. @ellmcgirt recently asked me how I thought Corporate America was doing against 2020 #antiracism commitments. After the week we just had, my greatest concern is that orgs aren’t as far along as they may think they are./1

As long as there are large experiential and perceptual chasms within workplaces, we’ll forever be misaligned on what anti-racism looks like. There’s great progress happening in a lot of orgs, including my own. But there’s more foundational work to do./2

Below are 3 gulfs the #DEI community is noticing and 3 questions we can ask more frequently to minimize them./3

Gulf #1: Co-workers are estranged.

Last week, some employees of color were subjected to personal check-ins from colleagues they haven’t heard from in nearly a year, who only seem to consider them during turmoil and/or who were under-equipped for the interaction they initiated./4

@jaowrites sums it up./5

Employees of color can’t be expected to conduct business as usual without mention of the external hellscape but we can all also agree that a check-in should cause no harm./6

Gulf #2: Corporate comms are too safe.

There’s still a ton of sluggishness across Marcom and leadership teams to speak up and out. The external responses to AAPI hate have been glacial.../7

https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/how-marketers-are-responding-surging-aapi-hate-crimes-live-blog/2322801

...and some were just despite the fact that June 2020 left us all with a playbook on what not to do./8 https://www.papermag.com/88rising-yellow-square-2651136472.html

Several #DEI leaders shared with me last week that they encountered hand-wringing within their orgs re: if and how to plan for the Chauvin verdict, including friction re: internal-only comms.

How can we possibly walk the walk if we’re still too uncomfy to even talk the talk?/9

Gulf #3: Allies are taking up too much space.

Interesting dynamics revealed themselves last week: Some Black folks expressed “relief” while many — self included — reflected that they didn’t feel much after the Chauvin verdict. Meanwhile, allies heralded “justice! ."/10

Perhaps this reaction gap is to be expected. But the underlying dynamics in which Black folks were rarely asked how they felt or purported allies explained how emotions work leave me wondering two things/11:

1) How much personal work have allies done to decenter themselves? and 2) Will the Chauvin verdict stunt the emotional urgency needed to fuel the antiracism movement?/12

I think companies have to interrogate and minimize these divides. Here are three questions I'll be asking more frequently:/13:

Q1: "Does our company value DEI?"

We first asked employees this question in 2018 and will measure semiannually from here on. Importantly, we look not just at overall favorability but also at favorability x demographic to understand what good is to whom./14

Q2: "What would we think, feel, say & do differently as an antiracist org?"

I’m not convinced everyone’s pictured the day-to-day of an antiracist company culture. This visioning prompt will enable employees to aspire tangibly & provides an robust experiential gap analysis./15

Q3: "Why do you stay?

You know why your employees of color depart your org but do you know why they stay? I have 30 1:1s on my cal next month with our most tenured employees from our highest-turnover populations & I am giddy for the opp to better deliver for and retain them./16

I remain hopeful but we can't move so fast that we skip building the capabilities & calibrations needed to positively affect employees of color.

I firmly believe that workplaces can be havens from the external world. We're far from that ideal, depending on whom you ask./end