5 Things / The Sales Team
This week I met with a client to prepare for an upcoming keynote. We were discussing some of the company’s DEI challenges, and I heard the familiar comment, “We struggle to get the sales team to care. They don’t get why it’s important.”
It’s a common struggle: in many cases, DEI events are voluntary, and many folks on the sales team are in the field. How do you reach them? How do you get them to care?
It starts with embedding DEI into the sales meetings and getting the senior leaders at those meetings to care. But there are a few other tricks, best summarized in this lovely feedback I received from a client: They were VERY appreciative of the practical tips for relating to their clients and candidates. I personally felt that her focus on those folks, over their own colleagues, also may have made this feel more like a professional development session than "another DEI lecture" for those that are less receptive to our DEI council's efforts.
The sales team is financially motivated. To reach them, share any myriad bits of data about the financial benefits of diversity. Then talk about DEI and cultural competency more broadly in terms of how it relates to their clients and candidates – how do they establish trust with, and NOT accidentally offend their increasingly diverse client and candidate base? No one, especially no one in sales, likes to embarrass themselves in front of a client.
Here are the good vibes I found this week:
‘Peppa Pig’ Gets Its First Same-Sex Couple – Two Polar Bear Mommies
The popular children’s series, Peppa Pig, has introduced a character with two moms. They happen to be polar bears. I love this because it’s an enormously popular global show. As a lesbian mom, this matters to me because, in many places, there’s still a stigma for kids who have same-sex parents, especially when kids aren’t allowed to talk about that at school (I’m looking at you, Florida…).
A Swimming Cap Made for Black Hair Gets Official Approval After Previous Olympic Ban
A swimming cap made specifically for Black hair has now been approved for use by the worldwide governing body for competitive swimming. The cap, Soul Cap, had been previously banned from the Olympics. The cap protects hair that’s “thick, curly, braided or otherwise textured — which is often difficult to fit into smaller swim caps.” This matters because it increases the ability of Black swimmers to compete at the highest level.
The Hubspot Culture Code: “Better to Try and Sometimes Fail Than to Sit Tight...and Fail for Sure.”
HubSpot has a great internal program called the Failure Forum where employees tell stories about their mistakes and what they learned from them. I love this because it normalizes failure…it takes humility to share those stories, but sharing is contagious. This matters because talking about mistakes and the lessons learned contributes to psychological safety on a team. Psychological safety is a key component of inclusion.
U.S. Soccer Players Formally Sign Equal Pay Agreements
The U.S. women’s and men’s national soccer teams will finally be paid equally. It’s official. The more popular and successful women’s team was paid far less than the men’s for years. The new contracts ensure “identical pay structures for appearances and tournament victories, revenue sharing and equitable distribution of World Cup prize money.” This matters because equal pay is an equity issue, and equal pay for similar work is just the right thing to do.
If Your Family Makes Less Than $100,000 per Year, Princeton Will Cover All Your Tuition
Princeton University will now cover tuition and other expenses for undergraduate students whose parents earn less than $100,000 per year. They expect that benefit to apply to 25% of its students. Tuition, room and board, and other expenses currently total ~$79k/year/student. This is a big deal, and matters especially for BIPOC students who are disproportionately crushed by student loan debt, and are less likely to have generational wealth.
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