After Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier retires at the end of June, we will have only four Black Fortune 500 CEOs. “We are an unbiased meritocracy.”Īt U.S.-based companies with at least 100 employees, just 3% of executives or senior leaders are Black. Because only when we interrogate our assumptions can we better understand ourselves and our organizations - and truly begin down the path to equity. I’ll share five of those orthodoxies here and pose questions that can help us dismantle them. That conversation also helped inform a broader set of orthodoxies other organizations likely share. In Detonate: Why and How Companies Must Blow Up Best Practices, Geoff Tuff and Steve Goldbach define these as “ or of thinking that accepted as true or correct” and “that unstated and unchallenged.” While many corporate leaders have written about the orthodoxies we must challenge in order to drive innovation and business growth, there is little public conversation around the orthodoxies we must dismantle in order to drive racial equity.Īt Deloitte, we began having this conversation ourselves, which allowed us to identify a set of myths that we must bust to become a more equitable enterprise. Recently, my organization Deloitte published a report I commissioned, The Equity Imperative, identifying how businesses can - both within our organizations and outside of them, both individually and together - combat systemic racism and drive more equitable outcomes.Įvery organization has its orthodoxies. And, as I’ll discuss later, evidence suggests that when we address the systems that harm Black people, others benefit, too. But I believe it’s critical to understand and take meaningful action now toward greater racial equity for Black people, who have suffered the consequences of systemic racism in the United States for more than 400 years. Make no mistake: Equity is critical for all races and all identity groups. Why focus on the Black community? In our society we also witness discrimination and violence against women, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and Latinx people. Why equity? Simply put, it’s because equity isn’t just about efforts, it’s about results - measurable, meaningful outcomes in the lives of our people, our communities, our country, and our world. That process has crystallized my belief that, as business leaders, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to commit to collective action in advancing racial equity. Over the past year, I’ve continued to listen and to learn more about the systemic bias and racism that plagues the Black community. Nor would I be able to comprehend the reality that if my children were Black, they would be more likely to contract Covid-19, more likely to be underemployed, more likely to experience job loss, and more likely to experience discrimination in the workplace. The Black experience in this country is truly unparalleled.”Īs the mother of a white son and daughter in that same age range, I cannot imagine what it would be like to fear for my children’s lives every time they go for a jog, step into a grocery store, or hang out in a park. I received a note from a Deloitte colleague who wrote, “As a mother to 26- and 24-year-old Black men and an 18-year-old daughter, I am never without fear that they will encounter something akin to the travesties we see in communities of color on a regular basis. One conversation in particular sticks with me. Like many other executives, I invested significant time listening to professionals within my organization and outside of it to understand their experiences at work and in the world, and what I can do to improve it. More than a year has passed since many corporate leaders made bold commitments about diversity, equity, and inclusion.
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