The Business of Race: How to Create and Sustain an Antiracist Workplace—And Why it’s Actually Good for Business

CHAPTER 1

YOU CAN’T SOLVE WHAT YOU DON’T DISCUSS

Why the Workplace Is the Perfect Place to Talk About Race and Racism

I ask people, “How are you defining diversity?” When I tell them we are specifically talking about race and Black people in particular, I get pushback. They say, “We don’t just talk about one group.” My reply is that we have to, because we haven’t been talking about it all these years and look what’s happened. People are still so afraid to talk about race.

ERNESHIA PINDERBlack American, Director of Strategic Diversity Management at CVS Health¹

It’s hard enough to talk about race and racism at the family dinner table or neighborhood barbeque. What makes us think we can talk about it at work and make any progress? For decades ...