It's Time to Talk about Race at Work

CHAPTER 15The Leader's Role: Guiding and Setting the Example

There is a great deal of talk about the need to make companies and organizations more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. And that's good. But we have to move from talking about diversity to doing something about it.

IF YOU'RE A WHITE MALE IN A LEADERSHIP ROLE, YOU CAN CREATE CHANGE MORE THAN ANYONE AND MORE THAN YOU REALIZE.

If you are a White male in a high-level position, you might be one of the few people who can really create change. That's because several studies and surveys show that nearly half of Black employees feel it's never acceptable to discuss their experiences with race and bias,¹ and Black professionals who aspire to senior leadership positions avoid discussing race altogether, for fear that it will hurt their chances of advancement.

Other research² shows that women and other minorities are often scrutinized and criticized for supporting diversity in a way that White men are not. One study showed that when women and other minorities engage in behaviors that demonstrate that they value diversity (respecting cultural, religious, gender, and race differences; working with diverse team members; and managing people from different racial or cultural backgrounds), it made no impact on how their bosses rated their performance or competence. In fact, those who were rated as frequently demonstrating diversity-valuing behaviors were rated much worse by their bosses! When White men engaged in those same behaviors, ...