VISION & STRATEGY www.ceotodaymagazine.com 74 But why does this matter? Known as “rainbow-washing”, this is just one example of performative allyship. Diversity and inclusion have become key buzzwords in the corporate world, leading to a very real risk that companies are leveraging these terms for their own brand image and monetary gains, instead of focusing on making a real change. This is known as “diversity-washing”, not dissimilar to the trend we saw a few years earlier with “green-washing”. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, there has been a particularly sharp rise in diversity-washing as public pressure on the responsibility of corporations continues to increase. One such example included Adidas infamously retweeting Nike’s Black Lives Matter campaign, with the 2 sports organisations being brought into the spotlight around not actually having concrete anti-racism policies in place, and no Black board members. To ensure that D&I isn’t passed off as the latest fashion trend, we need to think about impact. B-Corp has brought about an excellent version of this when we look at the climate crisis: it assesses corporations not just based on their net environmental impact, but how businesses can be an active, positive force for good. Similarly, D&I efforts need to be focused on both undoing the damage from years gone and focusing on driving inclusion from a structural perspective. Real change requires real action. Included framework outlines 5 key pillars for an inclusive organisation. In the paragraphs below, we have gathered some ideas on how you can leverage these 5 areas to limit diversity-washing. STRATEGY Begin by having a clearly outlined D&I action plan, backed with a financial commitment. This strategy should be aligned with the wider organisational strategy to ensure it can be embedded into the heart of everything the business does. This way, D&I becomes less of a siloed, HR activity and more of a meaningful, purpose-driven effort. A good example of this is LifeArc, which Included worked with to reframe inclusion as part of their strategy. This strategy now impacts how inclusive their medical investment decisions are. DATA Measure your progress. It’s great to have a number of initiatives but these need to be linked to KPIs to show real impact. Think about both internal impact (e.g., levels of diversity, inclusion, and engagement within your organisation) as well as external impact (e.g., if you are in the pharmaceutical sector, can you measure the diversity of your clinical trials?) GOVERNANCE The ultimate way to prevent all talk and no action is by holding people accountable. Do stakeholder groups know exactly what they are responsible and accountable for when it comes to D&I efforts? How are leadership teams being held accountable? Sanofi recently
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