Diversity Exchange

We Are Made By History

History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.

- Maya Angelou

 Last night, I was privileged to attend an event for an organization called Facing History. This is a wonderful organization with a mission to educate children on the past so that they can make better choices for the future.

 

As we look at the work being done in diversity and inclusion within corporate America, we can easily separate it into 3 parts:

• Educating corporate leaders on the importance of a diverse workforce and enhancing their cross cultural competence.
• Developing employees and ensuring a diverse pipeline of talent for future leadership roles
• Connecting to or developing a diverse external pipeline and ensuring that our future workforce have the technical and social skills to navigate in a complex global workplace.

The value of Facing History is in developing empathetic, cross culturally competent future leaders whose decisions can change the workforce and the workplace as we know it.

So I pass on a question that was asked of the attendees at the Facing History event...What moment in history had the most impact on you and why?

Sincerely,

LaShana Jackson

Global Director of Diversity & Inclusion

 

 

I am happy in Holland....

As a parent of a child with special needs, I know the toll it can take on any parent...especially a parent who works full time! To help support working parents at Aon who have children with special needs, we have been piloting a Share Point or internal collaboration website to allow these parents to share information, resources, and sometimes just to connect and know that someone else is going through the same thing.

In honor of all of those dedicated parents who spend hours researching the best doctors, finding the right schools, and in general just fighting to give their child the opportunity to thrive, I share the following. This story was shared with me by my son's wonderful and dedicated teacher. I hope it gives you the same sense of peace it gave me.

 

Welcome to Holland

 by Emily Perl Kingsley (1987)

 

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After a few months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland".

 "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a new group of people you would have never met.

It's just a different place, It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy that Italy. But after you've been there for a while and catch your breath, you look around....and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills...and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know if busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away....because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss.

 But....if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, very lovely things....about Holland.

 

LaShana Jackson

Global Director of Diversity & Inclusion

 

Diversity Can Happen, Inclusion is Intentional

In May, Anderson Cooper presented a four part series to discuss the results of a recent study on children and how they view skin color. Go to CNN to watch videos about the study. This series connects so well to Kara Burrell Wright and her concept of Mindhearted because, as this study showed, almost 70 years after the Kenneth and Mamie Clark Doll Study, a significant number of the children who participated in this current study are forming opinions on the "value" of skin color. During interviews with the parents of these children, many of them were shocked to know that their children had shown a bias because they believed they had been raising a color blind child. 

What does this mean?  It means that at any given point, diversity can happen but inclusion is intentional. What do I mean by that? Many times we assume that we are teaching our children certain values and beliefs, but without supporting behavior they can model, children will disregard those words. More importantly, as with any skill, being more open to different cultures, religions, skin tones, sexual orientation or any number of diverse factors takes practice. It is normal to experience fear, rejection or even disgust as an initial reaction to something that is foreign or different. It is how we elevate ourselves to control that response and embrace these differences that matters...and ultimately takes more than a verbal agreement to do so. It takes exposure beyond the surface which makes true inclusion a much more difficult thing to execute.

When we look at what surrounds us at home, in our communities or who we have as close friends you can begin to see how easily we become comfortable engaging only with others like ourselves. And why not? On the surface, they are more likely to have the same values, engage in the same activities, like the same TV shows, eat the same food...there is common ground to connect on that surface level. So you begin to see that stretching your children, and more importantly yourself, by experiencing inclusion in an intentional way is the only way that you will begin chipping away at the idea of "value" linked to skin color or exclusion based on a disability, or fear based on sexual preference or anger based on religious affiliation.

This exercise in stretching ourselves is not exclusive to one group but something that we all must be cognizant of. So I ask, how are you increasing your and your children's' ability to be inclusive?  I welcome your thoughts!

 

La Shana Jackson

Aon Corporation

Director - Diversity & Inclusion

Imagine what we miss.....

While some of American Idol's top rated moments come from the obvious ridicule of individuals with an appearance outside of what the general public considers "Hollywood Material", imagine what wonderful talent we miss when talented individuals who see this ridicule forgo opportunities out of shame and fear.

Recently, Susan Boyle blew audiences and judges away on Britain's Got Talent. See her performance here: Susan Boyle Performs song from Les Miserables. Similar to a previous contestant, Paul Potts, whose rendition of Nessun Dorma brought one judge to tears. The obvious skepticism and ridicule apparent in the audience was no deterrent for these two who had a gift they wanted to share. However, they are the exception.

We make so many assumptions in life...at work and at home. How often do our negative assumptions based on gender, race, sexual orientation or physical appearance deter individuals from expressing themselves and sharing their gifts? Conversely, how many opportunities do we miss to see, hear or experience something new and beautiful because of these biases?

It's so funny that a phrase we so commonly use, "Never judge a book by its cover", is so rarely followed.

LaShana Jackson

Director - Aon Diversity & Inclusion 

Valuing Differences

I recently read an article by Randall Boe, the General Counsel for AOL, called “The Value of Inclusiveness.” He made the critical point that people, “who value diversity actively embrace differences.”

Embrace, not accept or tolerate or accommodate.

There is a world of opportunity in that simple notion—and it captures what I love most about my role as global chief diversity officer for Aon, namely the opportunity to explore new places, new cultures, new people, new ways of thinking and doing. Last month I had the opportunity of a lifetime to visit Sub-Sahara Africa for the semi-annual Country Managers meeting. I thank Anton Roux, our chief executive in Africa, for inviting me.

I expected—and looked forward to—seeing a world far different from the one I live in (Nashville) or work in (Chicago, primarily). I expected to see poverty amidst rapidly rising wealth in a continent filled with untapped natural resources. What I didn’t expect, and what I will remember more than the contrast of Mozambique’s poverty and Cape Town’s vineyards, is the unbelievable determination, courage, and humanity of my colleagues there.

In the land of plenty called America, we who have so much have found much about which to complain.

Like travel restrictions to save money.

Or lack of administrative support to make us more efficient.

And most common of all, IT problems—like getting kicked off line while working remotely.

In Africa, I listened to stories by Louis Veloso, head of Angola, who had T&D forms faxed to him, drove 30 minutes to a client to get signed, drove 30 minutes back, and faxed to corporate—because it was faster than emailing the document in a country where internet access can’t come close to keeping up with the country’s explosive growth.

And I heard Joe Onsando, head of Kenya, explain why his country’s political strife kept him from hosting the Country Managers meeting as was planned originally. Instead, he told us of the personal risk his employees took during the worst of times to come to work and keep the office up and running to serve our clients.

And I heard Susan Mutangadura, our newest country manager, talk of the issues she must deal with in Zimbabwe where the 1000% inflation rate means paychecks are worthless by the time our employees receive them, insufficient to buy gas to get to work or food to put on the table for their families.

To my colleagues in Africa, I salute you. Thank you for opening my eyes in a way that a life in the land of plenty never could.

Corbette Doyle
Chief Diversity Officer

White Men Can Jump

White men can jump … into the diversity fold, that is.  In fact, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the involvement of white men is critical to creating a diversity strategy that is both effective and sustainable.

Why?

First, over 80% of the top decision-makers in large organizations are men.  Unless they understand both the issues and the opportunities that a robust diversity strategy brings to their firm, they may not embrace a change imperative.

Second, having white males leading or co-leading diversity initiatives is a way to reach the toughest audiences – those employees who resist other diversity outreach efforts.  Leading?  Yes, in some cases, you’ll even find white men leading highly effective diversity strategies, Steve Bucherati at Coke is a prime example, as was Patrick McLaurin of Booz Allen, who recently passed away.  Both knew their firm and knew who to go to to get things done.

The third reason?  White men want diversity too.  Gen X’s want flexible careers, boomers want to phase into retirement, working fathers want part-time options, and great leaders want opportunities for their high potential talent.

So, the next time you launch a diversity council or an employee network, invite the white guy.  He just may be a diversity strategy’s best find.

Corbette Doyle
Chief Diversity Officer

A Global View of Diversity

I find it very interesting and almost strange how we all seem to experience diversity in similar ways but in varying degrees.  From my point of view, South Africans experience diversity in many ways.  Aon South Africa is trying to introduce discussions around a few of these such as: race, gender, language, cultural and religion, which are the most "topical" or relevant at the moment.  We are trying to embrace diversity and over the coming months we intend arranging formal diversity awareness campaigns in our offices in South Africa. 

We are currently looking at a specific programme which we may or may not be able to carry out in 2007 depending on our training budget. We are also discussing the viability of using our communication clip frames (like posters around the offices) to raise awareness.   Management have expressed the desire to have some conversations around this theme in small informal groups over a cup of coffee.

At Aon SA we are not claiming to be ahead of the game but we are aware that this is a focus area and intend dealing with this in 2007/2008.

In the remaining countries in Africa - the diversity issues are similar however with different priorities.  Many of the countries have different first languages to South Africa (English) and French / Portuguese is their first / business language for example.  We have not entered into formal discussions at this stage.  We are all Africans but are not all black and when we have discussions with American colleagues they automatically presume that we are talking about black people when we refer to Africans.  This makes the conversation somewhat confusing at times.

I am a very proud white, English, female African and I have a tremendous amount to learn about diversity.

Liza Kok
Brand Ambassador
Aon South Africa

Making the Dominant Culture “Excellence”

I enjoyed Larry Benjamin’s blog (Feb 7, 2007) about the concept of race. I sympathize with him about the state of style in young men’s clothing and overly loud music emanating from nearby vehicles. And I concur that both situations seem pervasive across many “lines,” whether skin color, class, cultural background or gender. I’m always tempted to find a lovely opera on the radio to play back at them. Looking back at the types and styles of clothing I wore as a teenager however (think tie-dyed, hip-hugger, extra wide bell-bottom jeans and scarves for tops), I’m just glad that there are few photos remaining. And I confess to still listening to the ear-grating music my parents hated then, much to the chagrin of my own teenager.

For many years, I have been involved in on-going and deep discussions about the issues that seem to divide us and how we, individually and corporately, can recognize, honor and move past them while strengthening both the complementary and common characteristics between people and cultures. I have come to believe that (at least in the Western European empires) skin color DOES matter still, as do gender, age, social/economic class, physical abilities and more. Perhaps not as much on an individual-by-individual case as even a decade or two ago, but institutionally, it is evident when one looks at large organizations, whether commercial or non-profit.

Just looking at photos and reading names of management and directors (admittedly not deep research) of various US organizations, the percentage of people who do not seem part of the “dominant culture” (i.e., white, male, Northern European background) is quite small. However, looking at the names, gender and skin color of most “workers,” I find great diversity. When I take public transportation, or park in public parking lots, I see and hear diversity. So what happens to these diverse people on the way to the boardroom? Presumably, organizations hire the best talent possible, provide the tools and training opportunities for personal and professional growth and then reward the top performers with additional remuneration and responsibility (i.e., promotions). Like others, I find it hard to believe that the only members of the dominant culture are top performers.

It is hard for those who are part of the dominant culture to realize their societal advantages over others. White privilege, heterosexism, ableism, ageism and a whole host of other –isms exist whether we choose to recognize them or not. Aon is working to become a truly open and affirming place for unmatched talent, but it takes more than Diversity Councils and Business Networking Groups. These organizations are a great start and I applaud and appreciate Mr. Case’s commitment to creating a positive environment for personal and professional growth. But it is up to each of us to recognize our own –isms and take true responsibility, individually and corporately to honor, cultivate and nurture the inherent worth of all of Aon’s “unmatched talent,” whether new hires or current employees, making the dominant culture one of excellence rather than something else. Only then will diversity be a core value, instead of window-dressing.

Beth Leehy, Relationship Specialist
ARS of Northern California
Aon Pride Western Region Co-Lead

What Does Race Really Mean?

Since attending the kick-off the Diversity and Inclusion Council for Aon staff in the Delaware Valley (PA), I’ve been thinking pretty much non-stop about diversity and inclusion and what it means.  That’s what led to the followings musings on the definition of race …

I marvel at today’s young men who seem unable to buy jeans that actually fit, never mind a belt to hold up the aforementioned ill-sized jeans.  As I look at these young men shuffling down the street, stopping every few feet to hike their too-big jeans up a fraction of an inch, I am struck by the fact that this unfortunate “look” cuts across both race and economic lines.  How often have I turned to glare at the driver next to me whose rap music is so blaringly loud it threatens to shake my fillings loose, only to be confronted by a face far paler than my own and light eyes, driving what can only be dad’s hand-me-down Mercedes.  The divisional line between the races seems to be, if not disappearing altogether, then certainly less firmly drawn than before.

I read somewhere that scientists have discovered that it is possible to be racially black, but “genetically white;” and vice versa.  What, I wonder, will that do to the future concept of race, indeed of self?  Will race become irrelevant?  My best friend, more sister than best friend actually, is a white divorced mother of two. On the surface we have nothing in common, yet we’re friends and have been for nearly a decade.  She insists my being black is no more noteworthy or relevant than hair or eye color.  I tend to agree, yet I remain intensely aware that I am often the only black person in a room.

Over dinner the other night, my partner (who is white) started relating a conversation he’d overhead on the train between two young men.  Perplexed, he mentioned a slang-term they used repeatedly.  I said, “Gee, I wish I knew what that (term) meant (it was a sports conversation so it’s entirely likely that had they not used slang, I still wouldn’t have understood).  “I know,” he said, sipping his wine.  “And it’s not like I know any black people I can ask.”

I stared at him.  “Oh, you know what I mean,” he said.  Indeed, I knew what he meant.  Still, I can’t help wondering: what exactly does it mean to be black in today’s society?  Is it solely skin color that makes you black?  Is it cultural?  And if race is no longer as easy to define as it once was, how do we define and measure diversity?

Larry Benjamin
Communication Consultant
Aon Consulting

What's In a Label?

What’s in a label? More than I thought, by far.

I grew up calling my childhood friends “the girls.” Still do, even at 50. Don’t let a man call a professional woman that, however, lest he wants his nose chopped off. And what about calling a person of color “black?” In South Africa, that’s as right as it is wrong in the states. In Miami, calling a Cuban a Latina borders on insulting, while in New York, it’s the name of a hip new magazine for professional women of Latin descent.

Then why walk this potential minefield? Isn’t the goal of inclusion to blur the lines between one group of people and the next? The problem (actually, there are many problems) is that we can’t fix the wrongs of the past or evaluate the progress we’re making, unless we can measure and compare one group to the next.

So we put people in categories and we put labels on the categories. And when we use the wrong labels, or the right label in the wrong context, we cause a setback when we wanted to take a giant step forward.

What’s the solution? I welcome comments. I only wish there were answers.

Corbette Doyle
Chief Diversity Officer