Ensure Your Definition of Leadership Includes Women of Color
This is an excerpt of an article co-authored by ModelExpand’s CEO, Paria Rajai. Read the full article here.
HBR Staff/Pexels/masterzphotois/Getty Images
Kamala Harris took the oath of vice president and stepped into one of the most powerful jobs in the world, marking a historic moment in our nation’s conception of leadership.
As the face and style of leadership changes on the national stage, executive teams stand to benefit significantly from following suit. If you want to change who ends up at the top of your org chart, reevaluating the skills and values that shape your hiring and promotion process is an essential first step.
Here’s how we can start:
Adjust Evaluation Criteria for Hiring and Promotions:
Consider adding Resistance, Navigational, and Linguistic Capital when assessing candidates for hiring and promotions.Provide Resources for a Wider Variety of Leadership Development:
Just like we provide leadership development resources to improve technical or communication skills, we need to support the development of leadership qualities that value non-traditional, more inclusive leadership archetypes. For example, provide employees sponsorships to attend conferences on advancing corporate social justice, paid time off to engage in diversity outreach, and a budget to advance inclusive communication skills.
Expanding our notion of leadership is a critical part of seeing greater representation in senior positions. Adjusting our systems to reflect the cultural capital of broader groups is an essential first step in dismantling racism and sexism at the top — and bringing in the cultural capital that businesses need to remain competitive. This work requires structural change, cultural shifts, and rewarding the brilliance and resilience of women of color.
Read the full Harvard Business Review article.
About the authors:
Marlette Jackson, PhD, ModelExpand Advisor
Marlette is a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) scholar, practitioner, and consultant. Motivated by her experiences as a woman of color and a former first-generation/low-income college student, she strives for equity with a lens toward innovation, accessibility, and employee voice. Dr. Jackson earned her PhD at Stanford University and currently serves as the Manager of Diversity & Inclusion at UT Southwestern Medical Center and as an Advisor for Diversity & Inclusion Recruitment Strategy at ModelExpand. In these roles, Marlette is dedicated to removing barriers and providing equitable opportunity through systemic change. This goal hinges on her core belief that diversity efforts should not be siloed, but ingrained in the very fabric of an institution.
Paria Rajai, CEO and Founder of ModelExpand
Paria has partnered with organizations of all sizes - from growing startups to Fortune 500 companies - for over a decade. Paria was on the leadership team of Hackbright Academy - the country’s first coding school for women - and has consulted for companies such as eBay, Lyft and Airbnb. She has been selected as a mentor for the State Department’s TechWomen program and has been profiled in Forbes for being a leader and advocate for inclusive hiring practices. She was recently nominated for Woman of the Year at the Women in IT Awards.
ModelExpand: ModelExpand is an inclusive workplace strategy firm that helps companies build diverse and inclusive workplaces through strategic consulting, workshops, and events. Learn more about our services HERE.
Follow us on social media to get the latest:
