While Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery, there is a deeper and very important story to understand. Slaves were emancipated on January 1, 1863, but it was not until two and a half years later that Texas slaves were freed, when Union Army General Granger rode to Galveston and made the proclamation.

Several years ago, AI started to be hailed as a new way to screen candidates in recruiting, enabling a more effective way to sift through high volumes of job applications to find the most qualified candidates. However, we have since learned that AI is only as unbiased as its programmers, and bias is showing up in big enough ways to enact new legal protection.

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While traditionally burnout has been kept private and looked at as an individual issue in the workplace - and in some particularly cut-throat cultures a sign of weakness - we now have to acknowledge that it is a widely shared issue. And that it is creating a DEI emergency.

With the current "war on talent," employers need to do all the can to retain their top employees. Many are looking at compensation with the intent of ensuring pay is equitable across men and women. To get to true pay equity, however, you need to take a deeper look.

Many organizations have made statements in support of DE&I but are slow to make progress. Leadership may be misaligned, other priorities may be competing for attention and work can be delegated to people who can’t drive decisions. This resistance to change, whether intentional or not, is one of the biggest issues my clients face. It can come in direct forms but more often is passive and indirect. Here are three common examples…

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Nasdaq, which with the New York Stock Exchange accounts for the vast majority of trading, has proposed new listing requirements for its US stock exchange and is awaiting approval from the SEC. Any company with less than two diverse directors, including one who self-identifies as either an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ+, has to provide a reasonable explanation as to why or risk being delisted.

March 31st marked the annual Transgender Day of Visibility, and for the first time was acknowledged with a proclamation from the White House. Transgender people - the "T" in LGBTQ+ - are often left in the shadows of recognition, so it was particularly meaningful to have this proclamation issued by the highest level of government.

As seen in The Dallas Morning News

For the past 10 years, annual unemployment for women 18 and over has been consistently lower than men’s. Then came the pandemic. Not only has unemployment skyrocketed, a notable divergence of rates for women and men has appeared and is becoming a disturbing trend. Women are losing jobs, becoming unable to work and staying unemployed at much higher rates than men.

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Every person I know who is involved in diversity, inclusion and equity work is exhausted. Down to their bones tired. And so worried that they're not doing enough. DE&I is hard work. If it's not hard right now that is probably an indication you're not digging deep enough, because we're getting to core systemic issues that have been in place for generations.

In the past 4 weeks, Black Lives Matter demonstrations have occurred in ALL 50 STATES across the US. Sit with that for a minute.

Our communities are crying out to be seen and heard and recognized for who we are, in our full multi-dimensional identities, with everything both unique and shared about us acknowledged and valued equally. We want EQUITABLE INCLUSION.

If you are not Black or Asian, you may feel it’s not your place to say something about all the terrifying ways racism is playing out around us. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Demonstrate humanity. Show up.

Staying quiet, keeping your head down, acting like this is none of your business sends a message - even if totally unintentional - that you do not care, that because this does not affect you directly it is not important. This is totally contrary to being an ally at a time allyship matters most. Allies show up.

Now it is more important than ever for leaders to EXPAND and EMBED diversity and inclusion throughout their organizations. Sound extreme? It’s not. Here’s why…

Business leaders are largely in desperate situations right now. They’re either struggling to keep their business alive, or scrambling to keep up with newfound demand, with very little in between. DE&I work is at high risk in either scenario because both create an all-hands approach to producing and selling, forcing people and culture initiatives into the back seat - or, even worse, onto the chopping block.

Because inclusion…

Today close to half of entry level roles are filled by women, and only 22% of C-level roles and a pitiful 5% of CEO roles in Fortune 500 companies are filled by women. If balance at the bottom get us to only 5% at the very top, adding to the bottom isn’t the answer.

Are you wanting to do more to advance women in your company, but feel like you can’t prioritize something that feels like a nice-to-have? I have good news for you - you can put advancing women on the top of your to-do list because the benefits to your business are huge - big enough to trump your other initiatives, to grow your business, to secure investors and to attract and retain great employees.

I know, that sounds like motherhood and apple pie.  And you’re probably thinking, yes, we should do that, but I have 10 other burning issues right now and have to make sure I hit my performance targets for the quarter. Let me put it to you another way… Not advancing women creates a huge missed opportunity for your business.

Unconscious bias has become a bit of a buzzword lately, with companies such as Starbucks, Google and Facebook publicly talking about the training they are doing to educate employees about it.  While there is no quick training that anyone can do to “fix” their unconscious bias, opening your eyes to the biases you have that you are not aware of – and their unintended consequences, particularly in the workplace – is incredibly valuable.

I have had several conversations recently with male leaders that have been a bit maddening. Maddening because they get right to core of how hard it is to shift the gender equity paradigm in the workplace.