Do You Muse? Musing #1: Corporate responses to racial injustice

Race as a construct has been a fascinating examination of how this country consumes difference. At work, many non BiPOCs have been intrigued by how they can become an “ally” in the battle to create an even playing field that creates opportunity for all. Companies have “discovered” the need to share their “thoughts and prayers” statements by getting behind “Black Lives Matter” . The reality is that most companies are ill-equipped to tackle this generations-long inequity.

Until the recent request explosion for racial and social justice, companies have been comfortable and complacent in perpetuating the status quo. Now they are scrambling, looking for quick wins and answers to some very basic questions that have stumped many generations around equality, equity and fairness.

Corporations, like the rest of society, only respond to when there’s pressure to act. Companies also adhere to the “fast follow” mantra, where one company takes an action and other companies (not to look aloof or slow-to-the-draw) follow with similar steps and actions. When Best Buy released their statement following the death of George Floyd, they received countless compliments and kudos for taking the lead in this moment. While it was a heartfelt statement that showed a great deal of character from the corporation, it was also a brilliant corporate marketing tactic. Best Buy emerged as a voice in the fight for racial justice and the type of company that diverse candidates would be attracted to, a “champion of change” of sorts. Other companies, not to be outdone, followed suit with statements, banners on corporate sites and town halls on race. See any Fortune 100 company. Since then, many companies have removed “Black Lives Matter” from their pages and stopped external racial justice related communications so it’s a wait-and-see moment on whether companies will hold themselves accountable for enacting change from within.

During my years in business school, I worked with a widely diverse group of classmates on an independent study focused on strengthening the diversity and inclusion climate on campus. In our research, we discussed this topic with a number of institutions, including other business schools and corporations. One financial services firm in particular was very candid as to why they invested in improving their D&I work.

“Why? Because we were responding to a lawsuit. Yes, we were being sued by some employees. Also, our clients were asking where were all the underrepresented minorities in our firm and we didn’t have a good answer. Clients were starting to pull back from using our services until we were able to prove that we had diversity”

Again, pressure created the change. In theory, the answer would be “it was the right thing to do”. Instead it was “we had to do it because we would lose money”.

This time around, companies shouldn’t wait for lawsuits and pressure from outside to take steps. Companies should be bold and be different. While making statements about racial justice can move the needle a bit, that’s not where companies should play.

Companies should not just talk. They should act.

Statement: “Black people matter because they do”. We know that they are vital to our business and the right thing to do is ensure that their presence is felt at all levels of leadership. We will do this by expanding our recruiting reach to grow our pipeline, address any bias issues impacting our hiring and promotion practices and identify key leaders to join our board”.

Then companies should make good on their promises. Then rinse, repeat until there’s some tangible headway made toward equal and just.