 Welcome to our session. Our session today focuses on accelerating racial justice in the workplace. We know that for many years, corporations have attempted to address issues of racism and colorism in the workplace and in broader societies. Today, as we think about the great reset, we also want to think about what it means for us to have a reset around issues of racial justice. Please keep in mind that our session today is being live-streamed for our global audience for the first 30 minutes. Close caption is available, and at the conclusion of the 30 minutes, we'll continue with a closed-room question and answer with each of our panelists. I'm delighted to share with you a dynamic panel today and our topic of accelerating racial justice in the workplace. We are so thrilled to have Crystal Ashby, who is the interim president and CEO of the Executive Leadership Council. We have Cynthia Bowman with us today, who's the Chief Diversity and Inclusion and Talent Acquisition Officer for Bank of America. We welcome Lorena Yee, a senior partner and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at McKinsey & Company. We welcome Tina Kai Melon, Senior Vice President, Talent and Diversity at Schneider Electric, and welcome to Tony Profit, Chief Equality and Recruiting Officer for Salesforce. And I'm moderating your panel today. I'm Laura Morgan Roberts. I'm a professor of practice at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. We thought it would be fun to open our panel today by asking each of our panelists to provide a short phrase or even a tweet that would answer the question of what corporations can do to advance and accelerate racial justice. So we'll start with our order of introductions and go through that flow. Crystal. Companies must invest in developing black talent. If they don't invest in that, they will not retain this talent. We must continue to have this dialogue in earnest to help corporations meet the moment that their black employees are experiencing so that their talent is fully realized. All right. Thank you. Cynthia. Absolutely. I would add on that inclusion is everyone's responsibility. I believe that we need a unified voice to drive accountability and progress. And when we do, I think those voices are necessary to advocate for change. We must question the status quo and hold us collectively accountable for breaking down systematic barriers that are necessary for true equality for all. Wow. Thank you so much, Lorena. Sanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. We need to rethink the inputs because today we know that black colleagues, black next colleagues, Asian colleagues, and other black and brown folks are less represented, not well supported, and harder hit by COVID. Yes. Thank you. Tina. Hi, Laura. My message is to move beyond the marketing message and take action now. And I think organizations have to tackle both levels to support our people of color, especially our brown and black friends. One, do it at the organizational level. Make change within your company. Two, take action at the societal level to address systematic issues that are often deeper. Thank you, Tina. Tony. So leaders need to listen to the voices of the black community. We, leaders around the world, need to be empathetic. Leaders in business, leaders in any organization. And then we need to act boldly and decisively. All right. That was a powerful lightning round. We have a lot to unpack in our time together. We're going to start by inviting Lorena to share a little bit more with us by way of the broader context. So we're talking about accelerating racial justice in the workplace, but we understand that the workplace and society are deeply interconnected. We also recognize that there's been a longstanding racial wealth gap and socioeconomic inequality. And McKinsey has done a lot of research in this space and made it publicly available to help us understand many of the racial differences, gender differences, and other socio-demographic forces that affect work experiences as well as economic inequality. What do we need to keep in mind as we enter into our conversation today and try to take up these calls to action that our colleagues just presented to us? Thanks, Laura. I think that one of the things that's quite helpful is to be grounded in, when we say inequality, let's put some numbers behind that. And even just to focus a little bit more narrowly from broader societal injustice and inequality to our own backyards as corporate leaders, what does it look like in places like corporate America globally? And if we look at corporate America, for example, when I said earlier that our Black and Latinx colleagues and our Asian colleagues oftentimes are less represented, less supported, and harder hit by COVID, let's just put some numbers on that. If you look at the entry level, we far are under the talent potential. And our colleagues here will talk about that, but for Black employees, we're at four to 5%, whether it's men or women, at entry level, we're about 5% for Latinx. That's a far cry for the talent potential at the starting line. And at the very top, if we think about the jobs right under the CEO, the people who get to sit at the table, we see generously one to 2%, Black colleagues at the C-suite, we see maybe 3%, and actually those are Latinx men, we see zero Latinx women sitting around the table. And these are for America's largest corporation. So it's certainly not indicative of every single business. But in some ways, big business moves big numbers. And we don't see Black and Brown colleagues represented. Another piece I just wanted to mention is the disparity is not just representation, but your ability to feel welcome and your ability to advance. And one of the things that we've been highlighting is that at the very beginning, there's a broken run and it's particularly broken for people of color. So for every 100 men promoted from entry level to that just that first manager level, we're not even talking very far into your career, we're not even talking very far out of being recruited. We see 100 men, we see 85 women, we see 71 Latina women get that same promotion, and we see 58 Black women. And this is a US example and certainly this is a global audience. They don't think that difference is all that dramatically better in other countries. And the challenge is, if you're not investing in Black talent in particular, early on, you could not possibly be surprised that at the C-suite, at the big table of decisions, you have very few Black candidates to fill those seats. And so we're not starting early enough in terms of the work that we're doing. So there's that. And the last thing I mentioned is just the impact of COVID. We know that for Black men and women, the United States is an example in Latinx colleagues that 2.5 times is the number of the difference in terms of those affected by the death of a loved one. And it's not just the fact that in your community or in your family, you may have experienced a death in COVID, which many, many people are given the global numbers, but it's also that Black and Latinx colleagues feel much less comfortable sharing that in the workplace, sharing their experiences. And how does it feel to go to work? If we just think about inclusion, when you can't actually comfortably share the most fundamental thing happening to you as a human? And so it's just a temperature check when we say that colleagues feel less included. It's a very concrete example. There are also, there are many more, Laura. I will pause because I know my other panelists have a lot to say, and I'm always happy to go back to some of the broader societal inequalities as well. Thank you, Lorena. We invite your active participation throughout our session in the Zoom chat as well for those who have questions and comments and reactions to many of these important insights that are being shared today. I would like to invite Crystal's perspective here just to provide a bit of context. Now, the Center for Talent Innovation conducted a study in 2019, just about a year ago. And they found that less than half of all survey professionals think that their companies have effective DEI programs. Now, I know that you with the ELC have been working diligently for many, many years to develop and implement high-impact DEI programs. And we also know that in the current research on racism in the workplace, for instance, the Guardian's 2018 survey of everyday racial bias in Britain showed 43% of those from a minority ethnic background reported being overlooked for a work promotion in a way that felt unfair in the past five years. And that was more than twice the proportion of white people, 18%, who reported that same experience. So Crystal, how can organizations redesign their structures and their practices to give more visibility and the kind of leadership opportunities that these studies and Lorena and McKinsey and Company's research have highlighted around greater inclusion and access for racially diverse employees? Laura, thank you. And Lorena appreciated your comments as well. What we find is that our talent is actively recruited. If you think about it, companies invest lots of money in going out and finding their new talent. They bring them in and the talent gets settled and they may get a mentor and that mentor is going to help them figure out how to navigate in the organization. But there's a point where the investment in the talent stops and you see a very different trajectory for the white male counterparts who get opportunities. And by that, what I mean is stretch assignments, P&L assignments, opportunities that will make them viable candidates and be well prepared to step into C-suite opportunities. And so what needs to happen is a little more intentionality and I won't even say a little more. What needs to happen is clear intentionality about the development of your full talent pipeline, especially your black talent pipeline. We all know that to get a C-suite opportunity, to get a board seat opportunity, to be a viable CEO candidate, you have to have had P&L responsibility. And the candidates that are black are not getting those opportunities. So it's incumbent upon the companies to be intentional in how they look at their talent and to make opportunities available for all by advancing them. When I was coming through my corporate career, sponsorship was something that it's political capital that someone was expending. And so you didn't necessarily know who your sponsors were. But as you look at how you have to move talent through necessary opportunities for them to move to the next level, you need to be giving them sponsorship so people can sit at the table and say, they need this opportunity because we want them to be able to move into that job. I'm a huge advocate for making sure that the C-suite succession plans, the CEO succession plan has your highest ranking African-Americans on it. Because then the responsibilities on you to ensure that they actually get the opportunities so that when their name is on the table, you can't say they're not prepared and they're not ready. They are equally prepared and equally ready to compete for those jobs on the same level playing field. So it's about recognizing it. And I think the other critical thing that's important is recognizing that when you bring the talent in, they are looking and watching and understanding what you are and are not doing. And as an organization, if they look at the top of the house, they look at the CEO, they look at the C-suite, they evaluate their board, they don't see anyone that looks like them. The investment that you're making is going to be wasted because they will leave eventually because they don't believe the opportunity to get their exists for them. So I too like Lorena will pause because I could go on, but I know there's other stuff that we need to get to. Happy to come back to this. Yes, thank you, Crystal. It is really important that we just lay out on the table the dynamics around advancement in organizations and how they systematically position certain individuals and members of certain demographic groups for success, whereas others often don't have access to those same pathways to advancement. So we need to be intentional in designing and monitoring those pathways. I know in the research that I've conducted with colleagues around race and inclusion and organizations, another prominent theme surfaces. And that's around authenticity. This authenticity conversation ties to a broader set of initiatives around inclusion. Tina, I'd like to invite your perspective here. Managing diversity often seeks to fit the person who is identified as different in some way into the quote unquote mainstream or dominant organizational culture. So there's a lot of energy in trying to onboard and socialize and help people to understand how to navigate these cultures and contexts. But is this truly a pathway for adopting an inclusive culture? And are there other things that we need to do so that employees, leaders of all backgrounds can experience the same type of authenticity, inclusion and belongingness that their colleagues experience? Thanks for the question, Laura. I would start by saying really building that inclusive, authentic, psychologically safe culture. As many of the others have alluded to, you're absolutely right, we have to tackle both. We have to identify both the diversity element and the inclusion element. And to put it in simple terms, it's having that right diverse mix, the representation, and that still matters as well as, and probably more importantly, making that mixed work, the inclusion piece, which is often harder, right? It's the way we all work day to day and whether people are really able to bring out the best. On the diversity side, I think a lot of the research and what we've tried to follow at Scheider Electric is at least starting as a starting point with a critical mass. So back to the point of Christelle, when you look around you and you don't see anyone at all like you, there are going to be certain barriers, both in terms of real talent decisions and promotion impacts, but also in terms of the way you feel comfortable and authentic and being able to drive what you wanna drive. So really making sure there is that critical mass and we often at Scheider look at at least 30% whether it's a person of color, whether it's an LGBT plus person, whether it's a woman who are often in that minority group. Now the harder part is still then having that representation going beyond and making the inclusion work. One thing for me that I would highlight over all these years to keep it really simple, but I'm a strong believer that you have to create forcing mechanisms. And what I mean by that is policies, incentives, programs that challenge, sometimes provoke and force a shift in the way we work. A couple of examples just for the folks on the call in terms of applicability at the ground level. So one thing at Schneider we do definitely around the topic of pay equity is really make sure we look at pay equity across gender and race and ethnicity. And this isn't just each manager reviewing each time and making their own decisions. We actually hardwire it in the annual sale review process and make sure that the data is very transparent and that people are nudged encouraged to make those changes. Another thing we do is we track very rigorously nationality, race, as well as gender, as well as generations across the world, but we also make sure the positions of power, those that really are making the decision at the top of the company. And for Schneider, our employee base is spread equally across the Americas, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe. So we're always looking at the macro level, but those positions in power are not only located in one headquarter company. Schneider is a 180 old French company. So traditionally 10 years ago, all the top jobs were in Paris. And now we really also make sure to hardwire that the roles are spread in an inclusive and equitable way across. And the last quick thing I'll add, I do strongly believe in education and training around bias, around inclusion, around psychological safety. Even in the US, we've seen some of the views from the federal government, regardless of what political side you're on, saying, well, racial sensitivity training doesn't make sense and in fact is counterproductive. I don't believe that. I think when applied correctly, when applied to how we make talent decisions and in a thoughtful, provocative way, it can really make change as well. Yeah, thank you, Tina. Also wanna amplify the conversation that's taking place in our chat right now. Fatima Zahra said, yes, inclusion isn't simply about adding numbers, but about truly making people feel included. And that starts with people feeling safe to share and express themselves. And she said, thank you for highlighting that, Lorena, because Lorena also highlighted that in her comments and then Tina pushing us farther. Want to turn to Tony now as well, because part of what Tina is saying about inclusion and authenticity, yes, it's about helping people feel safe, but it's also about putting some safeguards in place so that we establish a set of standards and then are holding ourselves and others accountable to that. So one practical step that comes up here in these conversations is tackling racism and business through data analysis. Now, Tony, we know that there are different laws, national laws around the collection of data on racial and ethnic origin, but how can organizations globally streamline or harmonize methodologies and perhaps move to designing some common indicators that would help us to measure and better keep track of integration of racial and ethnic minorities along all of these dimensions. Oh, that's an essential question, Lorena, and thank you for that. And so the ability for employees to self-id voluntarily and competently and consistent with whatever the regulations are and the jurisdiction that they are in. So we have this in a very advanced state, naturally in the US, we're working on this in the UK and Ireland and for folks to be able to share their gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability status, their pronouns, all the important aspects of their identity, voluntarily, confidentially. So we build upon that and we work to be transparent with all of our stakeholders about what these data look like. So for Salesforce, you can go to equality.com and you can see our representation data. Again, it's gender globally, race and ethnicity included in the US. And we do that for the point that you raised, Lorena, for the sense of accountability. So being transparent about these data, not because we're proud of them, not because we're anywhere near the finish line so that all of our stakeholders can hold us accountable. On top of these data, this year we had built a new set of goals around race in the US. And these goals include doubling the number of Blacks in leadership, the representation of Blacks in leadership in the US by the end of the year 2023 and increasing by 50% the number of Blacks in our total cohort of employees in the US by the end of the year 2023. In addition to make sure that the leaders who have large organizations side of the company see these data and they see them with low latency, every month, each of the leaders with more than 500 folks in the company gets a scorecard. What's on the scorecard? How many women work for you today? In the last 30 days, how many women did you hire? How many women did you promote and how many women are treated for any cause? In the US, they also get data on race and ethnicity, same litany. How many Black, Latinx, native or indigenous, multiracial folks work for you today? In the last month, how many did you hire? How many did you promote? And how many are treated for any cause? And so these are some of the ways that we're using the power of data to hold folks accountable, to be transparent and to provide leaders with the fuel to drive progress in this area. Finally, I wanna build upon the point that Tina made about Schneider. Similarly, we do an annual audit for pay parity to make sure that folks of regardless of their race and ethnicity in the US are paid the same as they're doing the same work in the same location. And then we do that globally for gender on an annual basis. Wonderful examples, thank you. Love how we're sharing the resources in the chat as well. So be sure to follow those links. Crystal, you also have done some work around boards and holding accountability. So can you add anything else here about what board members should be doing, what board should look like to hold people accountable? And then we're going to bring, I think we're going to bring Cynthia in so that Cynthia can talk a little bit more about what's happening at Bank of America. Laura, thanks for that. I was on mute, my apologies. I appreciate the ask. I think what's significant as I listen to all the conversations is where are the accountabilities at? Where is the transparency at? How is it being shared across the organization that the CEO and the boards have a huge responsibility? They're obviously these types of initiatives, agendas, what should become a part of the structure of an organization, a part of the foundation has to start at the top of the house with the CEO. But there is also a bit around accountability that the board has to have. And that's transparency to the board. It needs to become a part of what the board discusses regularly so that the organization understands that they are watching this and that from a governing standpoint, they find it significant and relevant. And so the other piece around that is making sure that the board itself is diverse so that the issues that are being presented are understood. If everyone on the board looks alike, thinks alike, you aren't going to understand why this is an issue for the broader part of your population and how making sure that they are feeling the types of things that Lorena and Tina talked about are going to happen. It's relevant to make sure that your board is diverse which requires you to start to think a little bit differently about the criteria for how you pick a board person to go outside of the networks that you usually use to make sure you broaden the base of where you're trying to pull that talent from. So there is changes that have to happen at the board level as well to ensure the type of change that we're talking about throughout the rest of the organization. So thanks for that ask, I appreciate it. Yeah, that's great. Thank you for seating that. Let's bring in Cynthia's perspective. And Cynthia, there have been a lot of conversations here about wealth and the economy and reparations and philanthropic donations and just different ways that corporations should be responsible for helping to address these issues on multiple levels. What should we be thinking about? What should leaders have top of mind today? Absolutely, I think, look, in a year that has brought the biggest health and humanitarian crisis in our lifetime, as well as I think a renewed focus on advancing racial equality and economic opportunity, I think that what you're finding is corporations must address not only issues internally but steps that are necessary to really support clients and communities. I think over the recent months, we've come together as a company and as a world with a lot of passion around racial equality as well. I mean, we've seen the murders of Amal Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, among too many others. And also the disproportionate impact that this current health and humanitarian crisis is having on black and brown people. And so what it's done is created an urgency to do more and to do more now. And I believe that corporations have a role as well as our own personal responsibility. We've had just a profound impact on each and every one of us as we have experienced the challenges of this year. And it's not enough just to say something anymore. We must do something. And I think what we're finding and hearing is that society and our shareholders are expecting companies to just not talk the talk. We have to walk the walk. Some of the examples that we've done specifically to answer your question as a bank. So earlier this year, we committed a billion dollars. That's new funds, not just summarizing work we had already done, but a billion dollars over four years to combat racial inequality and to create opportunity, particularly for people in communities of color, black and brown communities. And we specifically feel like we have a responsibility in the areas of health and healthcare, jobs and reskilling, supporting small businesses and affordable housing, which are the four pillars that really target the efforts of how those dollars will be allocated. On top of that, we committed $25 million to the Smithsonian to help support its race community and shared purpose and future effort. That's a new initiative that they launched. Why? Because we think we have to have more conversations on these critical topics, particularly topics around race. We've been doing that internally. However, through the Smithsonian, we're hoping that we can raise that conversation externally, which we all know is incredibly needed. In addition this year, we've issued a $2 billion equality progress sustainability bond. That bond is targeted to advance racial equality and economic opportunity, as well as environmental sustainability. It's the first of its kind in the financial services industry. Transactions will represent and proceeds from that bond will be dedicated to financial empowerment of black and Hispanic Latino community specifically. And all of those are really building on our long standing commitment, over 250 million in philanthropic support. We've 325 million in loans to 255 community development financial institutions. Why? Because there are places in our community that are trying to address change that sometimes we can always support as a larger bank. And so we do it through CDFIs and other institutions or minority deposit institutions. It's to count on our strategic alliances with places like the National Urban League, NAACP, ELC, US, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. But it's also to a lot of what Crystal and Tony said around accountability and transparency. We've launched our human capital report again last Friday. And we're very transparent. We talk about the diversity of our board. To Crystal's point, you have to have diversity. We are very proud. We have two black board members, one Hispanic and six women on our board. We also talk about our C-suite and the diversity of our C-suite. And not only do we share the total population of our workforce, which has been over 50% women and over 45% people of color, but we break it down by every race. And then we've gone a step further to even provide data on 3D from the CEO for both people of color and women. This year, we also broke that down for black African-Americans and Hispanics, as well as our total manager workforce, because we believe that's the pipeline of future leadership. Because with transparency comes action and accountability. That is really powerful, Cynthia. Cynthia, well, we wanna bring you back in. I want to pause here, because we're at the moment that our live stream has concluded.