Featured Post: She Told Me, “I Want Your Job” — and that’s a wonderful thing

I had just finished presenting on the inside story of the creation of The Inclusion Paradox to a few hundred people across Hewitt who were either in the room or hooked in by video and teleconference, when I called on the first hand that had gone up as we began the Q&A session.  Amalia (not her real name), a Millennial Latina, thanked me for having written the book. She said  in front of all something along the lines of, “as a Latina it means a lot to me to see that someone like you, from our community, has written a book.”  She went on to say with visible emotion, how much the inclusive environment at Hewitt had meant to her. And then she stated: “I want to grow in my career and have a role like yours … in fact, I want your job, right here at Hewitt.”

The audience cheered in support of her ambition. And my first response to her was, “I’m glad you’re here.”  That brief moment captured a long standing and deep diversity truism. Because in effect, what she was telling me and hundreds of others, was that “I can have this goal, I can work hard to strive for it, I can envision it being possible, because someone who looks like me, who has had a shared background like mine, is in your position.”

The work can get so complex that it’s easy to lose sight of the simplicity of one the main goals of diversity: to see more people of different background, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability, nationality, etc. be in positions of leadership. Nothing speaks  louder of an organization’s inclusiveness than to see the best talent from a multiplicity of backgrounds rise to their greatest potential of contribution.  And nothing generates momentum  for more of this happening than visible and tangible evidence that shouts from the rooftops that there is possibility and reward  for those with the talent, the commitment, the perseverance, and the ganas to go for it.

This people-like-me  phenomenon will, in the end, be one of the most powerful legacies of the Obama Era. It is already spawning a generation of young people who given the hue for their skin, the cadence of their walk, the Y in their chromosomes can believe, like Amalia did, that they can have a goal, they can work hard to strive for it, and can envision it being possible.

It is also the most powerful legacy today’s organizations can leave by finding, developing, and promoting the diverse talent in their midst.

She wants my job – and that’s a wonderful thing.

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