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Building Diversity: Part 2 of 3 

Most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor indicates that senior management in the U.S. remains overwhelmingly White. Specifically, the bureau reports that 88% of chief executives are White, 4% are Black or African American, 5% are Asian, and 11% are Hispanic or Latino.

Research shows that minorities are typically promoted to middle-upper ranks of leadership later than their majority peers, and many minority managers plateau if they don’t get the opportunities they need to prove themselves fit for the executive level (Source: Thomas and Gabarro).

According to Dr. Linda Hill, founding partner at Paradox Strategies and head of the Leadership Initiative at Harvard Business School, their years of research have revealed 6 career boosters managers need to experience that minorities and underrepresented groups typically miss out on. Each is critical for developing their fitness for upper-level roles:

1. Opportunities to broaden beyond a narrow specialty
2. Acquisition of new and more powerful sponsors and mentors
3. Stellar performance in one or more high-visibility (strategic) assignments
4. Deepening level of commitment to career and organization
5. Effective integration of personal and professional identity
6. More rapid upward mobility

Listen in as Dr. Hill talks about how managers become “stars” during a recent workshop session of Stars Are Made Not Born: The Meritocracy Myth.

Establishing the perception of credibility needed for bigger “stretch assignments” (audio 01:25)

Building Diversity: Part 1 of 3 

To achieve more diversity at the executive level, companies need to provide diversity of opportunity and development among their potential leaders.

Abundant data shows that companies building diversity outperform homogeneous ones. Companies that fail to achieve a diverse and inclusive organization ultimately stifle innovation and underperform.

Many organizations recognize they need to become more diverse and inclusive, yet most believe they have not been effective at increasing diverse representation, particularly at the executive level, which is typically 85% White.

Dr. Linda Hill, founding partner at Paradox Strategies and head of the Leadership Initiative at Harvard Business School, has spent much of her career researching innovation and helping companies unleash their potential. Building diversity, she says, starts with taking a strategic approach to nurturing individual differences.

Here are 6 questions Dr. Hill says leaders in talent management must get right if their organization wants to grow a more diverse field of “stars” fit for promotion:

1. What are the key “fit” criteria?  Are they changing?  What evidence do you rely on to determine if someone “fits?”
2. What mindsets/competencies/behaviors are required?  Are they changing?
3. What evidence do you rely on to determine if someone has potential?
4. What stretch assignments do people need?
5. What developmental relationships do people need?
6. What are you doing to develop the next generation of talent?  How robust is your pipeline?  How diverse is your pipeline?

At the core of minority advancement are transparent talent management systems to ensure that minority populations understand the criteria for advancement, Dr. Hill says.

Listen in as Dr. Hill talks about the challenges of building diversity, equity, and inclusion during a recent workshop session of Stars Are Made Not Born: The Meritocracy Myth.

Introduction: The positive effects and challenges of building diversity  (audio: 02:44)