Why diversity initiatives fail.. | Khalia Newell | TEDxCityUniversityLondon

[Music] [Applause] earlier this year there was a film which was released in the cinemas and it was called hidden figures can I just have a show of hands for those of you that have seen it okay so just a few so hopefully I won't give you too many spoilers but the film is about three African American or black women who work at NASA and they serve as the brains or the kind of like the engineering room behind one of the greatest space operations in the US history the launch of actually putting a man into space the film was based roughly around the 1960s so it was at this particular time you can imagine putting someone into space for the first time was actually quite an incredible achievement and it actually did help to restore the us's confidence and really accelerate them in the space race for many years to come the movie it really gripped me because although it was supposed to be a depiction of the u.s. in the 1960s I sat here watching it in 2017 actually resonating with a loss of the challenges that were faced by the three main characters in the film they were intelligent they were contributors to a worldwide recognized organization and institution they were women they were black but why I thought was quite interesting was that prior to their story being told they were invisible I'd actually never heard of them then the question occurred to me what if anything has changed in the way we deal with diversity and women of color in the UK today I suppose if I give you a bit of historical context as to where I come from my grandparents were two of many individuals who came to London from the Caribbean on a boat which was called the wind rush and because of their desire for adventure and looking for new opportunities for not just them but also their extended family I was fortunate to have had the experience of being born in London but also having part of my culture and heritage which was Jamaican now having lived in Jamaica Jamaica for quite a few years and then coming to primary school in London this obviously had huge advantages first and foremost to my surprise everyone wanted to be Jamaican it was quite interesting to actually because for those of my friends that were Nigerian and Gani and they really were quick to deny that they were from Africa and certainly in my case was only helped for being Jamaican by films like Cool Runnings and definitely from the likes of people like Usain Bolt I mean his infamous lightning bolt everyone recognized if you decided to strike a pose but what became interesting when I got older and then I decided to go back and visit Jamaica I was too English for my fellow Jamaicans and then when I was in London in a corporate environment I was too Jamaican for my fellow Englishmen and so the question then became where did I fit like the characters in the film where just mentioned I was just like them intelligent a contributor a woman who's black Jamaican in ancestry yet English by birth but in the brutal corporate world I was still invisible and a hidden figure in order to find where I could fit I looked to find a place where I could feel included and really just meet people who would just like me and so when I started my career there are a number of initiatives that I decided would be quite useful to take part in and I still do mentoring women's networks the be more diversity networks because to me it made sense I'm a woman and black but when I went to these initiatives I wasn't just a woman who was black I was a multitude in a myriad of things and so the one thing that I realized was that diversity networks at their core they're a really great way to facilitate the creation of a safe space for a number of individuals to really feel at home but when diversity initiatives they fail or when the invisible candidates that you have they still remain invisible diversity in their initiatives they work best when all people are recognized for their differences their importance and they actually feel valued equally because it's only when we have those components together that we can really drive and accelerate forward a philosopher once said the I cannot say to the hand I don't need you and the head cannot say to the feet I don't need you but on the contrary there should be no division in the body because all body parts should have equal concern for each other going back to the film there's a rather powerful scene of one of the women who was incredibly gifted but in order for her to become a certified NASA engineer she actually had to go to school to gain some additional qualifications and given the time period that the film was set in it was actually important for her to go to a judge to actually have access granted for her to be able to go back to school now what was particularly interesting for me was actually how she petitioned and positioned her case in front of this church he was the most unlikeliest of allies that she could have ever had he came from a background that she did not come from he was a white privilege meal in a position of authority and she was quite the opposite but what was amazing was that this was the same person who was the most unlikeliest of candidates who facilitated her journey and the same is very much true today in 2017 can I have a show of hands if you can think of somebody who has actually helped to facilitate you to be where you are today anyone yeah all of us and I think it's important for us to realize that our allies in the people that can really accelerate and help push us forward they don't necessarily have to be people in positions of authority actually we can find allies in the most unlikely of places in the film there's also another scene where one of the astronauts is about to go up to space and he receives a phone call and the phone call goes along the lines of oh we think that there might be a bit of an issue with the calculation so we might have to abort the mission and so he then tells the command center that actually there's a person I remember from before who solved a few problems you need to bring her in the room and she needs to check everything over and so this lady who goes by the name of Catherine Johnson she runs from one side of the compound to the other and although most people would have looked at her contribution to be small ie she was just checking a calculation with the analogy that we just heard over the human body every single individual they play a vital part she bought with her not just herself and her brilliant mind but actually it was her experiences of being taught a completely outdated and archaic method of maths which was ultimately responsible for putting in hand into space and so what we see is that organisations institutions were the public or private they will always fail to accelerate when their best minds are not in the room a great mind can really entreaty come from absolutely anywhere regardless of background color gender but the honest question I have to ask is do people really believe it and if so why do we continue to sit on a goldmine of talent in our organizations when really certain people should be in our boardrooms interestingly in recent news there was an organization who made the decision to remove the use of any form of diversity initiatives and they decided to opt to create something which was called an inclusion council because their view is that they wanted to make sure that the very people that were excluded they wanted to make sure that they were a part of actually making some key decisions and actually the people that were heading up these inclusion councils were middle-class white men now whether or not you agree or disagree with the view of what they've done well I think we can agree on is that it is essential for us to work together as allies as a whole in order to highlight and to propel hidden figures in each and every single one of our organizations so why are we talking about diversity in 2017 if we look around the room I think it's safe to say that we are a complete mixture and diverse group of people but actually when we look at the number of political challenges that we are actually facing today both at home with brexit overseas when we need to look at how we actually move the UK forward I'd actually like to propose to you that rather than actually looking at our bottom line how we can actually grow our GDP or any other number of things we should first remember the fundamental truth that groundbreaking and innovative ideas and concepts are formed they are articulated and they are executed from people that's accelerate our future in the lives of our children and those around us like the judge in the film who made a decision to go against societal norms his decision inspired and impacted the lives of millions just because he said yes so I'm sure that you've gathered from the number of film analogies that I've made that I'm quite an avid film fan and so what can you do to help no homework would be complete without setting some form of movie and so I'd really recommend that you actually watched the film hidden figures and also there's another suggestion I put there which is called queen of katway not only will you leave inspired at the contributions of these great individuals but it might make you realize that actually great things can be found in the most unlikely list of places the second is that next month is actually Black History Month I'd really encourage you to all go to an event near by to learn about those who have contributed and those who continue to contribute to society the third is to teach your children the way that they should go so that when they are older they will not depart from your teachings and the fourth be like the judge who was the key facilitator for someone who was the advocate who pushed someone's case because he helped to make someone who was invisible visible and they accelerated the space race in a way that was unlike anything we've ever seen before Obama stole this quote from Nelson Mandela I can't blame him really is quite a good quote and he said no one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion and I think that especially with where we are in today's day and age it is something that we should never forget I have been truly privileged to have been nominated for and received numerous awards and when I've invited my colleagues to come and to celebrate because it's really a team effort the first thing that I marked is why is it that you've received a women's award or a black award and I've taken them back to the office and I've said to them can you please point out another person who might sit on this floor who is a woman he was black he was at a senior level in this organization who does what I do and then they concede and then they say okay fair enough you might be one of a few and actually I have to correct them and tell them I'm actually one of many from being the first person in my family to have been educated past GCSE level to graduating from university I now stand before you as a vice president of a footsy institution which to me was an impossible feat and it's a real privilege to be able to work for an organization which promotes the diversity of individuals and their communities now while I think it's important for us to continue to tell the stories of the past like that of my grandparents or even those of the three women in this particular film who went on to do great things I think it's really important for us not to mark the end with a period but actually with a comma because we had to continue to write and to tell our own stories because we have so much work to do still we all know and we recognize the importance of diversity the frequently quoted notion from every single corporate organization is that we must encourage diversity of thoughts and experience to better reflect our clients our communities and the very people that we serve and encouraging engagement and integration through our diversity initiatives it freely does help us to do that it is because of the existence of such networks and because of key allies in the most unlikely of places because those individuals are passionate about accelerating their communities their businesses and their financial institutions that I myself am no longer a hidden figure who is invisible but I am very much visible when we think about the theme for today which is accelerate the one thing I really hope you take aways that the focus above everything above our bottom line is our people people are the cornerstone of innovation people are the cornerstone of acceleration thank you [Music] [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 18,785

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Business, Innovation

Id: Dl0QRaeyTf4

Length: 16min 29sec (989 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 29 2017