WIT REGATTA REFLECTIONS

During the “Diversity by Design” speaker panel I participated in yesterday, I was asked: What are the biggest barriers to inclusion and belonging for those who share your identity?

There are not a lot of people who look like me in leadership positions in any of the industries that I’ve worked in, causing me to question whether I’ll be able to realize my career goals in a corporation that I didn’t create myself.

Before breaking free from imposter syndrome and discovering that I am worthy and deserve to be in the room, I questioned whether places were conducive for me to show up as my ‘authentic self’ — that self that embodies everything about who I am and not being concerned with whether my ‘difference’ will be acceptable.

I’m sure many of you have heard of the term “code switching” — changing your hair, clothes, and vernacular to be accepted into the room and sit at the table. If Diversity and Inclusion were there by design, that wouldn’t be something that someone would have to do. Having to code switch is not a positive thing, it’s an additional burden and emotional toll that an individual has to bear along with all of the other weights that come along with being ‘the only’ or ‘the few.’

You will not get the best out of people when you expect them to pretend to be someone else that fits your image of ‘contributor’ or ‘leader’. No one can bring their ‘authentic self’ and pretend at the same time.

When people feel pressure to code switch, they feel they must pretend to be a person that they are not to make others that don’t look like them comfortable, to achieve success, to be accepted into the room. Even more, it signals to them that they cannot show up as their true selves.