Carol Fulp is CEO of Fulp Diversity, Inc., former CEO/President of the Partnership, and Vice-Chair of the national non-profit, American Student Assistance. She is the author of Success Through Diversity: Why the Most Inclusive Companies Will Win, previously featured at Authors & Innovators
In Success Through Diversity, you urge decisionmakers to consider the Rooney Rule—Why?
Many times managers don’t know where to start when it comes to diversity. The Rooney Rule is a process that ensures you interview a diverse pool of candidates when filling an opening. It allows you to broaden your typical candidate pool. In this competitive marketplace, it enables managers to gain perspectives about the many advantages people of color and women bring particularly when it comes to diversity of thought and innovation. And as a result, managers have a wider selection of candidates to consider.
In these unprecedented times, what can companies, large and small, be doing to enhance learning and listening among their workforce?
1) Listen, 2) Learn, then 3) Effect Change
When listening it is important to create a safe environment and culture where individuals can speak-up and share their deep concerns about society and the organization.
When learning, it’s important to understand the impact of white privilege. It comes with birth. It is built into our systems. It all stems from slavery.
We have to understand how our systems and processes are stacked for some and against others in order to reframe and effect change. Employees are a great resource in providing these insights. And they will value that you want to listen, learn from them to effect change.
What books should CEO’s be reading now?
New York Times Magazine journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones The 1619 Project. She received a Pulitzer Prize for her work commemorating the 400th year the first slave was brought to America. Her work discusses America’s journey 244 years later emancipating 4 million slaves. She eloquently articulates the impact of slavery in our culture today.
Also, I suggest, Race, Work & Leadership: New Perspectives on the Black Experience by Drs. Laura Morgan Roberts, Anthony Mayo and David Thomas.
