5 Things / lessons

Sometimes I feel like being a leader means I’m in a near-constant state of asking myself, “OK, so what can I learn from this?”

I often look at work (and sometimes life) as an experiment. I’ve been a business owner for over 17 years now and it’s impossible to get it right all the time. And it’s certainly impossible to be all things to all people. My work, whether it’s writing, or speaking, or building and leading a team, is constantly being evaluated, tweaked, and adjusted along the way. But one thing being a business owner has taught me is to focus on progress over perfection. 

Your work towards creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization is also an experiment. There is no one way to do this work. Mistakes will happen and you might even accidentally offend someone. It's unrealistic to expect otherwise. But self-reflection, tweaking, and adjusting are (or should be) part of the process. I often say in my talks, “what matters is how you recover.”

Will you stall out or keep moving forward? 

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Here are some good vibes I found this week:

• There are some great virtual Pride ideas in this article which focused heavily on ActiveCampaign. Among other things, they had a drag queen read the children's book A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, and made an effort to involve the employee resource groups for parents. AC's Pride group was inventive this June and there are some good ideas in this article you can file away for next year. This matters because virtual employee engagement can be challenging, and AC showed real creativity in how it builds allies.
  
  

• L'Oréal USA became the first company to achieve certification of pay equity across gender, race, ethnicity, age, ability, and LGBTQ identity. The company used a global third-party auditing company to certify the results. For L'Oréal, this is not a new initiative - they got started in 2011. This shows a real commitment and matters to the underrepresented employees who will benefit from equal pay for equal work.
  
  

• The abortion law that recently passed in Texas is the strictest and most archaic in the U.S., and most companies said nothing. The dating app companies Match and Bumble, however, created relief funds to help people affected by the law. Uber and Lyft said they would cover all legal costs for any of their drivers who get sued for driving a customer to an abortion clinic. This matters because those companies used their influence and power to speak out against a law that is abhorrent and will affect thousands of people.
  
  

• Speaking of Bumble, the woman-led company unveiled a fantastic new employee leave policy which includes, among other things, 20 days paid time off for victims of domestic violence and 15 days paid time off for grief. This matters because employee wellbeing matters and a generous employee leave policy is a signal to employees that they matter.
  
  

• The Football Association of Ireland is now paying equal match fees for its men and women's teams. There was previously a €2000 disparity. The men's teams willingly took a pay cut to create pay parity. This matters because it shows allyship on behalf of the men, and because equal pay for equal work is just the right thing to do.

Image by Chaos Soccer Gear

5 Things / if not now

This week was my first week giving an in-person keynote in 18 months and it felt amazing to be back on stage. My 10 year old son Patrick came to watch me speak for the first time. He put down his Nintendo Switch and gave me his full attention. He even handed me some post-it notes with thoughtful questions on them after I finished. It was a proud mom moment, and for him, a proud son moment, and definitely my favorite part of the week.

I hope you found some joy this week as well.

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Earlier this week I learned that the most recent U.S. Census survey revealed a much more racially and ethnically diverse country. I found the following especially notable:

• White people no longer make up the majority of the population among children 18 or younger. There is no majority by race in this age group, as the breakdown for each race totaled less than 50%.
  
  

• Since 2010, the Asian American and Hispanic or Latinx population have grown the most for those ages 16 and younger. In general, Latinx or Hispanic and Asian American people grew by rates of 20% and 29%, respectively. Net immigration accounted for 74% of Asian American growth.
  
  

• America’s multiracial status continued to grow, with the number of people identifying as belonging to “two or more races” more than tripling. Mixed-race individuals are approximately 10% of the U.S. population or 49.9 million people.

My hope is that this data is simply one more call to action for organizations to take diversity, equity, and inclusion more seriously, and in a holistic Inclusive 360 way. What do you think will happen if they don't? Diversity is already here, and it's time we take action about it.

Here are some good vibes I found this week:

• Illinois passed a law banning natural hair discrimination in schools. The law prevents schools from punishing kids for their natural (typically Black) hair and corresponding hairstyles. I can't believe I'm even writing that sentence. It breaks my heart that this is even a thing. That's my privilege. This matters because it undoes the standardization of Western beauty ideals.
  
  

• One year after the racial justice uprisings in the U.S., historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) report a massive increase in recruitment from corporations. The HBCUs have also seen record-setting donations. This matters because it shows intentional actions towards broadening the talent pipeline. There are 107 HBCUs with 228k students enrolled. This matters because proactively supporting these students and recruiting them will go a long way towards increasing racial equity.
  
  

• In a rare move for the retail industry, Old Navy has decided to integrate its women's plus-size clothes, bucking the common practice of keeping the larger sizes in a separate area. Let's be real: this is a smart business move, but I still appreciate any move that can destigmatize fatness and include all body types. This matters because we don't talk much about size diversity, and according to a study of the Harvard Implicit Association Test, fatphobia is one of the few types of implicit bias that has increased.
  
  

• There are a lot more women working in the National Football League (NFL), with now 12 female coaches, 12 female scouts, and nearly 40% of league office roles. This didn't happen by accident and was done with a lot of intention, and you can read about how they expanded the pipeline in the article. This matters because it shows what happens when there is intention and specific actions taken towards increasing diversity: it works!!

Image by Naveen Kumar