Some have said that DEI is dead. However, the backlash against DEI doesn’t stop cultural competency from seriously impacting a businesses’ bottom line.
Last month, American food company Heinz was called out by consumers not once, but twice, for racist content. Heinz released an ad perpetuating the stereotype of absent Black fathers, and another ad which showcased a Black man resembling Blackface and minstrel shows. Heinz unfortunately isn’t alone in the marketplace being called out for racist content by consumers.
Last year, Dior was accused of racism for showcasing an Asian model pulling up the corner of her eye. In Australia, Krispy Kreme apologized after accidentally including a highly racist slur in a campaign. And over the years, brands like Gucci, H&M, Pepsi, Heinken, Dove and more have faced social media firestorms, with consumers calling out racist content and proclaiming they will no longer purchase their products.
As the backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) continues to intensify, many companies have walked away from the commitments they once made to create more inclusive organizations. Therefore, it’s likely we will see even more cultural missteps, including perpetuating racist content and stereotypes in the near future. And as leaders, here’s one way we can help. Despite the DEI backlash, we can continue to focus our teams on building this important skill: cultural competency.
When we become more culturally competent, we can not only avoid expensive mistakes, but more importantly we can continue to serve consumers with authenticity and purpose. Here are three things to start focusing on:
Be curious about experiences that aren’t your own
Humility is key to great leadership. One reason is that embracing humility helps us open ourselves up to learning about experiences that aren’t our own. When we want to educate ourselves about lived experiences that aren’t familiar to us and communities we don’t belong to, we start to build our cultural competency muscle. We start to practice empathy, the ability to have compassion and understanding for things we haven’t witnessed, had to deal with, or been part of our daily lives. We also learn how to engage with an open heart and mind.
As leaders, anytime we are selling a product or service to a community we don’t identify with, it’s a moment to stop and ask ourselves, do we really understand the experiences of this community? What nuances are we missing? What stereotypes are we unknowingly playing into? Do we have the right talent around the table and in our ecosystem to help us?
Focusing on diversity of representation, and who has a seat around the table, is critical. One motto I emphasize to my teams is: nothing for us, without us. You can’t authentically serve a community if you don’t have representation from that community on your team. If you are struggling with representation on your own team, this is a moment to stop and ask for help. Bring in cultural consultants—such as those at Culture House, WORTHI, Elysse Consulting, and Gold House—to help you better understand the communities you want to serve.
Listen to the whispers
While we talk a lot about focusing on diversity of representation, we don’t often discuss who the final decision makers are at the table. We can say we have individuals from various backgrounds giving their feedback and perspective. But it’s another thing to actually have to listen to what they have to say and believe them. This is when our cultural competency muscle is tested: when we hear something we don’t want to accept to be true. The key to leading with cultural competency is to listen to underrepresented voices, even if they are just a whisper, and ensure that this information impacts the final business decision.
In my book, Reimagine Inclusion: Debunking 13 Myths to Transform Your Workplace, I remind leaders to listen to the whispers, because they are actually the loudest. I worked with a brand where a junior marketer voiced his concern with an ad that was eventually called out for being racist before launch. He said it made him uncomfortable but didn’t have the language to express what he felt was wrong. The head of market research silenced him, saying that it had been thoroughly vetted and tested by consumers.
Do not discount the other people on your team, including your more junior colleagues. Listen closely to the whispers and the quiet voices, the ones who are hesitant to share what they really think, but find the courage to do so. They can be the catalyst for unlocking conversations that stop you from putting out harmful content and products. It can also be a moment for you and the team to increase your cultural competency, and learn about something you completely missed or didn’t even notice.
Learn from cultural missteps
Unfortunately, if we open up our social media feeds on any given day, we will see consumers calling brands out for cultural missteps and mistakes they have made. This can lead to a social media firestorm, demands for an apology and boycotts. All of these missteps are moments for us to learn about what went wrong and increase our cultural competency.
At your next weekly or monthly team meetings, consider bringing in the examples of Heinz, Dior, Pepsi, and more. Sit with your teams and discuss what they see in the content, what they are having a hard time understanding, and where the brands went wrong. Are consumers being too sensitive? Or are consumers calling them out for racist, sexist, or homophobic content? How would you prevent this product or ad from launching in the marketplace on your teams?
Finally, after reviewing these cultural missteps, take the time to do deep dives over the next year on different communities. The Right to Be is an incredible nonprofit that has public courses for free, or private workshops available for your next offsite or team gathering. They focus on the lens of bystander intervention for various communities including the Black community, LGBTQ+, Asian, Hispanic, Jewish, Muslim communities, and more. And they teach you about the history of this community, give you a window into the lived experiences of the community, how to combat stereotypes, how to show up as an ally and more. Workshops like these can be critical to building your cultural competency.
Remember, building your cultural competency is an ongoing journey. By committing to be more aware and learning about experiences that aren’t your own, you’re setting up your teams and companies for success. And you are showing up as a more inclusive leader and human being.
