Provoke

CHAPTER 12Valerie Irick Rainford

Steve first had the chance to hear Valerie Rainford speak in February 2020 during a talk focused on the support of Black talent. She was direct and uncompromising but did not lecture. She had a warmth and genuineness about her, but when it came to her point of view, she did not flinch. Valerie shared how she thought about the people she encountered over the years in the organizations where she drove change. She had a simple framework like a stoplight chart, categorizing people into reds, yellows, and greens. When Valerie introduced her framework, Steve immediately thought he fell into the green category. He had always thought of himself as a champion of diversity. He frequently pointed to the fact that his team was 50% women, and he was proud of the fact that he had been associated with the success of several women mentees over the years.

Valerie started with the reds and the description was what Steve expected: the people who directly block progress in an organization. She then described the greens, and that was also what he expected: the people who take positive action for Black colleagues.¹ But there was a twist. You couldn't be a green without data-based evidence that your actions had impact. Could you actually point to an increase in something of importance among your Black colleagues? If you couldn't, you were a yellow: someone who isn't standing in the way deliberately but who is part of a large swath of people whose actions haven't created ...