Posts Tagged ‘diversity’

26 JAN 2018: Ideas in the Rough Speaker Series

Saturday, December 30th, 2017

Martin’s talk is entitled Embracing the Weird: The Research Design

Why Black Professionals Need to Learn to Drive a Stick Shift

Monday, December 18th, 2017

Maybe it’s because I’m sitting in my local auto repair/dealer lobby waiting for my oil change. I woke up this morning with a metaphor when I reflected on the advancement of black professionals in corporations. The more I read and learn about stereotype threat, the more I liken it to sitting in a running car, your feet poised to make that sucker go.

To understand the analogy, you need to know that there are two kinds of transmissions that make cars go—automatic and manual. The more familiar of the two these days is the automatic transmission where you move the drive stick from Park (P) to Drive (D). Then you place your right foot on the accelerator and off you go. In addition to (D), automatic transmissions have two or three lower gears that are used when you want to slow the car. If you try to drive at high speeds in a lower gear, you use up lots of gas and potentially wear down your engine. Simple enough.

Progressing through a corporate career is like driving the car. Putting the stick in the right gear is akin to developing oneself and building one’s skill set. Pressing the accelerator is effectively performing. If you perform, your car(eer) moves forward (corny, I know, but you get the point). However, a significant body of research tells us that the process of career advancement is more nuanced for black professionals. A variety of barriers—discriminatory practices, racism, internalized dysfunctional behaviors—interrupt the natural progression for otherwise highly talented black professionals. One such barrier, stereotype threat, is the psychological experience that materializes when negative stereotypes are present regarding a specific group. When stereotype threat kicks in, a member of that group is likely to become anxious about her or his performance, which in turn, may hinder optimal performance on a task. This probably occurs because working memory is compromised so the individual just can’t process thoughts as efficiently. Interestingly, the individual need not subscribe to the particular negative stereotype to be vulnerable to stereotype threat. So for example, if a pervasive stereotype about blacks is that they are less intelligent, tasks that highlight the importance of intelligence are likely to trigger the stereotype and hinder a black person from performing well on the task.

What does this mean for how black professionals move through their careers? Imagine that normal career progression is driving an automatic transmission car in (D) and zipping along. Stereotype threat abruptly downshifts the car to first or second gear. If I want to combat stereotype threat and maintain my speed, I have to use a lot more fuel, and incur much more wear and tear on my engine over time. The life of so many black professionals in corporations is precisely this. They constantly exert greater effort than white counterparts do because they have to manage stereotype threat while also preforming the work at hand. They experience physical and emotional stress and when all is said and done, they typically cannot progress to the levels commensurate with their talent. They depart their careers feelings of resentful and carrying a sense of diminished self-esteem that can haunt them for the rest of their lives.

If this analogy holds, though, how do we understand the many black professionals who are wildly successful in spite of the stereotype threat they face?

They learn drive a stick shift.

Although most cars today are automatic transmission cars, there was a time when manual transmission or “stick shifts” dominated the highways. With these cars, the driver manipulates the drive stick. However, in order to make the car move forward the driver has to manage two pedals—an accelerator and a clutch. The right foot occupies the accelerator, but the left foot must deftly press and release the clutch, pressing it all the way down when the car is at a stop and slowly releasing it while the right presses the accelerator simultaneously. As the speed of the car increases, the driver manually shifts the stick to higher gears. When the coordination between clutch movement, accelerator pedal movement and stick shifting is off the car usually stalls, and goes nowhere. When the synchronization is right, the car zips along.

Successful black professionals manage their careers like mindful and skillful drivers handling a stick shift. They learn to use the clutch to release the pressure of stereotype threat, simultaneously pressing the accelerator to move their career forward. Absent the distraction of stereotype threat, they are able to make career decisions (like choosing or refusing stretch assignments) strategically. Put another way, they shift gears at the right time to make sure the car doesn’t stall.

Careers develop in an organizational landscape. Successful professionals possess talent—that is a given. But successful careers are crafted and navigated through, with attention paid to developing strategically important relationships, managing politics, and learning continuously. It is incredibly difficult to attend to these career demands while also worrying about the ways in which stereotypes attributed to you by virtue of group membership might be shackling you. Successful black professionals learn to free themselves of these shackles by utilizing a different kind of transmission, one that makes visible the tools needed to overcome limiting ways of operating. Automatic transmissions are convenient and elegant, but their automaticity makes it difficult to alter dysfunction: it costs an awful lot to fix an automatic transmission. Manual transmissions, on the other hand, reveal more clearly the inner workings of driving.  It’s easier to feel the car, to know when it’s running smoothly or when the engine is stressed. And it is easier to adjust when dysfunction emerges. Successful black professionals thrive because they are masterful drivers who choose the right kind of transmission.

The Good New Song—Tradition Gently Reinforces Racism at UVA

Tuesday, August 22nd, 2017

At UVA, “The Good Ole Song” is a stealth weapon. We need a new song.

That good old song of Wah-hoo-wah—we’ll sing it o’er and o’er
It cheers our hearts and warms our blood to hear them shout and roar
We come from old Virginia, where all is bright and gay
Let’s all join hands and give a yell for the dear old UVA.

Lyrics to ” The Good Ole Song” the defacto alma mater song of UVA

It’s a heart-warming tradition for many members of the University of Virginia community attending school events to congregate, grab the shoulders of the person next to her or him and sing the “Good Ole Song.” Set to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, singing the song was a comforting ritual at the Taking Back the Lawn Vigil held on the Lawn of the University last week. Thousands from the University and Charlottesville gathered as a way of countering the violent presence of the white supremacist groups that invaded the University grounds on August 11 and 12. I was not at the vigil and so I am certain that the power of the being there was even greater than that which I experienced as an observer. But I watched lots of video and every time I heard the Good Ole Song, I cringed.

It’s not that it’s a bad tune. The problem is that it’s also a stealth weapon. In the aftermath of the violence that left three people dead in Charlottesville, alumnae Jia Tolentino opined in her The New Yorker Magazine column that idyllic Southern liberal Charlottesville and UVA were prime targets for a white supremacist outburst. On the surface, it’s obvious: find the blue oasis in a predominantly right leaning state (only Northern Virginia and Charlottesville-Albemarle County prevent Virginia from being an overwhelmingly conservative voting bloc), add a controversy about removing the traditional Robert E. Lee monument and voila! That oasis becomes the proof of concept for how the extreme right wing, white supremacist movement can overcome the libs. Tolentino argues, however, that Charlottesville was also attractive because its pristine veneer concealed a tradition of racism and bigotry stretching back many decades. Gentility and political correctness simply concealed–and stoked–the growing white discontent that spawned the racist-fueled demonstration and violence.

As heartwarming as it may be for many, the Good Ole Song illustrates the dilemma posed by looking to the past for comfort and cohesion while living in the present in a new—and much more diverse—community. I think I cringed at the song because I don’t “…come from old Virginia,” and as I see it, all is far from “bright and gay.” People studying and working at UVA come from all over the U.S., and from around the globe. We’re not from old Virginia. Moreover, both the violence last weekend and the broader historical record of racial injustice in Charlottesville and Virginia demonstrate that there is significant racial and cultural discord here. Don’t get me wrong, this is a thoroughly beautiful place, with stunning land and extraordinarily warm, thoughtful, and resilient people. But niceness need not diminish the capacity to acknowledge suffering in a community. And in the work I have undertaken on leveraging difference and weirdness, oblivious contentment and deep suffering frequently co-exist.

Creating a truly diverse and inclusive community requires the willingness and discipline to see the differences that matter in that community and to engage when those differences create tension and discord.  Pretending that we are all feel as happy and harmonious as the most content among us can alienate and marginalize and people who, by virtue of their difference, live an oppressive reality in that community. Excessive nicety in the service of avoiding facing the realities of social injustice is  morally and ethically wrong. Most of us—myself included—do it.  But such nicety also poses a very pragmatic problem. Avoiding disengagement makes a community vulnerable in exactly the way Charlottesville became vulnerable to white supremacist violence.

Many of the white supremacists came to Charlottesville to “take back” a fantasy. They were obsessed with a time and a place in which white people were the only people that mattered and the thought of having to co-exist with Jews and blacks and immigrants was an abomination. The veneer of places like Charlottesville created structure and practices like segregation that fueled that fantasy. Symbols of white maleness—those confederate statues—became tangible reminders that white people were all that mattered in these diverse communities. But this fantasy makes the dominant white group myopic and fragile. White people have never been alone. They have always lived side by side with communities of people who were different from them by race, culture, and history.  Often, those communities were oppressed and disempowered as a result of actions undertaken in the name of whiteness. When empowered citizens of color spoke up and questioned the status quo, the fragile fringes of the white community—white supremacists–experienced those new voices as weapons assaulting their very existence.

It doesn’t have to be this way. If communities are willing to shake off habits of avoidance and authentically engage in inclusive practices, they become more resilient. Personal and collective wounds can be healed through dialogue, reconciliation, and actions that make amends for wrongdoing.

At UVA, we need a new song. It should be one that acknowledges the past and present experiences of diverse community members. It should support and encourage us to be in communication, to use our voices to learn with one another. It should buck us up so that when we enter into conflict—whether minor disagreements or deep-seated struggles—we are skillful, courageous and compassionate toward our fellow community members. The Good Ole Song can’t serve this purpose because it was not written for me, nor was it written for the women of UVA. Nor the people of color at UVA.  Nor the people at UVA from countries around the world. Nor the LGBTQ community (as evidenced by the homophobic “not gay” chants that have been shouted at sporting events). None of this makes the song bad. It’s simply no longer adequate. We need another song.

Obama was Right about Christianity

Sunday, February 8th, 2015

Jay Michaelson’s Breaking Down President Obama’s Point About Christian Crusades and Islamic Extremism does a nice job of providing historical information that fleshes out the facts of how Christianity has been used to justify extreme violence and oppression. A hullabaloo arose because the President juxtaposed Christian and Islamic extremism against one another, urging U.S. Christians to practice humility when analyzing and acting against brutal violence perpetrated by Islamic extremists like ISIL. Critics raged against the President because they believed he dared place Christianity and Islamic extremism in the same universe of phenomenon.

The criticism is messed up. First, there the reaction stems from a false analogy. When critics slam the President they are arguing implicitly that he was equating the entire breadth of Christian experience with an extreme group of Muslims. He was not, and he said as much. But the reaction—grounded in muddled reasoning—persists nonetheless. Arguments continue to be posited that the Crusades and the Inquisition happened centuries ago. Of course they did. And that is not germane to the President’s point. His remarks simply acknowledge that the diversity of Christian history and practice includes extreme violence and that Christians cannot disconnect themselves from that reality. By the way, Christian extremism is not dead. White supremacist groups that privilege Christianity over all other religions and racial groups still exist all over the world.

But is my  big insight: critics are reacting to the comments because they seem to believe that a call for humility and perspective somehow diminishes the ability to hold Islamic extremists accountable for their brutal violence. It’s as though we must have some perfect lily-white moral platform from which to blast ISIL else we lose the moral justification to condemn the violence.

In fact, being clear and truthful about the historical reality of one’s religion positions that person to take more decisive and wise action to end violence in the name of that religion. Self-righteous outrage is not a prerequisite for moral action. It’s OK to understand that Christian religious tradition includes and sometimes condones extreme violence. What better way to motivate good Christians to persist in cleaning their own houses? Self-righteous indignation is at the heart of rash and frequently stupid reactions. It is rooted in the need to do whatever it takes to make you and your group, community, or nation look and feel virtuous. It weakens our reasoning, prompting us to stereotype and group anyone who even resembles the perpetrators as guilty (e.g., bigotry toward all Muslims).

Michaelson gives us some facts in his post. What we do with them speaks more to our real virtue than sound bytes of indignation.

1 AUG 2014: Academy of Management 2014 Annual Conference

Tuesday, July 29th, 2014

Martin will lead three sessions at this year’s Academy of Management 2014 Annual Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

Friday, August 1, 10:00AM-12:00PM: Let’s Talk About Gender and Diversity, Let’s Talk About You and Me (Session 65)

Friday August, 1, 12:30PM-3:30PM: Publishing Diversity Research Workshop (Session 103)

Sunday, August 3, 4:30PM-6:00PM: Construals of “Diversity”: Examining Frameworks for Justifying, Defining, and Perceiving Diversity (Session 732)

For more information and a complete conference agenda, click here.

Trayvon and Zimmerman—What it Means to Be a Man

Friday, July 26th, 2013

Expressing our masculinity without violence.

I’ve had difficulty reflecting on the Trayvon Martin tragedy and the outcome of the George Zimmerman trial. I realized that part of it was the result of being stunned by a verdict that seems so wrong. Part of my difficulty was in making sense of the complexity of this situation. Some people are seeing it as a case of racial injustice and profiling of African American Trayvon and the wannabe cop who was white… sort of (Zimmerman is of Peruvian descent and was classified as White Hispanic). Others see it as a gun law issue, a support (or indictment) of Stand Your Ground laws in Florida.

But as I keep looking into this tragedy, I am struck by the masculinity of it all. I’m struck by the ways in which problematic ideals of what it means to be a man likely played out in devastating ways. I see Zimmerman trying to be a man and protector, donning the identity and the weaponry of law enforcement. But he was play acting. There is limited evidence that he was trained rigorously in law enforcement and he was explicitly advised not to act out the role of the cop-protector in the heat of the incident. Yet, he had to be a man and confront Martin.

And Trayvon, probably rightly in fear of personal harm, no doubt attempted to stand his ground and defend himself. I would argue that he was playing the role of a man (young though he may have been) who doesn’t cower when confronted by a bully. Part of that impulse to not be bullied is about being black—I get that deeply as a black person. But racial dignity asserts itself in a variety ways, many of which are not about violent action. I think Dr. King taught us something about that.

Look, I wasn’t there and no matter what I think, if I were in that situation, I don’t know what I would have done. I’m just asking the question of what might have been different about that night—and about the dialogue that has followed these many months since—if we had a different collective idea of what it means to be a man. I wonder what would have happened if the broader deeper definitions of being a man were ingrained in our culture. What if being a man also meant:

  • Avoiding violent confrontation above all else, if at all possible.
  • Questioning your assumptions about the other men you encountered.
  • Accepting help as a virtue, not a sign of weakness.
  • Seeing retreat as a honorable option.

We can’t turn this clock back, sadly. But we can continue to work on helping broaden what it means to act like—and to be—a man.

[This blog was first posted on the MARC (Men Advocating Real Change) on Jul 18, 2013 12:30 PM EDT. Comment here or read additional perspectives and comments on http://onthemarc.org/blogs/22/199#.UfHVjVO-57c]

21-22 FEB 6th Annual Diversity and Inclusion Seminar, Barcelona, Spain

Monday, February 11th, 2013

Martin will be speaking on Leveraging Difference at the 6th annual edition of the Global Diversity & Inclusion Seminar in Barcelona. This event is one of Europe’s longest running corporate focused diversity & inclusion seminars and brings together some of the world’s leading minds in the area of diversity and HR. Global Heads, Directors and VPs of Human Resources and Diversity along with Boards Members of some of the world’s largest companies will be presenting alongside renowned authors and professors.

25 Jan 2013 Embracing the Weird

Saturday, January 19th, 2013

In anticipation of his next book, Martin will give a flash seminar on Embracing the Weird at University of Virginia, Monroe Hill House, Friday, January 25, 2013 from 4:00pm-5:00 pm. The talk will be followed by a wine and cheese reception at Monroe Law Office.

November 2, 2012 UVA Award Recipient

Tuesday, October 30th, 2012

Martin Davidson is proud to receive the University of Virginia’s Equal Opportunity Programs Champions Award, honoring everyday defenders who ‘lift everyone up.’

August 8, 2012 National Institute of Health Executive Leadership Program

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

Martin will teach at the NIH Executive Leadership program at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C.