So You Want To Be An Inclusive Leader?: : Five Simple Strategies You Can Use to Inclusify Your Workplace

Back when I was growing up, the term inclusivity had not yet been coined. It was not until the early 1980’s that new employment legislation mandated that companies could no longer discriminate against applicants based on the color of their skin. These new laws brought a sudden and tumultuous end to segregation. Although Blacks and Whites had previously worked separately for the same institutions – in hospitals where there were White and Black wards for instance – for the most part, minorities had not been allowed to work directly with Whites in professional occupations like teaching, business, or the tech industry. Like a sudden tidal wave, civil rights act of 1964 swept away segregated workplaces and allowed people of color – who had been previously restricted to primarily low-paying, blue-collar jobs – to begin climbing the corporate ladder. The integration of America became the zeitgeist of that era, giving minorities the feeling that anything was possible. There was the belief that any person who worked hard enough – no matter what their color or race – could advance in their career without limitation. Read more