Читать книгу Hiring for Diversity - Arthur Woods - Страница 15

I grew up in an evangelical community in rural northern California, and I was taught in church that being gay was a sin. When I came out as gay halfway through college, I was completely lost and uncertain about the effect my identity would have on my career. I was blessed with a mother who was the greatest cheerleader a son could wish for, but as the first in my family to graduate from college, I was often without the professional guidance and mentorship that many of my peers took for granted. Unsure of how to navigate my future, I decided to hide my identity in my earliest job interviews, afraid it would hurt my chances of getting hired. Walking into my first job in a corporate office setting, I overheard colleagues using homophobic and derogatory slurs, and I felt utterly crippled. I realized at that moment I was not safe there. I could not be myself. I had to hide. As this sunk in more, I became convinced for much of my early career that my professional identity and personal identity could not be one and the same. I felt an undeniable sense of shame, anxiety, and frustration.

All this changed, however, when I applied to a mission-driven technology company that embraced diversity and made me feel included at every stage of the hiring process. I was placed on a team that included people from across generations, races, and sexual identities. My new manager was openly gay and proudly out at work. He introduced himself by showing me a picture of his husband and family. It was clear to me that this was a place where I could belong. Within weeks of starting the new job, I came out to my colleagues and was immediately embraced. A weight had been lifted from my shoulders as my professional world invited in the person I was at my core. I felt the most authentic sense of alignment between myself and my work, and I immediately realized a newfound energy to build, to go above and beyond, and to make a difference. By feeling a sense of belonging at work, I was confident and unstoppable.

I imagined how many others in the workforce shared my early experience of not being embraced for who they are, not feeling as if they belonged. I began to feel a deep calling to focus my work and life to advancing diversity and inclusion at work. Over the last decade I've had the chance to work with hundreds of leaders on the journey to grow diversity in their organizations. This has given me the opportunity to launch a number of organizations at the intersection of advocacy and technology. I became so enthralled in the work that I shifted my focus to technology that would help employers scale all of their diversity hiring efforts, which is what led me to co-found Mathison (Mathison.io). Witnessing how hard but necessary the work is at this moment, when it is top-of-mind for so many leaders, I felt compelled to work with Susanna to translate the insights from our collective work into a digestible resource for leaders who want to make progress in diversity hiring.

In this very moment, each of us as leaders has the capacity to create extraordinary change. Just as an inclusive boss did for me years ago, we have the opportunity to empower people who feel underrepresented by giving them a seat at the table. We have a chance to instill a sense of belonging by celebrating people for who they really are. If we can catalyze this change within our organizations, it will propel the change we want to see in society.