I once read something about gaining and losing weight that struck me with its simplicity and wisdom: “Gaining weight is unintentional and easy. Losing weight is intentional and difficult.” I read it years ago, but it has always stayed with me. While preparing for and then writing this book, I kept thinking that companies that are diverse—or those that are not—could be described the same way: Becoming a nondiverse company is unintentional and easy. Becoming a diverse company is intentional and difficult. I don't believe that most all-White companies set out to be nondiverse; they didn't intend for it to happen—they just evolved into it. It's easy to fall into hiring the same types of employees who have always worked well in a corporate culture, who “fit a mold.” And the companies that work to make their organizations diverse and equitable and inclusive? They work with intention. They plan, create strategies, learn, and evolve, and they work their butts off.

I think it's an important distinction, because I have talked to some executives and leaders who feel that “demographics are our destiny” and that they don't really have to “do” anything to drive diversity efforts. They believe that the changing demographics of the United States and the world will just “naturally” bring them more diverse talent over time. I don't think that's a safe assumption. I believe that what will happen is that terrific, qualified, diverse people will be drawn to the best companies, not just any company. Candidates who are high-potential, who can move business forward, and who can make an impact are the candidates everyone will want, and those candidates will be drawn to companies that make diversity an intentional priority. It's not realistic to expect that the best talent will just come to you by default.

With so much emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace, companies are eager to hire diverse employees. That's a good thing if the intention is to create a better, stronger, more successful company. But in many cases, it seems that the intention is to get a badge of honor—“LOOK HOW DIVERSE WE ARE!!!”—rather than truly delivering on the promise of diversity and what it can do for business. It smacks of tokenism.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines tokenism as “the practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a particular thing, especially by recruiting a small number of people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality within a workforce.” I don't think most of us need a formal definition of tokenism though; we know it when we see it. It's awkward because it comes across as so fake, insincere, and so, so obvious, like “Excuse me, your strategy is showing.”

What can you do to make sure your desire to create a diverse workforce doesn't lure you into the trap of tokenism? The following section offers key do's and don'ts to avoid tokenism.

AVOIDING TOKENISM IN HIRING

1. DO recognize that diversity, equity, and inclusion are a journey, not a checklist of the right numbers. If you hire new people from diverse groups, but they have no real role in helping your company become more equitable and inclusive, all you've accomplished is, well, adding some new people. If you think of diversity as a policy transition, it will lead to broader opportunities and multiple ways to create a truly diverse workforce. Instead of asking, “Where can we find a Black candidate, an Asian candidate, a disabled candidate, and someone who is LGBTQ+?” ask instead, “How can we make our jobs more visible to a diverse candidate pool? And how can we make both our jobs and our company interesting, appealing, and promising to diverse candidates?”
2. DON'T hire diverse talent and not give them a voice in helping shape your company culture. All that does is reinforce “checklist culture” and the sense among other workers that diverse employees were hired because they were the right gender, race, religion, age, etc.
3. DON'T turn your diverse employees, or suppliers, into your “diversity flag.” What I mean by that is that many companies want to showcase their diversity, so they put a diverse employee or rainbow flag in their marketing messages. It comes down to intention: If you're featuring diverse employees in group photos on your website or making sure they're at local community events to show every-one how diverse you are, you’d better back it up with their real contributions and involvement. Tonja is a Black businesswoman. She created a natural, healing herb paste that helps with pain management and has numerous other health benefits. It's been selling well, particularly in the Black community. After the death of George Floyd, a large, multistate grocery chain approached her, wanting to carry her product in their stores. Sounds good, right? But wait for it … Tonja requested (several times) a meeting to discuss the sales plan, including the cities and number of stores the product would be in, as well as their forecasts and goals, so she could make sure her production and supply were adequate. The grocery chain team told her, “You don't have to worry about that; it'll be fine.” One executive told her that she should “just be happy that you’re at the table.” Two things then happened: First, the grocery chain placed an order of 70 units. Yep, just 70. Those 70 flew off the shelves in a day and the chain ordered more. Then more. Then even more. Then even more. When more than 1,300 units had been sold, in just a few days, the chain then asked for photos of Tonja so they could feature her on their website. Tonja said, “They never took me seriously. I wanted a sales meeting and they said no. But they sure wanted my headshot up on their site to show how diverse they are.”
4. DO represent your real diversity status on your site or in marketing messages (don't show groups of diverse people if you only have one or two), and make diversity relevant to what your associates do or how your company works. Let's say you have a Hispanic woman, Sofia, and an Asian man, Yuki, in your organization, and they work in the Sales Department and in Customer Service, respectively. Featuring them on your website in those relevant areas about your company would be appropriate. So would featuring them under “Our Commitment to Diversity,” as long as the verbiage highlights their contribution to diversity (beyond their race). For example, “Sofia joined the company two years ago and has helped grow sales in new markets throughout the Southeast. She also mentors young women locally and serves as the treasurer for the Hispanic Women's Chamber of Commerce.” Or “Yuki's prior role in creating exceptional customer experiences in the hospitality industry has brought a new level of customer care to our company. Yuki is also an accomplished chef and teaches a weekly Asian-fusion culinary class at Harris Community College.”
5. DON'T assume that it's “one size fits all” when it comes to your company's employee accommodations and benefits. This is an area that many companies overlook when making diverse hires. When everyone is pretty much alike (for example, White and Christian), it's easy to build a company culture and work patterns that work for everyone, such as designating Christmas Day and Good Friday as company holidays. But what about the needs of employees who come from other cultures? If your company is committed to making diversity and inclusion really work, you may need to rethink things to which you've never given a second thought. What about people with various health issues or abilities? And those with different family structures, which can affect their parenting hours? What about people who need a different schedule of holidays? I have worked with Muslim and Jewish coworkers who sighed and rolled their eyes at the utter lack of regard given for their religion's holy days. One way that companies can address the myriad of diverse accommodations is by offering a broader spectrum of “choose your own benefits,” where employees can choose those that matter to them most and fit their lives and lifestyles best. For example, a small business can offer employees a set number of personal days that can be used to observe any holiday or take time off for any reason. The goal is to make employment work for everyone.

AVOIDING TOKENISM IN DEVELOPMENT AND PROMOTIONS

Almost everyone knows someone who shouldn't have been promoted to a job or role they weren't ready for. It happens a lot, because people often get promoted for reasons that have little or nothing to do with the way they do their job. Maybe their manager likes them. Or they've “been at the company forever.” Or “it's time to have a person in that role who is a woman/Black/Hispanic/Millennial/Gen Z/openly gay or lesbian or trans/disabled/veteran.” You want your employees to succeed. And you want your diverse talent to rise through the ranks and become leaders at your company. But you don't want anyone to say that an employee was promoted because of their diverse or minority status or that they didn't earn the promotion. It must be made clear to your entire team that professional development and promotions are fair and equitable.

In Chapter 14, we covered a leader's role in mentoring and professionally developing diverse talent. The bottom line is that a leader's job is to prepare employees for advancement. Getting them ready for a new role or responsibilities is part of your job. But we know that unconscious bias affects our judgment and decision-making, and when it comes to promoting someone, that's what you have to watch out for if you want to be a truly fair and equitable organization.

When you've groomed, developed, and prepared your diverse employees for the next role in their careers, how can you make sure they get a fair shake and are considered on their qualifications and merits, not the color of their skin or their age or who they know? Here are two key steps to take that will bolster equity and fairness in promotions:

1. From the outset, be clear and transparent about how training, promotions, and pay decisions are made. If there are guidelines or “rules” for paygrades and titles, and minimum qualifications required for specific positions, publish those internally and then stick to them. Nothing smacks of tokenism more than a diverse employee (or any employee) who gets a promotion without earning it. Equity is about creating a fair and level playing field for all. Think about sports and how referees make calls. They don't play favorites. They stick to the rules of the game and all the players know what the rules are and agree to play by those rules.
2. Create a fair process. According to an article in the Harvard Business Review,¹ a law firm accomplished this with a five-step system:
   • Step 1: Start with a specific outline of the responsibilities and expectations of a particular role and what is needed for someone to advance to that role.
   • Step 2: Identify every employee who meets the requirements or shows tremendous potential, and create an anonymous list of eligible candidates (Employee A, Employee B, etc.).
   • Step 3: Assign the anonymous employee candidates to one of three groups: GREEN (those who meet the specific job requirements), YELLOW (those who are close to meeting the requirements, but do not) or RED (those who do not meet the requirements).
   • Step 4: Provide the color-coded, anonymous list to the evaluation team—the decision-makers. Because the data is anonymous and the candidates are already grouped by qualifications and competencies, favoritism is eliminated, and no employee candidate is overlooked.
   • Step 5: Require evaluators to adhere to the predetermined benchmarks, ensuring that the best candidate is identified and promoted.

   Sidenote: The law firm that created this system provided employees who were placed in the yellow category with training and advice about how to move up to the green level. They were told, “You're not quite ready for this promotion now, but you're close. We want to make sure you have the opportunity to go for it in the future and here's what you need to work on. We'll help by providing the additional training that will get you ready.” Fantastic! That demonstrates a true commitment to equity.

I love this example because it's simple, no-cost, doable, and fair. It requires no third-party consulting, just time spent upfront to establish clear “rules” and a transparent process. It's the complete opposite of tokenism. Hiring or promoting someone solely because they help you “check the diversity box” is the worst. Don't do it. Resist attempts to be pushed in that direction.

The next chapter tackles how to deal with naysayers and derailers, two challenging personality types that you are bound to come across in your organization.