How the 2021 Afrotech Exec Event Proved How Much We Need the Race Equ(al)ity Index

I had the pleasure of attending this year’s Afrotech Exec event in Los Angeles this past week. The extrovert inside me was more than excited to trade my Saturday for the Blexellence that was sure to ensue.

This event was much more intimate than I anticipated, open only to founders, entrepreneurs, and investors in the tech industry, including people from entertainment and government. The event was outdoors in the parking lot, and please believe there were branded church fans ready for the late-summer LA heat (though I chose to chase the shade but gladly took a few extras home.)

I came prepared to practice my Race Equ(al)ity Project “What We Do” pitch, soak up inspiration from speakers like Michele Ghee, CEO of Ebony and Jet, and to meet VCs and other investors. Not to be disappointed, my trip was already worth it when Arlan Hamilton happened to stand next to me (maybe a fellow shade chaser?) within 30 seconds of my arrival.

Non-sequitur: This was not my first IRL event since BC (Before Covid), and although I’m vaccinated, I still have young kids who are not. The risk is not lost on me and I’m still practicing how to gracefully respond with a fistbump when I’m offered a handshake (peer pressure is hard).

With the sheer awesomeness of the entire event, there was one conversation that really stuck with me: I was asked why we don’t publish the results of the Race Equ(al)ity Index.

With the sheer awesomeness of the entire event, there was one conversation that really stuck with me: I was asked why we don’t publish the results of the Race Equ(al)ity Index.

In my mind, my ego responded, ”Really? We’re still out here thinking that ranking companies and publishing results is what will get them to do better?”

My actual response was something more finessed to bring the conversation back to the what and who of REI followed by a transition to learn more about their work, followed by smiling while inside feeling like Tom Hanks/Mr. Duggan trying to talk to Evelyn, again, about missing the point (and no, I will not pause here to laugh about Chet Hanks, because I’m a professional).

Suffice to say I was really caught up. Primarily, I was shown I still have a lot of work to do, and penultimately that we seem to still be caught up in this mindset of thinking that the data is the answer, instead of a crucial and vital tool.

The TL;DR is this:

I’ve written, hosted panels, and given talks about how we have to change our mindset around diversity data and what it really means to be on a “top companies for inclusion” list (though the latter is far less relevant).

Dion and I built the Equ(al)ity Index specifically for any/all leaders who might already be engaging with surveys and employee engagement platforms and maybe still getting stuck when they bring the resulting insights to support the business case for more resources and budget.

Events like Afrotech Exec are the energy and the reminder I personally need to fill up and get back to work on what I’m good at, which is holding people accountable in approachable and actionable ways.

We are all working towards the same thing, which is to create opportunity and generational wealth for those coming after us. Most of us in attendance at Afrotech Exec don’t sleep much (although we look ageless) and are often working a corporate job while building a highly impactful and under-resourced side hustle in an effort to achieve this dream.

Let’s zoom out on the concept of data as “facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis”

We can all probably agree that data is commonly used to more-or-less provide evidence or clout in order to help iterate and improve something.

We can also probably agree, for better or worse (and often to the chagrin of data nerds like me), that data alone most certainly does not change the behavior of 400-year-old social systems overnight.

When Dion and I first created the Race Equ(al)ity Index, we were solidly aligned here (and not just facetious). Both of us spend our careers creating business cases for XYZ program/initiative/project that, based on the data, would have ABC results on profitability because it was more equitable and inclusive.

All while using all types of coded ​language to imply the underlying ‘isms and/or bias but not say outright things like “this data says y’all hella racist and sexist should just retire and go (stay) home”, and still not getting budget/resources for said plan/strategy to alleviate implied ‘isms and/or bias.

Meanwhile, when not on video calls (yet still in sweatpants), we’re catching up with all our colleagues who intersect at places like Afrotech Exec about how this pandemic is shedding the light on our causes and calls for more investment in equity, inclusion, and representation in corporate leadership. We aired our head-banging-against-the-wall-woes.

Here’s how it often played out:

Head of People/HR/DEI team goes to CFO/CEO to report on the last Engagement Survey with a plan to use this glaringly obvious data to show why our leaders need to be more engaged and hold people accountable for their, ie., new talent acquisition process requirements, why they have to take a hard look at their talent review process, and with that, the budget and resources needed to make it happen.

Before they can even get to the “Here’s what we’ll do about it”, the meeting is already over because they’ve spent the whole time working through the semantic layer of “clarifying questions like: who are these reviews/comments from? And, which team are they on?”.

These meetings put holes in walls because they completely miss the point, and were almost impossible to get on the schedule because it had “Employee Engagement” in the calendar invite.

This is a big deal.

Why you might ask?

Without digressing into the social science of dominant culture and power dynamics, our corporate leadership culture has a tendency to take really informative employee engagement survey feedback as a commentary on who they are as opposed to the capacity of skills and output (not the same!) shown in their performance. Or, better yet, we unintentionally target the commenter’s character as the root issue, not anything to do with us.

In practice, this might look similar to interpreting customer experience, end-user feedback, or revenue trends as an attack on the personality and character of the developers.

This tone of mentality and response, specifically in the context of human capital, race, gender, ability, social/government status, has had dangerously compounding effects when repeatedly relegated to the #notarealbusinessproblem department.

The result is that now we’re seeing leaders crucified-n-canceled left and right in what looks something like the 2020’s edition of the JEDI Hunger Games, when in reality, we only need to adjust how we interpret and use data.

Let’s break down how a rather routine data insights discussion .

1. Precious time is spent taking turns to play devil’s advocate around survey and employee data semantics when we’re really avoiding more obvious responses like “Sh*t, we f@cked up on that one, didn’t we?”
2. With precious time lost in an already too-short meeting, the more thoughtful, curious, and honest discussions around how we got here (without blame) and which systems are causing unintended harm that we can easily address
3. The result is that nothing really changes because,
4. Fixing and solving is much easier than healing and repairing, so
5. we continue our virtuous cycle of performative allyship smorgasbords like:
6. Black squares
7. Blanket “We stand with __ community” statements
8. Top marketing dollar spent to appear in the top 5 of “Most Inclusive Companies” lists.
9. A cycle that, furthermore, often sticks the people in the responsible-for-DEI role between leaders who don’t get it and employee resource groups @all-ing in slack about how the company isn’t doing enough for diversity and having to work relentlessly to move molehills that feel like mountains.

The bottom line is, we have to innovate.

Dion and I built the Equ(al)ity Index specifically for any/all leaders who might already be engaging with surveys and employee engagement platforms and maybe still getting stuck when they bring the resulting insights to support the business case for more resources and budget.

We imagined, talked to, and have been the leaders who are doing this ever-important work within companies who want to come to these meetings with all the data plus what the industry benchmark, or “what good looks like” for specifics like:

• how many Inclusive Leadership pieces of training are needed to impact the rate at which new (more equitable and more work) talent review processes are adapted by front-line managers.
• what the average budget is for employee resource groups and how companies are compensating them.
• How do our mental health benefits compare to the industry, and what is the best cadence to communicate them to new and existing employees? How can that impact our retention rates?

We know that if everyone were doing this well, we wouldn’t need things like Race Equ(al)ity Indexes.

We know that “best practices” in the context of business, innovation, and people assets alike are constantly changing.

We know that access to updated information about what is being practiced and how it’s working/not working is super valuable, and doesn’t implicate a good/bad binary.

We know that investing in things like leadership training, employee benefits and organizational development will impact key performance metrics.

We know that the management consulting landscape is changing to include more internal/personal/mindful work, and is becoming increasingly complex. Look no further than Deloitte’s 2021 Global Human Capital Report.

Attending Afrotech Exec was a great reminder that the work we do at the Race Equ(al)ity Project matters.

If you’re interested in learning more about how can be a part of the next cohort of the Race Equ(al)ity Index, please feel free to contact me via email.