You can order Racconti here: bit.ly/RacConti Hear me out, good intentions are a great start but they aren't enough to correct biased systems and social inequalities. I think the first step to meaningful changes is awareness so here are some of the conclusions I've come to and wish more people would consider. Here is why I think most diversity initiates will fail in 2021.
I worked as an intern for a company that wanted to implement some DI initiatives (especially in the field of disability inclusion) and I couldn't agree more with what you said. I always bring up this one example that I believe sums up why it does not work (yet, hopefully). I remember talking to an employee with a severe visible disability that was trying to explain her employer why she did not want to become the face of all disabled people within the company, nor did she want to constantly be reminded of her traumatic life experiences as a minority to become part of the "success story" narrative. I couldn't believe how many people did not understand her will to be just a normal employee and not a tool to show off diversity in the company. I remember comments like "well we are giving you a platform to speak up", as if she had been hired to do so. It goes back to the whole idea of that privileged saviour that is helping those in need and gets mad when minorities don't follow their scheme. It was quite upsetting to see really
It sounds to me that the employer was more interested in giving his/herself brownie points. I wonder how would he/she have treated someone with an invisible disability. If I had been that employee I would have felt outraged: what a patronising attitude! Companies like this behave as though they are doing the minority person a favour rather treating them as a valuable resource because getting a different perspective can actually help them become better/more innovative/competitive in their field.
Hi Tia, I really liked listening to your point of view on the topic and I agree with it. Since the diversity topic has been brought up in western countries, I have always thought that most of the initiatives that have been taken were mostly performative and only seen as a way to have a “clear conscience” and not really care about the actual issue. The saddest part about it, as far as I see it, is that some of the people within the minority itself think, out of ignorance, that those initiatives are going to be 100% successful. I don’t know about the black community, since i don’t know many black people outside of the internet, but as far as I can tell for the people in my community, the LGBT community, a lot of them are fine with just the performative act and the superficial resolution of the problem, personally I don’t get the reason why, probably it’s just out of ignorance, or because we’re still teens and in early 20s so we don’t have a proper vision of all of the parts that play in society, or because they don’t want to overwhelm themselves with “too much thinking”, I actually think that’s kinda a human behavior. That being said, I don’t even think they will drastically fail. I think it’s a 50/50 situation. Other than the point you already expressed, I actually think that people of that minority, inside that context in which we feel as the outcasts, could actually help the other stubborn people, in years, to slowly change their minds by getting to know them and sharing. I get that not everyone has the same health, especially mental, to do that, but personally I feel like that every time I, as a gay person, get into an environment composed of mostly straight people, I am doing something not for me, but mostly for the ones that will come after me. Then time and generational change will do the rest. So I agree with your point, but I also think it won’t necessarily be a complete failure
Thanks for your take, I think what makes me skeptical is just the way these initiatives have been handled over the years in the US/UK and the results… or lack there of. Are companies more diverse in those countries? Kind of, on the surface level… then you look at higher management and boards of directors and for the most part not at all… and this is after 60 years of affirmative action. For sure without affirmative action and other quota style incentives the numbers would be way worse … they’re a start but can’t be successful on their own. And like i said we need structural changes because even if some individuals get “softened up” we’ll say by years of interaction, again as we see in other countries that doesn’t change much in the long run or the bigger picture. I repeat, I would love to be wrong, time will tell us!
Hi, Tia this video is so interesting and it's a topic we should talk about more often. As an italian of second generation with asian heritage I completely understand the feeling of being "different" in a work environment that is predominantly white, in fact, as you said, the moment you bring to the table your own perspective or you address certain issues, the majority won't even acknowledge your point of view or reflect on it. I don't want companies to have diversity initiatives just for the sake of having one or two people of color and thinking that the problem is resolved, instead I'd want them to do be more culturally informed and open minded, use their privilege to support inclusiveness in every aspect and take action.
Tia, gay people in the 80’s were shunned in corporations. They started creating small businesses. A lot of them catered to their community. In any community the focus needs to be on developing small businesses not trying to work in large corporations. It takes changing the mindset from needing a handout to giving a hand up to the local community where the individual is based.
@@misstiataylor_ watch donut king. You can’t build wealth working for other people. If you go to your neighbors house for Xmas and get mad at your seat at the card table instead of the main table. If you don’t own the business your just a guest.
You are correct Tia. I work for a global IT company in the states that for the last year has bombarded us with diversity training etc after they got hit with some major hiring, promotion and inequity salary lawsuits. Nothing has however changed.
You hit it RIGHT on the head. I don't think anything is going to work solely because of what you said about corporations being about conformity. If people actually took time to be conscious about their privilege and work every day to unlearn it, those people wouldn't even want to work at corporations anymore after realizing just how terrible they are socially, environmentally, financially (in terms of exploitation, etc.)
Tokenism also applies to "male dominated industries" attempting to hire 50/50 male and female. They end up lowering the bar for women to meet that quota because there simply isn't enough women looking for careers in those sectors, and so they end up hiring a less capable workforce. Not less capable by virtue of their sex alone, but by virtue of the lesser amounts of interest.
I think we are changing as humans and learning to accept people and their differences. We have to, there are too many suicide and people taking out their anger on others for not being included, and being different. If you were in the majority at your work place in terms of personality its great, yet if your not you are singled out. Differences are made an issue. It doesn't matter the culture or the race. Most employers want a group that can get along and on the same page, but when you think of it it's bad for business, when you don't have diversity in ideas, from different people. Yet, what happens to others who have different ideas, or lifestyles, culture, religion? They are shunned, by certain groups and people who aren't comfortable questioning their beliefs. They same find your tribe but not everyone fits in, so I feel we as humans will be more excepting more understand to people with a different viewpoint, different lifestyle, or perceived differences. Trying to fit everyone into the same mold have not helped, and there are more people on the outside than on the in. Also, a lot just going along and making themselves sick, committing suicide, having depression and other issues. So the initiatives are going to come from individuals because there are very few that fit the model perfectly. Having the "outsider" forced to fit the group dynamics I feel is a form of bullying. When you question why not accept the difference, the answer was I was not comfortable with people who didn't look like me, talk like me, maybe not on the same social structure like me, etc. So I think individually we need to open up and stop defending our way of life like it's the only or should be the only one. We are all here for a reason, we were all made differently and there is a value in it.
Oof, the timing of this is incredible. Still in business school right now, getting ready to make the pivot to corporate, but at business school (in Spain) I’ve noticed that there is a hunger for diversity because it looks good (I’ve been called “ethnically diverse” before), but confrontation of implicit bias, explicit bias, privilege, and Spain’s literal colonial history is little-to-none. It’s amazing - you can’t have both, this breakdown is a m a z i n g.
Beh ma è assolutamente normale che se in un’azienda la maggioranza non condivide e non ritiene valide le proposte di una minoranza, alla fine quelle proposte saranno rifiutate o respinte. E inoltre se i dirigenti e i proprietari sono totalmente in disaccordo con determinate impostazioni aziendali, l’azienda rimarrà quella e non cambierà. Veramente quale azienda decide di modificare i suoi valori solo perché qualche dipendente vuole un cambiamento? Non funziona così, soprattutto se le proposte di cambiamento non conducono a nessun guadagno aggiuntivo o sono incompatibili con l’azienda stessa. E inoltre solo perché determinate idee provengono da una minoranza non vuol dire che siano necessariamente valide. Minoranza non è sinonimo di verità. Solo aziende con al vertice delle persone che veramente credono in determinati valori, aldilà del profitto, possono veramente cambiare l’intero sistema aziendale in modo efficace e coerente.
Leonardo you missed the point, extrapolated information and things that I did not say and made heavy assumptions. Who said minorities are always right? “If the managers and owners don’t want…” AND? I’m obviously not talking about them, I’m talking about companies who claim they want to create diverse and inclusive spaces through their own initiative and why it usually doesn’t work. Some of y’all have so much time to waste and write nonsense I swear, your last sentence would have sufficed and yea that’s kind of exactly what I said 🙃
Does any of it matter? If a company is successful due to working fewer and fewer people harder or/and exploiting the global south (late stage capitalism), I just can't take corporate diversity seriously. Is it inferred that by having diverse leaders the underlying economics will somehow change or improve? I am passionate about representation, politics and asserting that it's incumbent on all of us to check our privilege regularly (you spoke about this beautifully btw), ... but I think we give companies WAY too much credit when we regard them as thought leaders or any such.
Some of the points she made just do not feel right to me.. I believe wealth to be the most (perhaps the only) feature leading to discrimination. If you are either born poor or from a middle class family, your life is gonna be miserable anyway. Not only will you have to work hard for at least 45/50 years (no matter the color of your skin ) but you'll also most likely stay poor and eventually sad.
Tia, I value the information shared and continue to experience these issues in the workplace. On a much lighter note, what lipstick brand and color is that? It’s the best shade of red that I have seen thus far. 🙂
i work in a department with 15 ppl, and i m the only foreigner... i totally get you ... and i m lucky cause i m white, which normally makes one more ‘acceptable’ in Europe. Every time I say that we should hire an extra foreigner I get the feeling that ppl think “but we already have one”.
The majority isn’t always wrong. In the company I work with, mental health awareness is a huge part of corporate culture. This means whoever joins has to confirm to that. It all depends on what values a company decides to espouse.
No one is saying that the majotity is bad. As she said in the video 2 things can be right at the same time. What she is saying is that the majority will usually take the majorities mindset, ideas, etc because i is human nature to go with what the majority is doing
Lol, I've written three super long comments and then deleted them because I find they weren't "on topic". There's just too much to say, I don't know where to start. I have a question: did you have a specific type of company in mind when making this video?
Same thing here in Brazil. I think we from America see this more clearly than other countries in Europe. Adding diversity will never solve the real problem, the system.
+ Some corporations make this situation even worse. For example, recently here in Brazil a black woman was murdered and as a response to that the store she used to work used this tragic situation to sell more clothes. They created a code for people to buy their clothes and they promised to give a percentage to the victim's family. But the thing is, they were making a profit from her death and no one is dumb to not know that most of the money was going entirely to them.
I agree that diversity initiatives will fail but for different reasons... What we have seen (here in the US) are companies pretending to be inclusive and most likely for the sake of not looking bad or being called out for not being diverse enough (and there are flaws with that already: it may not be authentic and it if it's forced, it can seem just as bad as not trying at all). Some of the manuals that we have seen (like Coca Cola's) shame groups of people as if they were the oppressor already simply because of their normative identities. (This is why I have a problem with the word "privilege": it comes across as simple, but it is much more complex.) Also, these initiatives depend on where they take place. Obviously some states and cities and countries are more diverse than others. Unfortunately, I don't think the US, for example, will reach that point of inclusivity (without forcing it). Maybe generations from now we will live as one (as more races mix) but not for a long time. I didn't understand your point on calling out our privileges out everyday. To me, it sounds like focusing on your superiority and it does more damage than good (to that extreme, at least). I can treat others equally and understand when I am in a system that gives me an advantage, but I don't see it working in the long run.
To your second point, maybe it’s clearer if I use an example: everyone has privilege somehow and somewhere, I lack a lot of privileges but then I have others: I’m an American in Europe, I have a prestigious degree (from a hyper exclusive university where I made extremely valuable connections), im a native english speaker, im able bodied, cis gendered and hetero-sexual. Before I acknowledged these privileges, I lived in a dream state in Italy, I thought people treated me well because Italy was an open place (but actually it was actually just my privilege, nice American girls don’t get treated poorly in Italy). Which is one thing but this led me to, through my privilege hurt people less privileged than me. When I would make videos about Italy not being that bad which would be circulated to millions of people … it definitely didn’t help ethnic minorities in Italy and it definitely didn’t help Italians confront their past or issues. Actually it gave them an excuse to not change and continue marginalizing groups -tia, a black american loves Italy, we don’t have any problems! It was only when I acknowledged this privilege that I was able to use it and try to help further the causes of people that don’t have the privileges I have (see my colory project etc). Privilege isn’t a negative, it’s a fact. What is negative is just being complicit in a problem and doing nothing to change it when you know you can.
I study to work with social minorities and I don't agree with this video. Human nature is not what guides us, and everyone is unique, sure, you will have cultural elements that are part of your identity, but culture is fluid, it is built every single moment and it changes always, it's not static. My work isn't known a lot or appreciated, but there are thousands of graduated students in Italy who could be hired to design socially inclusive and educational programs. Hire us
@@misstiataylor_ I just think that being part of a minority doesn't necessarily mean you can handle the issue. I think you're very smart and obviously know what you're talking about, but since the subject is very delicate and important there has to be something more, if you ever feel like it I think "words are windows" by Rosenberg it's a great start to go deeper into the subject
I don’t really know what you mean for “handle the issue” because my point is totally the opposite. Due to my experiences and the examples that I used, minorities literally cannot and should not be expected to “bridge the gap” or “fix the system.” The power, and ability lies in the hands of the majority who claim to be ignorant to the fact that the issue exists at all. Thank you for the recommendation.
@@misstiataylor_ I got your point, but actually in today's culture it's clear that the issue exists, what happened after globalization is a crisis of values, that led to an identity crisis, and when there's crisis humans tend to look at the past for answers, even though they should be looking forward to progress. It's defensive, that why a lot of people are blindfolded, modern society has always been multicultural, it's born like this. The issue is that difference is seen as something negative, it's feared and stereotyped, the only way to get out of this tunnel of hate is to show even more diversity, let everyone see that not only minorities are different, but everyone is, and create space for community, trying to always be open to listen others and get that at the end of it all, despite our differences, we are one species, we're all human. With "handle the issue" I mean that there should be someone trying to connect majority and minority, making space to discuss, and that's a job that educators should be doing, there problem is that in Italy at least there isn't any initiative if not by some Onlus, that's very unfortunate, changing won't be easy, but I think that if my job was more known maybe something would start
Some great points raised, Tia! And I totally agree with your about corporations hiring 1-2 black people just to put themselves an “inclusive” label on themselves 🥲
I just hope the black (and diverse backrounded) people are waking up and running from these kind of set ups… or at least are moving in them strategically and for their own benefit.
This is a very interesting point of view. I would be honestly curious how you think the US Military is doing in this topic. I feel like they do pretty good because they throw people from all walks together for a common goal, but that’s my white person view so I can’t say how accurate that is. I really am honestly curious to hear what you think.
@@rompecabeza1509 oh for sure, i don’t disagree with that. I was more talking about the way the military in general puts diverse people together for a common goal. There’s a focused effort on making sure people can work together. It seems like maybe there is more training and focus on that, what people actually do with that training is another story.
I would also add that the education system (made as a mirror image of corporation ) will also push the conformity agenda and therefore will not prepare (unless very exceptional cases) for diversity and inclusion.
This is an interesting point of view. I think in Italy we're already 20 years behind some other countries like the US and UK and I'm hopeful, but I'm also a white woman so of course I tend to "underestimate" what isnt directly connected to my experience - even though I try not to. I'm lucky enough to work in a company that actually started caring more about D&I in the last few years, but I'm also realising that the right way to be "hopeful" is not just attending all the workshops etc but actually challenging HR to do more - first example that comes to mind, why are we always letting mostly white people talk about diversity? Thanks for this video Tia, I'll try my best to rewrite the prophecy nel mio piccolo haha
Hi Beautiful girl with gorgeous hair 😗 All’s I can say is that in the last few months I’ve seen more commercials on Italian tv with multicultural inclusion. 😊 Just hope it’s not just a fad! Idk if you’ve noticed this too.
@@misstiataylor_ You dind't get the point. Every point you maked in this video is unsolvable under this current paradigma. So, as i said, have you ever considered to read Marx?
