In my work as a diversity consultant I often hear women and people of color quietly talking
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with each other about their white, male colleagues and bosses, saying “Most straight, white guys in the corporate world just don’t get it about diversity.” And although I’d like nothing better than to refute them, to defend my straight, white brethren, I’m afraid I have to agree: when it comes to diversity, we just don’t get it. So, at the risk of falling into the trap of generalizing about an amazingly large and diverse group of white guys, I have to ask: what is it about diversity that we don’t get and why don’t we get it? |
The first thing we don’t get is that diversity is about lot more than just race and gender conflicts. We hear the word “diversity” and we automatically think racism, bigotry and discrimination against women and people of color. We don’t think about all the other issues underneath the diversity umbrella.
We do this because we white guys are a uniquely visual lot (no, I don’t have studies to support this, just 46 years of straight, white male experience). We focus on the surface diversity issues – race and gender – because they’re easy to see, not much time or thought required. We also do it because the media does it too; bombarding us 24/7 with stories about race and gender conflicts, with the word diversity in the headline. Stories about diversity conflicts drive ratings; you know, “if it bleeds, it leads.” And nothing bleeds like a black man being beaten by white cops, or women workers being the target of crude, sexual advances. So, like Homer Simpson, the quintessential straight, white guy, we take what we see at face value. We don’t have the time or inclination to look beneath the surface - doh!
And that’s the second thing we don’t get about diversity – how diverse it is. Take any group of 100 American employees working in any one of America’s major cities and you will find enormous diversity, not just of race and gender, but of national origin, religion, politics, disability, body type, veteran status, life experience, generation, talents, skills, and dreams. Yet, corporate leadership would have us think that we’re all employees first, marching to the same droning corporate drummer, and individuals second.
Understandably, their goal is to make the disparate divisions of any one company seem more united and thus more powerful and better able to compete. There’s nothing inherently wrong in this. But, by ignoring the enormous diversity that lies just beneath the surface, we are ignoring and failing to tap into the wealth of talent and experience that could help our businesses become even more competitive, even more innovative.
The third thing we don’t get about diversity is that American corporate culture is - at every level – the culture of the straight, white guy. From the railroad barons of the 19th century to the oil barons of the current one, the wealthiest, most powerful American corporations have always been dominated by straight, white males of western European origin. And our culture is one of fierce competitiveness, clubby, sports-centered machismo, and good-old-boy, golf course deal making. To claim otherwise would be laughable.
Are there more women and people of color on corporate boards of directors than ever before? Sure, but at best, they’re pioneers – a few brave, well-connected souls willing to stand out from the buttoned-down crowd. At worst, they are tokens; a select few who have been chosen by the powerful to make the board and by extension, the company, look like there’s a genuine commitment to diversity.
By the way, if you’re a straight, white guy reading this, you’re probably having a little trouble right now controlling your anger at me, thinking I’m overly dramatic, that I’ve blown everything out of proportion.
But, if you’re a woman or a person of color, you’re yawning, saying ‘this is old news; tell me something I don’t know.’
Which leads me to the next thing we don’t get about diversity: we straight, white guys don’t even know that we don’t get it. You see, we’re an arrogant lot: just ask our wives (or better still, our ex-wives). We tend to think that because we’ve risen up through the ranks, seemingly by our wits, bootstraps and the proverbial sweat of our brows, that we have lived lives, been there, seen it, done it and thus are entitled to claim that we have all the answers, that we know what diversity is all about and that we don’t need to know any more.
But we don’t get that many white males are born into privilege and often escorted by dad or connections to a comfortable seat at the table. And for those of us who actually rose up through the ranks we don’t get that – although we did work very, very hard - in many cases our gender, the color of our skin, and our heterosexual orientation were the unspoken deciding factors in our successes.
And that’s because we don’t get the concept of “like hires like”; that if we have two candidates for a job in our department, one white and one black, but both with comparable skills, experience and qualifications, all other things being equal, we’ll almost always hire the white guy. This is purely human nature, but we don’t get it; or perhaps we don’t want to.
And we don’t get that learning about diversity, becoming culturally competent, and creating inclusive work environments are career-long efforts requiring focus, introspection, and a humble willingness to consider other perspectives besides our own.
No, we think diversity is best handled by the folks in human resources; those warm and fuzzy types we pay to keep us out of trouble or clean up after us. We don’t get that the vast majority of corporate leadership and their boards are made up of the same few white guys who share money and power only with a limited group of friends, many of whom are connected to each other through family, university, club and fraternity ties.
So, if we boil it all down, there are a lot of things about diversity that we straight, white guys don’t get, or at least don’t want to admit. I’m not saying we’re all racists or bigots – far from it. Most of the straight, white guys I know are good, decent men. But, that doesn’t mean we all get it about diversity; because we don’t. If we did, the leadership of our corporations would look very much different than they do. Clearly, I and my white brothers have a long, long way to go and much to learn about diversity.
Most women and people of color are afraid to talk about this reality too loudly because they’re not the ones in power, we are. They’re afraid of being labeled as angry or bitter or worse, not a team player. So, to paraphrase a cliché, it takes a white guy to know white guys and to speak the truth about who we are.
The sooner we straight, white men start getting it about ourselves, the sooner we can start getting down to business; to creating inclusive work environments where diversity is really valued and leveraged. And when we finally get it and start doing these things, our companies will become far more successful than we ever thought possible.
