A Candid Wake Up Call to Professionals of Color and Women — How You Must Care for Your Career in an Anti-DEI Context

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From Judy’s Medium Page:

For women and professionals of color (POCs), I hope you’re re-calibrating how you engage with your professional and career development. That is, more than ever, you’ll need to proactively advocate for your growth and development. If you want to advance equitably, you have to be committed to being in the driver’s seat of your career advancement. There is no other choice.

It’s clear there are consequences to state/local governments and politicians seeking to “dismantle DEI,” with wealthy donors following suit to do the same with universities. Those same forces are impacting organizations. Take a moment and take that in. Look around. Companies are stepping back their DEI commitments as DEI departments are shrinking or eliminated. Programs targeted to recruit and advance non-whites are diminishing or being altogether discarded. It’s time to do your due diligence about your employer’s true commitment to rewarding your talent. Has your company’s DEI efforts truly remained intact? Look for evidence of equity efforts (recruiting, development, promotions) not just inclusion (discussions, conversations, identity celebrations). Read the fine print. If you want to grow in your career, it’s vital you know your employer’s true commitment to your growth.

In recent years, DEI had been the checks-and-balances for equity in companies (though many companies lured us into inclusion without ever addressing the root causes of corporate inequity). When you review US history and the role of companies and its workers, inequity is not new. History provides evidence that the corporate system leans towards bias and exclusion, favoring white men. This is not lamenting or speculation. It’s just the fact, derived from data.

Today, such practices have real consequences for POC’s lifetime and generational wealth. Of all the places in America, corporate POCs have the greatest probability of building generational wealth (i.e. excess disposable income that can be saved and transferred to future generations). National data shows non-whites are statistically under-promoted in corporate America when compared to white counterparts for manager and leadership roles. The same is true for women, especially for non-white women. This means that more non-whites are staffed in lower-paying jobs and non-managerial positions. Companies started to address these inequities post 2020, when DEI became front and center. However POC opportunities to advance to higher paying jobs (which are already under-indexed) will only worsen as focus diminishes on equitable advancement.

With decreased staffing or elimination of the DEI function, the continued anti-DEI challenges by white supremacy organizations and anxiety of legal risks among corporate leaders, it’s an imperative that you step up your career focus.

Your commitment to yourself has to take priority, more than ever. In every one of my Career Accelerator programs, the vast majority of POC participants focus more on doing their work than on building their careers. We’ve been told by our leaders and society-at-large to believe that employers promote based on meritocracy, but the data simply doesn’t back that up. You’ve got to realize that hard work simply isn’t enough. What got you here isn’t going to get you up there.

What you focus on is what you get. If you focus on doing more work, you’ll get more work. If you focus on your work as an enabler to your contribution to your organization’s goals and advancing your career, you’ll get promoted. You should expect to be rewarded for your good work and contributions. This thinking has always been the norm for dominant identity, that is, white men. Hence, that’s how the corporate system rewards its people. Too many of my clients believe that prioritizing their career growth is too self-centered. That makes sense because that’s what the dominant society has expected of marginalized identities (this is true or all world cultures btw). We are expected to be grateful to have a means to survival. But if you’re a professional in corporate America, it’s vital you radically shift your mindset. I know with certainty that expecting to be rewarded is not self-centeredness. Expecting to be rewarded and promoted is the epitome of self-respect.

The #1 change you’ve got to make is to radically shift your MINDSET about yourself and how you manage your career. You are IN CHARGE. Let no one else dictate how far you should grow. Get out of the legacy mindset that has expected women and people of color to be grateful for simply having a good job. We’re not here to survive. We’re here to thrive.

The forces against equity of power are in our faces in the United States today. The gloves have come off. See it for what it is. What is true for US society seeps into corporate America. Indeed, there are fear-based executives and billionaires hoarding power because they fear the ascendance of diverse power in our country and the world (however, also know there are executives who believe the opposite — those executives are your allies, albeit quiet allies nowadays).

If you want to be rewarded equitably, if you want to build generational wealth, you must consciously take care of yourself and put yourself at the front of the line. It’s a critical time to stay nimble and not do the same old, same old.

Stand up for your right — to live your Best Self. Make your career growth your number one priority. When you change your mindset, you’ll change your career strategy. When you jettison the myth of meritocracy and take care of you, you’ll get promoted and get paid for what you’re really worth.

Don’t wait. Take action now. On behalf fairness and equity. On behalf of your Best Self.