170 PART III Narrowing the Gap the Next Time
something’s got to give. And with people who really care about their work, what they may give up is the rest of their lives.
I was in a meeting in a company that had instituted a diversity program so that when it came time to promote people into executive ranks there weren’t just a bunch of white guys in the queue. Some of the managers and executives didn’t see how this helped the business. Besides, it took them off focus with regard to the mission of their business. The facilitator was having a hard time of it until one vice-president turned to his colleagues and said, “I was in a meeting with the chairman last week and he’s 100 percent behind this.” Because people knew that the chairman wasn’t a flavor-of-the-month kind of guy and only got behind projects that he believed were good for the company, the tone of that meeting shifted dra- matically. People leaned in and started to work on how to make this new initiative work in their region.
Making sure that everyone knows you are doing what it takes to make sure this change is a success is critically important.
The more you use the ideas in this book, the more comfortable you’ll get applying them. Here are a few things that can help: