For those committed to #InclusiveLeadership & #antiracism at work: One of the primary reasons that we aren’t progressing on #DEI is that we’ve been oversold the value of diversity and haven’t dug deeply enough into the personal costs. A thread./1

In my view, the greatest individual cost of DEI is the comfort of the status quo. As @mjmichellekim calls out, we love to coddle it. Breaking the inertia requires all of us to wrestle with the costs and benefits of change and reckon with what we are willing to give up./2

Here are 3 ways in which progress threatens key aspects of who people leaders are and what we can ask ourselves if we’re truly committed to leaving a positive legacy on the future of work./3

1) Bruises our egos: As folks who are different from us achieve or surpass our successes, we can’t help but question our own merits. This interrogation breeds insecurity by debunking our exceptionalism & forcing us to grapple w/the privileges we’ve been afforded./4

In turn, our hustle and grind depreciate and luck emerges as a prominent player in our fortune.

If this resonates, ask yourself: In what ways could my presence as a leader cause others to shape shift or code switch?/5

Code switching is a strategy used by employees from marginalized backgrounds. They do it to pacify people in power — to show up as a less threatening form of Black, gay, etc. In short, they do it to stroke leaders’ egos./6

If you think it’s happening with your team members (it is), suss out how your behaviors are causing this maladaptive response./7 https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101874800/study-highlights-the-costs-of-code-switching-in-the-workplace

2) Threatens our identity: We all need to belong &, statistically speaking, social identity has not hindered most leaders’ ability to fit in at work or in our broader communities. In fact, the workplace can be many managers’ first and/or greatest intimate exposure to diversity./8

And collaborative diversity is hard. The social friction that ensues can cause leaders to cling more tightly to and even become prescriptive about what is familiar to us vs. effectively appreciate & leverage differences./9

If this resonates, ask yourself: In what ways do the team dynamics (explicit and implicit norms, values and standards) I propagate hinder employee authenticity and true inclusion?/10

3) Undermines our integrity: Managers can get stuck in the fear of being perceived as disingenuous in our people practices. We may wonder if we’ve been consistent or proactive enough in disrupting inequity. Or we may recognize gaps b/w who we aspire to be & our (in)actions./11

In turn, we do Simone Biles-caliber mental gymnastics to mitigate the dissonance./12

Instead, we need to be humble enough to get out of our own way & mobilize especially when the action we took last time backfired. The anticipatory fear can be worse than any mistake we'll realistically make in the future./13

If this resonates, ask yourself: How might my desire to avoid discomfort impede my ability to do what’s best for advancing equity?/14

Why bother with any of this?

Because on the other side is the connection we all crave, the honesty we all need and the relief of getting real about our struggles./15

If we think of homogeneity, inequity & exclusion less as problems to solve and more as polarities to be negotiated, we can get vulnerable about where we’re challenged & strike fluid balances that will sustain the lifelong practice of inclusion and antiracism./16

This isn’t for the faint of heart but that’s precisely the point. And the payoff./17

(This post is inspired by a life-giving dialogue with @CL_McCluney, who co-designed and co-facilitated Upwork’s first Black Belonging Breakfast on September 9. Get to know her work. Can’t wait to dig deeper soon, Courtney. )/end