Why DE&I?

Monica Taylor Lotty: We’ve just hired brilliant people … who come from very diverse backgrounds, but who know that they’re gonna be valued and respected.

Leaders can show up as their authentic selves.

Patrick Flood: If you’re not coming in ready to listen and to learn from other people and to gain the perspectives of their diverse backgrounds, you’re missing a whole swath of life and something else that you could be giving to that, that you’ll never know now.

And collaboration means innovation.

Katie Muller: We’ve been able to see 90% retention in our staff at a time when the rest of the world was seeing the great resignation happen around them.

This isn’t some pie in the sky ideal. It’s possible … and we have the proof.

I’m Aurora Archer and this is The Opt-In. If you don’t know us, The Opt-In is a cultural strategy firm that works with companies to raise cultural competency through self-awareness, connection, racial literacy, and stamina.

If you’ve been with our podcast for a while, thank you so much for being here. And if you’re new, WELCOME!

Over the past three seasons of The Opt-In Podcast we’ve interviewed change-makers – from artists to CEOs who are transforming society by critically thinking about our humanity, identities, and race. This season, we are doing something a little different.

We’re showing you how one organization took the leap in implementing real cultural change through a partnership with us at The Opt-In. Together we supported their DE&I strategy with a comprehensive cultural competency learning program. And now this organization is paving the way for others to follow suit.

We’re going to tell you their story in six episodes. We’ll take you along the ride from HARD to HOPE and the dips in between. And show you the commitment, support, and care a project of this caliber takes.

For some of you, this season might make you feel uncomfortable, even vulnerable… and for others it might feel like scratching a 400 year old itch.

But regardless of where you’re coming from – whether you’re in the C-suite or in the trenches – we know that at the end of this season, you’re going to come out a better equipped and stronger leader.

But before we do all of that … we need to get down to the basics.

Today’s episode: Why DE&I?

We already know where this story ends up. Company partners with The Opt-In. Undergoes major change, and now has the stamina to continue doing DE&I work and continuous learning for years to come.

Simple, right?

But to tell you the full story, how all of this actually happened, I need to take you back two years.

In the heart of Philadelphia, a largely white nonprofit was ready to take a leap … ready to break corporate paradigms and transform … The organization in question is none other than the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia also known as CHOP.

Monica Taylor Lotty: So Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is the first and oldest pediatric hospital in the country. It was founded in 1855 and today in 2023, we have over 22,000 employees.

That’s Monica Taylor Lotty. She’s the executive vice president and chief development officer at the CHOP Foundation.

Monica Taylor Lotty: So what that means is I am largely responsible for raising the philanthropic dollars for the hospital as part of my work with the CHOP Foundation… The foundation team that I oversee is a team of roughly 180 people. They include frontline fundraisers. They include many folks who are managing the foundations, operations, and administration behind the scenes as well.

The CHOP Foundation is the philanthropic team at the hospital. If the medical staff is the heart of the org, the foundation is the veins … they ensure the financial resources so that CHOP can continue providing life saving care for children. The Foundation helps fund CHOP’s pediatric research, which is one of the largest programs of its kind in the country.

And it’s this philanthropic team of almost 200 people fearlessly led by Monica … that took on the task of transforming their workplace.

Monica knew that any real transformation would need to start with her leaders.

Monica Taylor Lotty: Our teams, our people are the most precious and the most valued resource that we as leaders have in our organizations. So if you’re willing to make the time and the investment in your people, then you should know that the return on that investment is going to be tenfold or even more than you can possibly even quantify.

Aurora Archer: What does it mean to put our people first? What does it mean to create a transformative initiative that centers people?

Monica Taylor Lotty That’s a really great question, Aurora. And I think about myself and my experiences as an African-American Latina woman, one of the very few leading large philanthropic organizations, whether it’s healthcare or other nonprofits. I’ve always led from a space of recognizing the importance of DE&I.

Okay let me just pause here. Because this might be the point where some of you are starting to shake your heads. Maybe you’re on board with professional development … maybe you’re on board with investing in your leaders … but maybe you don’t get why that should also mean investing in DE&I, specifically in developing cultural competency skills.

I’m not pointing fingers, I’m just saying it like I’ve often seen it.

I’ll say the things that Monica did not. There are some ugly truths for many BIPOC leaders in corporate America. On one hand it can be a pathway to financial success, like it was for me. And on the other, corporate America can chew you up. It can make you feel less than, it can absolutely “other” you, it can try to change your principles.

It’s something I’ve heard again and again from my BIPOC colleagues and mentees…. and we are ready for change…. We are no longer ascribing to that legacy model.

So for many of us, when you start talking about skill building for your leaders, and revolutionizing workplaces it needs to start with cultural competency.

Getting people of all backgrounds and identities collaborating and creating at their highest potential, is not only about creating a better workplace… it’s about creating a more equitable world where ALL of us can be seen, heard, and valued.

But I digress.

[background – no justice no peace]

Monica Taylor Lotty: And certainly with the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the pandemic and all that we were experiencing, I needed to just take a deep breath and take a step back and think about and reflect on what more I could and should be doing as a leader. at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and as a leader for my team, which was increasingly diverse.

By 2020, Monica’s interest in pushing forward a DE&I initiative grew tenfold.

She wanted to do it right. She wasn’t trying to check off a box, she was trying to make REAL change by investing in her most important asset, her PEOPLE.

And she knew that she couldn’t do this alone.

Aurora Archer: It was the emerging courage, conviction, and gravitas that you had as a leader in calling forth an evolution of the people, coupled with executive leadership that if I put it bluntly, had your back.

Monica Taylor Lotty Oh, yes. Yes, absolutely. I would absolutely say that. I would agree with you. And not only had my back, but really back, but also encouraged me to step into this work, knowing that it wasn’t going to be easy, that there were going to be times where it was going to be difficult.

She needed the support of other CHOP leaders to help get the wheels turning … to help implement a DE&I strategy that actually worked for her team. And she needed institutional backing to support financially investing in this key initiative.

Luckily for Monica, there’s a long precedent for DE&I at CHOP.

Amtul H Sufi: DE&I has been at CHOP in some way or another for the last 20 years or so. Hi, my name is Amtul Sufi. I am the director of DE&I at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Amtul works at the enterprise level, and thinks about the BIG DE&I questions that shape the work of all 22,000 people employed at CHOP.

Aurora Archer: Can you share a little bit more of how leadership and the prioritization of this work over the last couple of decades has played a pivotal role? …

Amtul H Sufi: Yeah, it’s a great question. … in the two years that I have been here, we have expanded from that three person team to an eight person team. So I think that in and of itself is indicative of the leadership support, the leadership buy-in that we have, right? It’s not just about, okay, we just wanna have this department so that we can say that we have it, right? It’s really investing in our infrastructure, investing in our people, allowing us the opportunity to grow and develop and saying, you know, when we bring something to the table. So I’ll give you an example. … last year we rolled out our first-ever DE&I required training. So we worked with an external vendor. We developed a really robust curriculum for what we would include in that required training, and it’s on-demand online training… We had over 98% compliance with that …And so that was an investment, right?

And for Amtul, the WHY for investing in DE&I is simple.

Amtul H Sufi: There’s a lot of reasons that we do it, right? I think one of which is that, A, we really believe in it and we understand the importance of having diverse representation and the innovation and the growth and the development that comes with that. I will also say as a healthcare organization, as a hospital system, it’s really important for our workforce to represent the diverse patient populations, the families, the communities that we serve.

Gilbert Davis: There is nothing we touch in this organization that should not have a lens of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging. Nothing. Whether it’s technology, whether it’s health care, whether it’s health equity, whether it’s community service, whether it’s environmental services, whether it’s C-suite. Every person should have a lens on diversity, equity, and inclusion and how that impacts their lived experience and their lived existence here in the workforce.

That’s Gilbert Davis. He is the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Gilbert Davis: I’m responsible for the strategic vision and execution of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging here at CHOP, and coordinating or orchestrating, if you will, that journey towards belonging.

Which means that Gilbert also operates at an enterprise-wide level.

And this very question of “WHY DE&I?” is actually a sticking point for him. Because DE&I comes under a level of scrutiny that many other parts of corporate America don’t.

Gilbert Davis: And I often say, when you’re hiring for any C-suite role, do you ask for what’s the business justification or return on investment? It’s rare that you do that. But when it comes to this topic, it’s always, well, what’s the business justification? What’s the return on investment? And if you can’t navigate the landscape of our current existence in this world … or in society and know immediately what the return on investment is. I can tell you if it’s diverse, research goes up, revenue goes up. I can tell you all those things. But the productivity and engagement and the sense of belonging for your workforce and those that are your customer base, it’s hard to put a value on that.

And I get it. It’s frustrating to have to justify something based on humanity. Some of those harder to measure benefits of DE&I are what make it so critical.

But a big part of The Opt-In and our model for DE&I is both Learning AND Measurement. So if you’re a numbers person and need that kind of information to make a decision, THIS is for you.

Consider this:

Gen Z makes up 27% of the US population .. and is the most ethnically diverse generation to date. Plus, 75% of Gen-Zers would think twice before applying to companies making sub par, performative DE&I efforts. So if you want to attract emerging new talent, and the innovation that comes with it … your company needs to catch up to be RELEVANT to them.

On top of all of that, for the first time we’re living in a moment where there are FIVE generations all working under the same proverbial roof. That means you have people with different expectations of their work, their leaders, and of their coworkers. If you want collaboration in your company, you need to establish shared language, knowledge, and skills. (and may I add practice… practice… practice!)

For a lot of us who are already committed to the advancement of DE&I, this information is just the icing on the cake. It signals that DE&I is critical – every which way you look at it.

For Gilbert, DE&I is a calling. But he doesn’t feel complete ownership over it at CHOP. He believes DE&I is EVERYBODY’s job, and we happen to agree with him.

Gilbert Davis: So Monica is a wonderful leader here at CHOP … And one of the things I noticed right away is that she was an advocate. … And so she challenged her team and her staff to come up with ways to improve from a diversity perspective. … It’s not just my job to do this, it’s everyone’s responsibility. And Monica is a perfect example of that in her department.

When Monica Taylor Lotty wanted to drive a new DE&I initiative for the CHOP foundation … the philanthropic group … Gilbert was on board. … He just wanted to make sure that it was done right.

And there was one thing he knew the foundation would need to avoid.

Gilbert Davis: I have several pet peeves of the DE&I space and work, but one of them is performative DE&I, where it’s just a symbol, you’re doing it because it’s a reaction to something environmental or within the society that happened. And as soon as that thing or that event goes away, so does your DE&I vision.

Think back to 2020 .. when Monica and Gilbert were having these conversations.

There was the uncertainty of a global pandemic, mass layoffs, and economic insecurity. And then in May of 2020, George Floyd was murdered, inciting a summer of protests.

Corporate America responded loudly. Offering pledges to support DE&I. Writing public messages supporting Black Lives Matter. Stating that they would hire diversity officers, and onboard BIPOC talent across ranks and onto their Boards.

But years later, we have the hindsight to see that corporate America fell woefully short. They barely moved the needle. And in some cases they have slipped backwards.

Gilbert doesn’t do DE&I that way.

Gilbert Davis: We’re here for the long term and we have a model in place of longevity that should, and that last piece of that is sustain. And so we want to sustain that moving forward. We’re not just going to be here to do a training and leave you. …We want to continue our conversations. We want to get really granular post-sta training to understand what your lived experience is once we leave and once you do that training. Because the reality is we have individuals that have, we’re all raised differently. We all come from different cultures. And so it’s a little uncomfortable to unlearn something, but we want to make sure we’re there along for that journey with those who are uncomfortable and with those who are.actually comfortable in this space. We want to unpack that. And so we’re here for the long term.

For Gilbert, a big part of creating a lasting DE&I strategy means investing in partnerships.

Gilbert Davis: And so for us and our team, it’s about continuing the process of engagement, sustainability, and partner work experts that are outside of your organization. … I think as an industry, we hold it too tight to the vest, if you will, of, oh no, our organization will only listen to us, they need to hear our voice. …That’s not necessarily true. If you’re gonna be agile and flexible and versatile and you have a commitment to your users and your audience and your patients and your families and your workforce, you have an opportunity to provide them with something they may not have heard in that way before. And that’s the beauty of partnering with other organizations, other industries, to bring in that expertise from a different perspective that say, you know what, we never thought about that.

Even though CHOP has a fully staffed DE&I office, Gilbert sees the value in making strategic partnerships. It can allow leaders to access DE&I more fully.

Gilbert Davis: It allows them to step away and just be who they are and not as an employee, but as an individual …to understand, wow, I did not know my bias was patriarchy, but I see that it is, or that my bias is X and I see that it is. That’s hard and difficult to do when it still feels like it’s a part of your strategy or your vision and you’re not looking through the same lens, but with this partnership, that’s the value of that. And I wish many of my peers would see more of that because I think that to leverage that would benefit their entire organization.

And it’s at this point in our story where The Opt-In comes into the equation.

CHOP went on a nationwide search to find a DE&I partner – the kind that could support the CHOP Foundation’s DE&I strategy to build critical cultural competency skills, and create a framework of sustainable impact.

They chose The Opt-In.

Monica Taylor Lotty: And I recognize I couldn’t do this off the side of my desk that I needed help. … I just knew that you were gonna be the person and the team that I needed to help move and advance this work at a much faster pace than I would be able to do on my own. It certainly would have given me pleasure to be able to do this on my own, but I’m incredibly grateful to have your partnership and your leadership in this space. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

Aurora Archer: Oh, we appreciate you and we appreciate the leadership.

Monica Taylor Lotty is at this point a friend. She’s an amazing leader to her team. I’d say that whether or not they selected The Opt-In as a partner.

One of the many things that makes Monica such an incredible leader is her willingness to go where so many other executives won’t.

There are a lot of people who wouldn’t do what she’s done, simply because they are risk averse. They’re scared they’re going to do it wrong. Or say something that will make things worse … perfectionism is a side effect of our white dominant culture. And nobody wants to be canceled.

Maybe you fall into this camp.

And so I wanted to know, what would Monica say to people who are on the fence .. who want to make the leap, but are being held back by fear, risk, or simply not knowing how to take the first step.

Monica Taylor Lotty: Well, first of all, I would say that they have to have the right partner. You know, and so that’s where I have just been grateful for what you have offered and that you gave us sort of this guide, this blueprint for how to advance this work in a way that if we made mistakes or if there were pitfalls, that you were able to help us get back up again and help us keep going and not stop. And so I think it’s important for everyone to realize that you’re gonna make mistakes. And so I… didn’t sort of know what I didn’t know. I thought, you know, my experiences were enough to help me guide my team. And I recognized that that, it wasn’t enough. There were some things that I knew, but there was a lot more that I didn’t know. And so I was open to being vulnerable, to getting feedback.… to engaging in the work. I mean, you have to put 100% of your time and energy and finding time as busy leaders, I recognize, is very, very hard to do. But we have to do it.

The reality is, you will make mistakes if you go through a process like this. It’s actually kind of the point.

In the unlearning, there’s learning, and in the failures, there’s growth.

But more than ever, we need you … yes you … to take that first step.

In the next episode, we’ll get into one of the first challenges along the road.

Katie Muller: There was conversation around whether race was the right starting point or not. And I’ll share that transparently I had that question.

That’s next time.

[Credits]

You’ve been listening to the Opt-In. I’m Aurora Archer.

This has been our first episode of the season, and we have lots more to share with you as we follow CHOP’s DE&I journey.

Subscribe to us wherever you listen to your podcasts, and please share with your friends, colleagues, and yes your bosses.

Music from this episode is by Jordan McCree

The Opt-In is produced by Rachel Ishikawa and Colin Lacey.

Our Theory of Change is co-created by Colleen Philbin.

To make a donation to the CHOP Foundation go to chop.edu/giving

Thanks so much for listening.