Toppling old-style leadership is journalism DEI’s next big move
Inclusive vision and strategy are owed the time
The next stage of diversity, equity and inclusion in media is here. It relies on creating belonging for current and future journalists and leaders.
Media is in an exciting moment. DEI is part of our daily conversations. Better representing new demographics is recognized as a means to stay relevant to the audiences we need to survive. Engagement journalism has led the movement. How? By positing that engaging audiences in their questions and needs inform journalism.
We’re seeing progress considered unthinkable 20, and even 10, years ago. Would Up the Block, Civility Tennessee, or the Latino Listening Project have been the province of journalists back in the day? Quite possibly not. And surely, the discussions have been difficult. Yet we’re in this space where we can imagine more.
Media are seeing waves of those of a particular tenure stepping down and passing the torch. How can these valued veterans leave the greatest legacy? By fostering belonging and accessibility, and tackling our biases around leadership — who does it, at what age, and how.
For most of my career, media organizations were privileged to a degree-specific leadership, cultures and ideas. There were the Big Problematics that we have all heard about. Call this the Steve Jobs Glow. We favored the grand thinkers, hard-driving editors, and the kind of change management that assumed people who weren’t into the change a leader saw would ostensibly be shown the door. It isn’t a secret that the bullying behavior that crept into the headlines was common in many organizations around the nation.
Fortunately, the Steve Jobs Glow is starting to wane — albeit slower than necessary.
The Little Problematics are more pernicious. And how we unroot them may be one of journalism’s great challenges.
I come from a non-traditional background as it relates to media workers. My parents weren’t white-collar professionals, and I was the first to go to college. English isn’t my first language. I was oriented at an early age to see the needs of a community come before individual gain.
As you may guess, the norm of what is expected of us as journalists and as leaders has always been a struggle for me. How I speak, how I lead, my story, and even my optimistic disposition have prompted well-meaning conversations on what leaders are supposed to be and do. Through back channels, I have heard less generous interpretations of my qualifications and talents.
Sadly, I regularly talk with many early-career professionals, women and other people of color who experienced the same thing. They tell a similar tale: we’re asked to be ourselves, but only within the confines of dominant mores.
You’ve heard these accounts too. And likely, the comments by people of color about being the only ones in the room are ones you’ve heard. The backstory — that the organizational culture that leans heavily on dominant-culture styles is going to attract the dominant culture and leave others out — is one we seldom talk about.
If we hope to foster a culture of belonging and center our authentic selves, we need to push back on the timeworn traditions of leadership. Understanding the range of ideas and backgrounds that can lead as well as be invested in to lead is key to creating a renewed sense of home for diverse talents our industry relies on for its future.
How can media organizations spark dialogue about inclusion and leadership?
- The Center for Creative Leadership provides many resources and offers important rejoinders. “If minority employees feel their culture is not the dominant culture in the organization, they’re more likely to try to fit in and assimilate into the organization. In other words, they take on the characteristics and values of the larger organization so as not to stand out,” notes the CCL. “Yet by assimilating, employees risk dampening the diverse perspective they bring — a huge loss to the organization.”
- In 2016, Ellen Mayer wrote about hard news bias in a way I still refer to, because it has implications for other biases journalism/media organizations bring to the table. Most critically, about diverse communities’ everyday aspirations. “I believe the hard news bias stifles journalists’ imagination when it comes to the kinds of stories that their audiences might value and need,” Mayer writes.
- Harvard Business Review is among many publications to explore inclusive leadership. I’ll add, however, that (to paraphrase what Juliet Bourke and Andrea Titus write), media organizations need not just leaders who ask for feedback on their blind spots and habits, but also who support a culture where leadership norms are regularly dismantled.
Transformations in how we think of organizations, inclusion and power (I believe Gather is part of this wider movement) are opening up this ecosystem anew. The conversations are leading to exciting new engagement and opportunities. Future leadership may take journalism to places never seen before. Yet it will require evolutions in organizational culture everywhere.
Ernesto Aguilar is the Director of Radio Programming at KQED. He also served as Gather’s March Guest Curator.
