How do we move to true equity with Tyronne Stoudemire
A special edition of UNLEASHcast sees HR’s most dangerous podcast duo, Chad and Cheese, interview Hyatt Hotels’ Tyronne Stoudemire at our recent UNLEASH America event.
Why You Should Care
The industry veteran and D,E&I expert sets the world to rights with the famed podcasters.
This is the first of a handfiul of interviews from Chad and Cheese that took place at our Vegas event in May.
Look out for another collab upcoming at UNLEASH World this October in Paris.
We join the conversation with Tyronne giving Chad and Cheese the reality of how far short the representation drive is falling in organizations across America.
**Warning** a few curse words ahead.
Listen above or read an excerpt of the transcript beneath, which has been edited for clarity.
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Tyronne Stoudemire: Most organizations and leaders have the will to do the work, but they don’t have the skill, and they don’t want to look at the data which tells a story.
When you look at an organization and say you’ve got one black [person] at the top, one Latino at the top versus hundreds. It just it’s not right. And then again, it’s as charity, and a zero-sum game. If I have to give up something for someone else I’m going to lose.
People look at diversity as a problem to be solved, versus a difference to be leveraged. If we look at this differently now, we leverage those differences, we will come out greater than we ever had before. But people are fearful because they don’t be left behind. They don’t want to give up…
Chad Sowash: …they don’t want to give up their state, you know, where they are right now. They’re afraid that they’re gonna drop down the ladder…
TS: And I think it’s quite the opposite. Well, I will have to say that under the prior administration, the heterosexual white male between the ages of 35 and 50, living in suburban communities became a minority because of unemployment.
So you have white men that are minorities now by 2025 will be more visible. People are not focused on that. Because white men have gotten their share of the pie.
We have to solve for one that benefits all of us, regardless of race, or gender orientation, we’re more similar than we are different. But our difference lies in our cultural backgrounds…messages that your mother taught you. Maybe different messages doesn’t mean they were right or wrong. But how we solve problems and resolve conflicts is based upon our culture, and what was told to us.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch and dinner – choose your meal.
If you establish a culture that people cannot embrace, or they cannot thrive in, they will leave. It’s why more than 50 million people left their employer…4.8 million people left their employer in August of last year. 4.8 in one month?
It was about a sense of not belonging. No social justice platform. Who they were supporting. How the top was getting paid. And the bottom was not. All those things.
So companies that have to look at this very differently if they’re going to retain talent. I just did a presentation just here today, and the young lady was talking about how people are leaving within their first 100 days – the cost associated with sourcing recruiting, and hiring, and the person is gone in less than 100 days is enormous.
You’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. And companies are not prepared for that. So we have to wise up. Leaders need to be more vulnerable than they’ve ever been before. They have to be transparent. And they have to assume positive intent. We’ve got to give ourselves some grace. We’ve got to give ourselves some time to process these issues.
CS: The thing is, though, Tyronne, I think that workers have provided positive intent for years, watching the millions of dollars being spent, watching Google and Facebook, talk about these amazing initiatives that they’re gonna have. And then they all fall flat, they all die. So as we sit around and we wait with positive intent, nothing seems to be happening…
TS: You’re 100% right but let me push a little different here. The reason I’m saying [this] is that most of the time leaders feel that when people are complaining they’re trying to explain. Leaders need to just show that positive attendance. That’s, that’s been the message, right? People no longer like to suck it up anymore. They’re gonna pack up and they’re going to leave. So that’s what I want to from a leader first.
People don’t have to tell you when they’re quitting. They don’t have to tell you. And when people stop ‘complaining’, and they get quiet, they’re done. And here’s the deal. We all do engagement survey results. We know what people are saying. People have to take those things seriously, to take action.
I was working with a company recently, that actually has all of its practices online: promotions, pay for people, you can see how I’m going to be rewarded, how I’m going to be promoted, and what I need to get to the next job. People have to be that transparent.
Joel Cheeseman: I want to go back to culture and building culture. And we have a lot of startups that listen to the show. And I think most of these things aren’t built scandalously, right, I think a couple of buddies create a startup. And they just happen to both be white guys, right? And the first couple of employees kind of look like them. Maybe they went to school or whatever. And before you know it, there are 25-50 employees, that all kind of look the same.
At what point should a startup look in the mirror and say, we need to diversify now because if we get too big, it’s going to be really hard to backtrack and create a culture that’s diverse and open to everyone.
TS: I think that’s in the business plan. Who are our consumers? Where’s the money coming from? How do we make money? Understanding that this world is there and looking and saying, we need to have a diverse team at the outset…we’ve got to start initially with having the right person at the right time, who just happens to be a woman, who just happens to be black.
But the issue is, that studies show that only 15% of white Americans have blacks in their networks, meaning 85% don’t. Socially. And 80% of jobs are filled through internal referrals.
Until we broaden our networks and build what I call cross-cultural relationships and connections, we won’t be able to reach people, and the next generation of workers now looking at not only the diversity of the corporation, but the connections of those executives, and those board members, how many women, how many black people, who do they have on their LinkedIn profile, make those decisions based upon that.
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Editorial content manager
Jon has 20 years' experience in digital journalism and more than a decade in L&D and HR publishing.
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