Richard was at home with his sons when the killing of George Floyd hit our TV screens in May last year. A most uncomfortable, disturbing and unforgettable 8 mins 46 secs forced its way into our lives. This tough emotional engagement forced many to realise that racism is more virulent, widespread and lethal than they’d thought.
It moved him to think much more about the situation that black people find themselves here in the UK. Richard [Smith] is the chief executive of Unite Students, and when he returned to their head office in Bristol, he put together a note titled Black Lives Matter and sent it to the whole workforce of nearly 3,000 colleagues.
He ended the note by simply saying, “Should anyone want to follow up on this note please call me” and left his telephone number.
Later that morning his phone rang, it was a black colleague in his 50s, who was based in Huddersfield and had been with the business for some years.
This colleague was really surprised that it was the CEO himself that answered. After some polite small talk, a little nervously, the caller got down to it.
“As part of my role, every day I have to pick the keys up,” the colleague said. “There is a master key and a slave key. I have always had issues with the name ‘slave’ key. My colleagues tell me this is trivial and I shouldn’t worry about it. But I still really do”.
Richard responded instantly: “We will call them primary key and secondary key with immediate effect”. This was not what the colleague had expected, and he was lost for words.
Richard had ‘felt’ what his colleague had felt. He shared this story with his executive team, and most nodded in agreement, but a couple also perceived it to be trivial and that it didn’t really merit the time or the attention of the CEO. This indicated to Richard that some couldn’t ‘walk in the shoes’ of those that were so different to them. This was a clear opportunity to improve on inclusion and belonging in the business.
Achieving this is not about a few well-intentioned, quick and visible actions, it’s a sustainable cultural change initiative. But how and where does a CEO start to make this happen?
Many are frozen with the fear of saying the wrong thing in this new and rapidly advancing world, where race is at the centre of much major discussion and controversy.
Verna Myers, VP of Inclusion at Netflix, provides some helpful direction: “Company efforts to promote diversity will fall flat if executives don’t also promote inclusion. In other words, … making [all] people feel heard and represented in decision making arenas.”
Hiring a few people from different backgrounds coupled with a few visible ‘quick wins’, doesn’t make any lasting difference. It will also quickly lose credibility with those it was intended to assist.
In his seminal bestseller, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell describes how something that can seem like an immutable fact of life can suddenly fall apart before our eyes.
“The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behaviour crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire,” Gladwell wrote.
“Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push – in just the right place – it can be tipped.”
We may well look back at the tragic murder of George Floyd as that inflection point for inclusion and belonging here in the UK.
But as Richard showed with his small steps to kickstart a culture change at Unite Students, inclusion is not a spectator sport. It requires a clear, long-term focus on belonging, and a willingness to listen. And at some point it requires you to stand up and get started.
Image courtesy of René Carayol
Richard was at home with his sons when the killing of George Floyd hit our TV screens in May last year. A most uncomfortable, disturbing and unforgettable 8 mins 46 secs forced its way into our lives. This tough emotional engagement forced many to realise that racism is more virulent, widespread and lethal than they’d thought.
It moved him to think much more about the situation that black people find themselves here in the UK. Richard [Smith] is the chief executive of Unite Students, and when he returned to their head office in Bristol, he put together a note titled Black Lives Matter and sent it to the whole workforce of nearly 3,000 colleagues.
He ended the note by simply saying, “Should anyone want to follow up on this note please call me” and left his telephone number.
Later that morning his phone rang, it was a black colleague in his 50s, who was based in Huddersfield and had been with the business for some years.
This colleague was really surprised that it was the CEO himself that answered. After some polite small talk, a little nervously, the caller got down to it.
“As part of my role, every day I have to pick the keys up,” the colleague said. “There is a master key and a slave key. I have always had issues with the name ‘slave’ key. My colleagues tell me this is trivial and I shouldn’t worry about it. But I still really do”.
Richard responded instantly: “We will call them primary key and secondary key with immediate effect”. This was not what the colleague had expected, and he was lost for words.
Richard had ‘felt’ what his colleague had felt. He shared this story with his executive team, and most nodded in agreement, but a couple also perceived it to be trivial and that it didn’t really merit the time or the attention of the CEO. This indicated to Richard that some couldn’t ‘walk in the shoes’ of those that were so different to them. This was a clear opportunity to improve on inclusion and belonging in the business.
Achieving this is not about a few well-intentioned, quick and visible actions, it’s a sustainable cultural change initiative. But how and where does a CEO start to make this happen?
Many are frozen with the fear of saying the wrong thing in this new and rapidly advancing world, where race is at the centre of much major discussion and controversy.
Verna Myers, VP of Inclusion at Netflix, provides some helpful direction: “Company efforts to promote diversity will fall flat if executives don’t also promote inclusion. In other words, … making [all] people feel heard and represented in decision making arenas.”
Hiring a few people from different backgrounds coupled with a few visible ‘quick wins’, doesn’t make any lasting difference. It will also quickly lose credibility with those it was intended to assist.
In his seminal bestseller, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell describes how something that can seem like an immutable fact of life can suddenly fall apart before our eyes.
“The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behaviour crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire,” Gladwell wrote.
“Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push – in just the right place – it can be tipped.”
We may well look back at the tragic murder of George Floyd as that inflection point for inclusion and belonging here in the UK.
But as Richard showed with his small steps to kickstart a culture change at Unite Students, inclusion is not a spectator sport. It requires a clear, long-term focus on belonging, and a willingness to listen. And at some point it requires you to stand up and get started.
Image courtesy of René Carayol
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