In the last couple of weeks, I’ve had the pleasure to attend several conferences that focus on progress towards diversity, inclusion & equality from the non-profit, advertising and commercial sectors. Most recently, I attended the 3% Conference in New York City on behalf of Adobe.
As I sat there, I tried to wrap my mind around this topic. I realized that being a 28-year-old African-American male, I have subconsciously thought about this topic every day of my life. I have always been in the position to view myself as others view me. Choosing to work in an industry that has not prioritized diversity until a few years ago left me feeling like an outsider for a good part of my career. Interestingly, Adobe released a report, “Creativity’s Diversity Disconnect,” that backs up my own experience. While the vast majority of creatives prioritize diversity in the creative industry, only half believe diversity has improved over the last five years.
As human beings, we enjoy being with people who are like ourselves, a concept called the similarity/attraction theory. It’s the old adage: birds of a feather flock together. In a speech made by actor David Oyelowo at the BFI’s Black Symposium in 2016, one of the main points he made about the creative industries is that there is a certain bias that we all bring to our work environments. We like to surround ourselves with people who look, talk and act like us. While a natural phenomenon, it is the crux of our problems of diversity that we are tackling today. To bridge that diversity gap, we need to not only hire diverse candidates but also include diverse voices in leadership positions. Doing both will dismantle systems of hierarchy and positions of power from within…
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