WEBVTT - Candour CEO on Playbook for Workplace Diversity

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, there's

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<v Speaker 1>some good news and some bad news when it comes

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<v Speaker 1>to the corporate diversity front. The number of SMP five

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<v Speaker 1>hundred seats held by black women actually increase more than

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<v Speaker 1>one that's according to I s S Corporate Solutions, it's

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<v Speaker 1>a data and analytics provider that advises companies on corporate

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<v Speaker 1>governance and more. The increase for black women is twice

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<v Speaker 1>the rate for women overall. Still, though black women hold

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<v Speaker 1>only four percent of SMP five hundred board seat the

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<v Speaker 1>data show, and according to Bloomberg Data, women overall makeup

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<v Speaker 1>just over thirty percent of board seats for companies in

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<v Speaker 1>the SMP five hundred, So a long way to go

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<v Speaker 1>to come to parody. Ruchika Toolshan is CEO of Candor.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a consulting firm that works with organizations on diversity

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<v Speaker 1>and inclusion. She's also the author of Inclusion on Purpose,

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<v Speaker 1>an intersectional approach to creating a culture of belonging at work. Richka,

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<v Speaker 1>how are you? I'm welcome. Thanks so much Tim for

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<v Speaker 1>having me. Yeah, it's really great to have you. I

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<v Speaker 1>just want to start with the title of the book

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<v Speaker 1>and explain to get you to explain intersectionality for for

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<v Speaker 1>people who aren't familiar with the term. Yeah, thank you

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<v Speaker 1>so much so. Intersectionality is a is a concept developed

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<v Speaker 1>by Professor can Really Crenshaw. Actually it's as old as

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<v Speaker 1>ninety nine, where where Professor Creunchaw essentially found that the

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<v Speaker 1>experience of black women and other women of color was

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<v Speaker 1>actually compounded negatively, not only just because they were women,

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<v Speaker 1>but because they were black women or women of color.

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<v Speaker 1>And I think that approach as we think about creating

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<v Speaker 1>true inclusion, um, you know, workplace where people with various

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<v Speaker 1>marginalized identities can belong, we cannot separate out how those

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<v Speaker 1>identities when they intersect, how they compound and affect the

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<v Speaker 1>experience of women of color in the workplace. It's so interesting.

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't know that the term dated back to the

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighties because it's not one that I actually became

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<v Speaker 1>familiar with until just a few years ago. And it

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<v Speaker 1>is one that I hear though in discussions more and

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<v Speaker 1>more when it comes to diversity and inclusion. Why did

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<v Speaker 1>it take so long for intersectionality to become something that

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<v Speaker 1>more and more people are talking about. Yeah, I think

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<v Speaker 1>it's a bit tricky, and one of good reasons is

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<v Speaker 1>because I think until quite recently, a lot of our

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<v Speaker 1>corporate environment was not ready to tackle the issues of racism, UM,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, head on. And really spurred on by some

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<v Speaker 1>of the huge movements for racial justice you've seen here

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<v Speaker 1>in the United States and around the world, I think

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<v Speaker 1>they're there really became a sort of awareness, and I'm

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<v Speaker 1>so glad that Professor Crenshaw's work is getting this sort of, um,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the highlighting that it deserves because it's so

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<v Speaker 1>necessary to take an intersectional approach. I want to talk

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit about the work that you do at

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<v Speaker 1>Candor and how it's changed of late. Um, what are

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<v Speaker 1>you hearing from clients right now in terms of what

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<v Speaker 1>they how they want to approach diversity in their organizations. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>great question, Tim, And it's actually kind of alluding to

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<v Speaker 1>what I talked to about earlier. So when I started

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<v Speaker 1>tender in UM, you know, earlier in in twenty seventeen,

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<v Speaker 1>what I found is a lot of organizations at that

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<v Speaker 1>time my clients wanted to talk about diversity, but really

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<v Speaker 1>only gender diversity, and what that meant is, how are

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<v Speaker 1>you know, well educated, high socio economic UM white women

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<v Speaker 1>progressing in the workplace. And now I see this, this real,

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<v Speaker 1>honest change to want to be more intersectional, to UM

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<v Speaker 1>center race and anti racism in in true diversity and

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<v Speaker 1>equity inclusions efforts, and that to me is really meaningful

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<v Speaker 1>because it's hard, it's painful. Many of us have grown

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<v Speaker 1>up UM and been taught not to talk about these

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<v Speaker 1>issues in the workplace. But without addressing them, we can't

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<v Speaker 1>make meaningful change. You know. I like to ask this

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<v Speaker 1>question to two people who do work that's similar to yours,

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<v Speaker 1>about working to put yourself out of business? You know,

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<v Speaker 1>the actual need you know, it's it's it's a testament

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<v Speaker 1>to what our world is that you actually that that

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<v Speaker 1>your job is needed. Right, there's so much work to do,

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<v Speaker 1>so so within our lifetimes, Uh, will that work be done?

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<v Speaker 1>You know? Can? I really hope so? And there's a

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<v Speaker 1>part of me that remains optimistic. At least we're having

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<v Speaker 1>these conversations, I see more leaders wanting to make change.

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<v Speaker 1>The reason I wrote Inclusion on purposes because I really

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<v Speaker 1>wanted leaders to have a playbook something like say could

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<v Speaker 1>turn to and say, you know, I want to make change,

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<v Speaker 1>Where do I start? What could I do? And so

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<v Speaker 1>I'd like to believe that we we have the tools

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<v Speaker 1>we need to succeed. We just need to be really

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<v Speaker 1>intentional about it and really take personal action and responsibility

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<v Speaker 1>for it. So where do people start? Well, good question, Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I think it really starts with taking personal responsibility when

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<v Speaker 1>you start developing the awareness of what's really going on UM.

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<v Speaker 1>And that is one of the reasons why I have worked.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, I I'm a former journalist, and a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of the work that I've done in in trying to

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<v Speaker 1>communicate these issues of bias, the anti race, of creating

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<v Speaker 1>an anti racist culture, of creating an equitable and inclusive culture,

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<v Speaker 1>has been from starting from stories. We do have the data,

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<v Speaker 1>and there's good data out there to show the dis

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<v Speaker 1>veri these that exist. Some research finds. For example, you

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<v Speaker 1>know you talked about the SMP west of the inclations UM,

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<v Speaker 1>A lot of the C suite currently the games made

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<v Speaker 1>for women have been actually white women and the women

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<v Speaker 1>of color are less than four pertent of the C

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<v Speaker 1>suite representation in corporate America today. So we know that

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<v Speaker 1>there's a lot of work to be done. Um where

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<v Speaker 1>I find that that where we are able to read

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<v Speaker 1>make changes when we listen to those stories, when we

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<v Speaker 1>learned to emphasize with those stories, really try and seek

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<v Speaker 1>them out. What does it look like, what does it

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<v Speaker 1>feel like? What does it really look like to have

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<v Speaker 1>an inclusive environment and practice? And that requires laying down

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<v Speaker 1>our defenses, getting really really okay with getting uncomfortable, and

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<v Speaker 1>then moving to make change. So that's really where I

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<v Speaker 1>would start. We know that diverse teams perform better and

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<v Speaker 1>create better results. What do you say to people to

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<v Speaker 1>motivate them to to really put down down those defenses,

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<v Speaker 1>because I think that can be challenging even for some

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<v Speaker 1>of the best leaders out there. You know, the data

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<v Speaker 1>that doesn't yet talked about nearly enough is that yes,

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<v Speaker 1>diverse teams, when harnessed properly, really do outperform more homogeneous teams.

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<v Speaker 1>But the reality is this work is hard, It creates conflict.

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<v Speaker 1>If you really want an inclusive team, it can be uncomfortable,

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<v Speaker 1>especially for a lot of people who have never worked

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<v Speaker 1>with or meaningfully interactive with people who are different than them.

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<v Speaker 1>But the reality is it also makes you as an individual.

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<v Speaker 1>It makes you smarter, it makes you better prepared, it

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<v Speaker 1>makes you more productive. I mean, there is a good

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<v Speaker 1>amount of data out there, but at the end of it,

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<v Speaker 1>at the very core of it, it's the right things

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<v Speaker 1>to do right. It is the right and and I

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<v Speaker 1>spent a lot of the early part of the work

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<v Speaker 1>convincing folks around the data and that it's good for you,

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<v Speaker 1>it's good for business, it's all of that. At the

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<v Speaker 1>end of day, it's the right thing to do. Inclusion

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<v Speaker 1>on purpose and intersectional approach to creating a culture of

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<v Speaker 1>belonging at work. Ruchika tool Shan also the CEO of Canada.

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<v Speaker 1>Ruchika thank you so much for joining us on Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>business Week Radio