Chief Diversity Officer

Is that VIP title and matching salary worth the headache? — Between leadership hiring you, only to derail your career, and a position with little to no standardized template for success — Chief Diversity Officers (CDOs) are an experimental class of executives lingering on thin ice. I founded a diversity firm nearly 20 years ago, so I’ve audited, beheld, and built…

How to Find Wins Among the Challenges as a CDO in Uncharted Territory — As someone who professionally paves the way for organizational inclusion, I am tired of the revolving door of Chief Diversity Officers (CDOs) being released for inefficacy or quitting from a lack of support. Granted, there is no commonly accepted template for success in the CDO role. …

A growing number of entities are hiring senior staff focused on DEI. But are they empowered to enact real change? — As more corporations, universities, and nonprofits began hiring a senior officer focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) over the past few years, I initially applauded the move. Finally, there would be someone on the management team who could help steer the conversation when it comes to DEI issues. …

Accountability for the tokenize-and-discard culture — So you’ve just been offered that new diversity job, now what? If the first thing your employer does is schedule a headshot, be very afraid. Corporate Blackwashing is trending. People are disappearing their diversity hires almost immediately after they score the LinkedIn-woke-washing optics victory with their BIPOC executive hires plastered…

Optimizing performative inclusion for maximum (Wall)Street cred — In order to avoid corporate Blackwashing after the Antiracist summer of 2020, your company decided to hire a Chief Diversity Officer (CDO). Marketing was thrilled to plaster their brown face all over social media as part of the corporate wokeness media campaign. …