A series of interviews with more than 40 CDOs in 2019 and 2021 sheds light on how corporate DEI efforts have transformed in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
But after summer 2020, the CDOs told us that their roles seemed to have become vitally important to their organizations. They reported that senior leaders saw their work as more pivotal to their companies’ success than they had in the past, that more attention and urgency were being given to DEI issues, and, for the first time, their direct input on racial injustice was sought out and valued.
Conversely, post-summer-2020, many CDOs began to adopt a different mindset. As they reevaluated their personal and professional values and confronted the reality of their organizations’ actions , they often decided to speak more openly about why racial justice was important to them personally.
Without systems to hold leaders accountable, CDOs expressed increased concern that their organizations’ vocal promises for achieving racial justice were failing to drive meaningful change. As one participant lamented, “I think everyone wants to sit down and talk about great ideas, and, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if…?’ That’s my favorite thing to say: ‘How long are we going to stay in the ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if…?’ phase of this project?’ We are the ones that actually control the ‘if.
For example, one participant explained, “I had taken on additional responsibility in addition to trying to deal with the [social] unrest and Covid-19. I didn’t realize how mentally exhausted I was until someone asked me how I was doing. They said, ‘No. How are youdoing?’ It was at that moment I took a deep breath and I said, ‘You know what? I’m mentally exhausted. I’m tired of talking about — I’m tired of seeing Black people disproportionately killed by police.
To address these shortcomings, organizations must empower CDOs to drive long-term change by investing substantial time and resources into DEI. In addition, leaders need to be held accountable for aligning their overall business strategies with the guidelines they give their DEI teams. To set up DEI initiatives for success, it’s critical for executives from every function to work together with CDOs to craft strategies that link organizational success metrics with DEI goals.