An open letter of advice to CEOs serious about building a truly diverse company
By Aneeta Rattan, associate professor of organisational behaviour at London Business School, writing for the Financial Times
Dear CEO,
The facts are the facts — you have to start from where you are. As you move forward from your #BlackLivesMatter statement, admit where you are in plain words. The chances are that you too do not have much to show when it comes to the most obvious and visible aspect of diversity — your top leadership team.
Looking further down the ranks of your organisation, you may have some representation of minorities and women, but it’s likely you have also documented issues with these employees’ sense of belonging and inclusion from employee engagement surveys, plus anonymous reporting of bias via human resources or employee networks.
Many leaders whose companies are making progress in promoting minority staff will want to trumpet their achievements. This is a mistake. Put bluntly, while you should always celebrate your minority leaders, if you have only achieved token diversity in your business overall, then treating this first step as a big achievement suggests you do not understand (or have) serious diversity goals in mind…
