, and creating a policy to set diversity targets will interrupt some of the unconscious bias that leads to a cycle of homogeneity.
The National Labor Relations Board has its first Black woman as a Board member. Obviously this is long overdue. This matters because representation matters and Gwynne Wilcox will bring a new, valuable perspective to this work of supporting workers rights. (h/t to Emily Farr for sharing)
Kickstarter is testing a 4 day workweek in 2022. But what I learned is that there's a 4 Day Workweek advocacy group that consults with organizations interested in adopting this policy. This is awesome and it matters because a four day workweek can promote greater employee wellbeing, which can lead to greater employee loyalty. 4 day workweeks have proven successful in a number of previous trials.
Argentina is the first country in Latin America to issue X IDs to non-binary people. This matters because it normalizes existing outside the sex binary and respects the diversity of gender. Every acknowledgement and utilization of the “X” alternative by an institution is a big step forward for not only the acceptance, but also the safety of all intersex and trans & gender non-conforming people.
Image from ILR Scheinman Institute, Cornell University