F*ck Diversity Initiatives.

Yes, I said it.

Yes the 22 year old millennial black immigrant female married mother of 2, just said FUCK DIVERSITY.

After the Dove Controversy and so many other articles and content around diversity I am slowly beginning to despise the word.

Diversity in the workplace (specifically ib refference to the tech ecosystem) has grown to be this shiny ad on instead of a core piece of a company’s foundation. Which as a very diverse person I do not understand. Why can’t companies see immediately that having diverse members on their team in various roles at various levels is the only way to successfully grow your business? Why do they wait until some report is published? Or some controversy happens ? Or until they want some street cred of being “diverse”.

Like seriously? Keep your petty, fake, and wack diversity initiative. Don’t hire me to boost your stats. Fuck your stats, fuck you, and fuck diversity.

*RANT over*

On some real though. Corporations need to stop looking at diversity as charity work. Although there are companies that know that diversity is their foundation there are not enough companies that acknowledge it.

5 ways to be authentic about diversity.

1. Don’t wait until something happens for you to launch a diversity initiative put it into your core process.
2. There is more diversity that just gender. There is ethnicity, orientation, ability, mindset and so much more.
3. Diversity will keep the company alive. What diversity provides is multiple perspectives on an idea, product and/or service. If everyone building something has had very similar experiences in life then their views will overlap, they may miss key innovative insights, and you will miss certain opportunities.
4. Stop lying to yourself that you cant find/keep diverse talent. Are you looking in the right places? Are you being authentic in your search process? Are you actually dedicating enough resources to the process?
5. Diversity needs inclusion. Having a diverse workforce is pointless if diverse individuals feel unwelcomed and not included.( Because then they will leave, refer to high turn over rates for diverse individuals) Remember when you started that new school and didn’t have friends yet? Imagine feeling like that for months at your job. Not cool. Put in place activities and policies where all team members can learn about one another’s cultures, experiences, mindset, abilities, and so much more. This will break down barrier, preconceived notions and foster inclusion.

Shameless plug: email me at georgie@illicitmind.com so we can talk about how your company can be involved in AUTHENTIC diversity and inclusion.