This month's newsletter is a reminder for DEI leaders about preparing people for change.

Read through to the end for an opportunity to hear me speak on October 14 as part of
a Cambridge Judge Business School panel for British Black History Month.

Dragged Along

The scene I saw out the window as my bus drove along the banks of the Seine was agonizing, and I was powerless to stop it.

A boy not older than four was sprinting hard to keep up with his mother who held him by the wrist. From where I sat, I could see his pants falling from his waist and quickly gathering around his knees. It was impossible for him to keep running and he was exposed.

His mother had her eyes forward, fixed on their destination; she kept her pace and her firm grip on the boy’s arm. He stumbled and, for a few, long moments, she was dragging him.

Either his cries or the extra weight (as he was no longer able to hold himself up) finally alerted her to the problem. The boy was not deliberately going slow. He was legitimately prevented from going fast.

Finding the Pace

What does this unfortunate incident have to do with corporate equity and inclusion? Everything!

Designing interventions that promote empathy and other prosocial attitudes and behaviors into the early phases of your strategy can facilitate buy-in. Actively monitoring and addressing experiences of identity threat for both power remote and power proximate (my terms for "marginalized" and "dominant" social identities) employees can reduce resistance and backlash.

Take Care

Back on the riverbank, the mother stopped, kneeled to cover the poor child’s bum and fasten his pants more securely. Then she hugged him quickly to check in before they resumed their sprint to wherever they were going.

Take care to ensure that people in your organization receive the attention, resources, and support that will allow them to walk and one day run beside us as we move equity and inclusion forward.

Reach out if you’d like to discuss empathy or identity threat and how you might incorporate related interventions into your strategy.