09 HIRE DIFFERENTLY

If you’re in a position to hire, you can make change. Cultivating diversity in your workplace is a smart, strategic decision, not a charitable one.

Like other parts of your identity, whiteness directs your professional vision toward people who look like you. White people with criminal records are slightly more likely than black people with clean records to get jobs. Trust of the familiar isn’t always conscious, so it’s even present in people who believe in equality. Counter it by actively opening your hiring and promoting processes to those from different cultural backgrounds. Extending your professional community to include more people of color can help you grow new ideas and new markets, question assumptions you didn’t know you were making, and uncover systemic racism in the practices of those you do business with. Casting wider nets, you will also make your work relevant to a broader spectrum of people.