After the continuing heartache of last week, I had to switch off. I took three full days away from work to drive along the coast and spend time with my family. In a society that glorifies (over)work, it felt rebellious to take a break. I feel lucky to be able to and proud that I did, because I usually don't. Safely, of course. So, last week I promised I would share the story of my worst job interview ever. I’ve worked on four continents and in quite a few different work environments and I’ve seen and experienced...a lot. In some small companies I worked for early in my career, job interviews often meant a quick phone call with a busy business owner who was just trying to get the position filled. Others were more exciting. One company flew me from New York to London to interview for their fellowship program. I didn’t get the job (I bombed trying to describe the intricacies of Credit Default Swaps), but the hiring process was inclusive and well-communicated. For example, I knew how many interviews to expect and timelines for when I would hear back, including the rejection phone call timed to the hour that I was boarding my flight back to JFK. The worst interview I ever had was a guessing game designed to remind me I did not belong at the company. A five-hour nonstop interview where every 45ish minutes a different white man would ask me variations of the same question: Why should we hire you? What will you bring to the table? (Ummm, diversity?) We have an “always on” work culture–are you ready for that? Will you be a good culture fit? It felt like an interrogation room. No breaks. I left the process exhausted, hungry and questioning whether I would find another person who looked like me at that company. (I would not.) I didn’t know when I would hear back or whether I even would. Let's agree to do away with 5-hour interrogations, umm, interviews Much of the hiring process today is exclusionary and riddled with biases. At a time when we literally cannot afford to exclude great, underestimated candidates (because the only way we can navigate out of this crisis is when all of us rise together), we need to design our hiring processes to bring people in – not leave them out. Below, I detail three quick ideas to build a hiring process that’s more inclusive. These work in tandem with addressing our personal biases, which I recommended in last week’s letter. 1. Choose inclusive language in your job description Most of us have been socialized to conform to a rigid gender schema and many especially women and nonbinary people, often self-select out of roles that *seem* to be a better fit for men. How jobs are described matters. Women are less inclined to respond to job listings containing words like “determined” and “assertive,” as these words are connected with male stereotypes, according to research. Similarly, when job ads sought candidates who were “aggressive” and “analytical,” women were less likely to apply. Women were more likely to apply for roles looking for people who were “dedicated,” “responsible,” “conscientious” and “sociable.” Note: men were not deterred either way. When I think back to the job ad for my 5-hour interview from hell, it was rife with words like “analytical,” “data nerd” and indicators of a stressful culture: “our smart people work very hard,” and “we have an always-on culture.” I had the nagging feeling that I wouldn’t belong even before I set foot in the building. 2. Advertise with intention If your job listings are always advertised in the same places (like only your company website), you will attract the same groups you always have. Take time to develop relationships with relevant identity-based industry groups like Black Girls Code or the Asian American Journalists Association. Actively build relationships with these groups by attending their events and conferences and by financially sponsoring their events. Then, advertise your jobs within those networks. The only reason I applied for THAT job was because I was introduced by a former colleague to someone who knew someone, who was the hiring manager for the role. But referrals like this are tricky at best to ensure a diverse slate of candidates. Considering three-quarters of white Americans don’t have a single friend of color, it’s no wonder PayScale found white men are disproportionately referred for jobs (and benefit from higher pay as a result). Oh, and by the way, not all referrals are created equal. Later, I learned a number of current employees–all white–were hired because they were friends with current employees. They didn’t have to go through the same hiring process or the inter-rogation-view. 3. Create an inclusive and open interview process I don’t have much more to say besides do the exact opposite of what I went through in my worst job interview. Have a racially and gender diverse (at the very least!) interview pane or loop. Build in breaks, especially right now in the time of video interviews. Zoom fatigue is real and data show it’s worse for women. Don’t ask people why they’re a culture fit. Instead, assess how they’ll add to the culture. Create a work environment where employees don’t have to brag about working all the time to be considered hireable. Mention diversity, equity and inclusion in your company narrative: “this place is great for caregivers...here’s why,” or “we offer paid mental health leave,” or “we pay for self-development.” This is just a start and I’ve spent much of my career researching best practices like these. For example, in this media interview with Bloomberg where I share the next steps for companies that pledged to do better after 2020’s racial justice movement. I know what it feels like to go through a hiring process that makes your heart sink. I also know what it feels like to go through a process where you feel welcome and valued, so you can bring your best to a new job. That is the difference you make to someone's career (and life) when you are intentionally inclusive in your hiring. Want more guidance? I go into a lot more detail in my first book, The Diversity Advantage. It can be purchased here. Click here to subscribe to the weekly Inclusion is Leadership letter.

Facebook announced last week that a certain former president would continue to be banned on its platform. The decision was made not by executives at the company, but a 20-member independent committee: the Facebook Oversight Board. I’m glad about the decision — in my humble opinion, it shouldn't be up for debate anyway. But you don’t subscribe to this letter to ask my opinion on how social media platforms should handle controversial users. Instead, I’m going to share that I’ve been watching the Facebook Oversight Board closely. That’s because I was among the team of advisors to Facebook on how to gather the board in the first place. The company approached me in 2018 to consult on how to gather an international, independent oversight board through an inclusive and equitable recruiting process. Essentially, they planned to put out an open call for nominations from all over the world...and were surprisingly transparent about their process. They later shared that a lot of my feedback on inclusive hiring was used by the team for the Board. So l’ve detailed some of my advice below and I hope it will be useful for your inclusive leadership too, no matter what you’re recruiting people for. Establish diversity goals as early in the process as possible – and well before interviews. This ensures that you’ve built accountability and intentionality towards building a diverse team from the get-go and you’re not scrambling after. Include an Equal Employment Opportunity statement in your job listing. Textio research shows it doesn’t just help you attract great underestimated candidates, but the best candidates of all backgrounds. Do not compensate people differently based on their location. If they’re expected to do the same work (um, as in advise on what constitutes free speech and what’s hate speech online, in the Oversight Board’s case), then they should be paid equally whether they're in Bandung or the Bay Area. No exceptions. Be very specific about what you’re evaluating during interviews–and what you’re not. In the west, particularly in the American work environment, candidates who express their excitement during an interview are preferred by hiring managers over those who appear calm during an interview. This can be discriminatory against people from other cultures who are not always socialized the same way, a Stanford study found. Ensure there’s diversity in the selection committee. I’m not going to elaborate on this. Full stop. Provide scenario-based opportunities for a candidate to demonstrate their knowledge. Do not just assess their qualifications by their background or education. How would they solve a problem they may encounter on the job, in real time? This ensures you don’t over index on pedigree. Building a diverse team takes intention and effort — frankly, so do most things “worth doing.” Whether the stakes are as high as in the case of Facebook or you’re hiring your next accountant, I encourage you to view this intention and effort as an exciting challenge (and not a burden). What would you add to the list above? The more we share these practices and ideas the more equitable and inclusive our teams and communities become. P.S. I did not have any insight into candidates or the final selection process. I am not affiliated with Facebook Inc. or any of its employees. Click here to subscribe to the weekly Inclusion is Leadership letter.

It’s been more than a year since we plunged into a global pandemic. Depending on where you live, your skin color, your socioeconomic status and your profession, there have been moments (or whole blocks of time) where you were hit hard by the general grief and trauma of it all. I’ve been privileged in so many ways for most of 2020. I’ve been inconvenienced, outraged and heartbroken, yes. But I did not have firsthand experience of the devastation waged by COVID-19 until 2021, when India’s tragedies came to international attention. Then, it knocked on our family’s door. Suffice to say, I’ve been waking up with haunted dreams, heart palpitating at different times of the day, anxiously awaiting news while simultaneously scared to look at my phone. All while trying to work “as per normal” with people who haven’t been impacted in quite the same way. Last week, a person I’ve worked with for many years emailed me with a work opportunity. I declined, letting them know that my family was personally impacted by the COVID situation in India. Their response? “OK and thank you. Would you still be available to _____ and ______ so we can make the deadline?” Performative Inclusion Hurts I was...baffled. And hurt! Their callous response to my grief and anxiety shocked me. And, this person is well known in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) space! I am lucky enough to decline the opportunity (I did) and if I choose, never work with this person again. But not everyone is – that person could be your boss, your client, or your coworker. My experience made me stop and gave me infinitely greater empathy. There are so many workers reporting to managers or leaders right now who expect them to deliver at full capacity. In a pandemic. When there’s a rise in police shootings of unarmed Black people and anti-Asian hate crimes have gone up by at least 150%. When millions of working women, especially mothers and women of color, are losing their jobs. We can’t deliver at full capacity right now. Physically. Emotionally. Humanly. The pandemic has exposed deep inequalities (and continues to), which we simply can’t ignore. So many think DEI means running a fancy program or speaking about it in public forums or throwing money towards a social cause. That’s performative inclusion if you don’t complement those actions with inclusive leadership. Inclusive Leadership Shows Up Every Day Inclusive leadership isn’t about the big gestures. (Or if you’re influential enough to have a public platform, it’s not only about the big gestures.) It’s about day-to-day compassion for your people. It’s knowing that your reality may be very different from others’ and reassuring your team that they’re still welcome even if they’re not performing at 100% capacity. The best leaders would anticipate this already, but if someone has communicated that they’re in crisis, acknowledge it and offer support. Check how people are doing. Push back deadlines liberally. Adjust expectations. Offer empathy and where possible, help. Most of all, give everyone room to say no and room to breathe. I wrote a Harvard Business Review article about inclusive leadership in a crisis in March 2020–long before we had any inkling of what was really on the horizon. All I knew was my clients and classes were shifting to remote work. But I could already see that the gulf between the haves and have nots was widening. Sadly, the chasm continues to grow. When I heard back from HBR readers, time and again, they said this tip I offered resonated with them the most: “Show compassion. Managers must recognize that crises affect employees differently — for many from underrepresented communities, this means not just worrying about and providing care for their immediate family, but also caring for extended family and the larger community. Give employees time off if they’re sick or need to care for a sick person. Liberally push back deadlines as more people adjust to a new normal. And remember, not everyone has the set-up to be equally productive. Common barriers right now include inadequate access to technology, private space, or even the basics such as food or healthcare.” If you’re in crisis right now, please know you're not alone. I write in complete solidarity. If you’re a people leader right now, how have you shown compassion? What does inclusive leadership in an ongoing pandemic mean to you? Click here to subscribe to the weekly Inclusion is Leadership letter.