The trouble with heritage months

I have a bone to pick with heritage months.

Not just Black History Month, but Women’s History Month, Pride, Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Native American and Indigenous Heritage Month, and Disability Pride Month.

Why?

When done poorly, heritage month celebrations can have a negative impact on overall equity and inclusion:

• They can center Cisgender/White (whomever holds power) learning over underrepresented lived experiences

• They can bank on free labor from underrepresented employees

• They can focus on an external marketing campaign over internal employee programming

In other words: I’ve seen companies use them as an excuse for one-off action that doesn’t lead to lasting change.

This doesn’t mean that all companies get heritage month celebrations wrong or that celebrating your heritage is performative.

There are many companies getting this right!

It means more companies and leaders need to ask themselves: what do our employees really need to thrive at work?

Here’s the answer for me:

• To be fairly compensated

• To be recognized equitably

• To be promoted accordingly

Remember, at the heart of heritage months and DEI at-large is the truth that:

Employees don’t want to be cared about for one-month-only. We want systematic recognition, fair pay, and equitable policies.

Here are a few ways you can get started in February that builds momentum:

• Create and put energy behind actions that support Black employees year-round. Do a pay audit. Revisit your policies. Ensure your leaders have leadership training and that it’s ongoing. Embed anti-racism in your company operating values. Invest in structure, business goals, and compensation for Employee Resource Groups.

• Invite speakers to share about their subject matter expertise year round. Not every Black speaker needs to be speaking about or is an expert in DEI.

• Educate yourself without tokenizing for follower and engagement metrics. Just because you’ve never heard of someone, doesn’t mean no one has heard of them. Listen to and center Black voices.

• Center Black businesses as part of your overall vendor and supplier strategy.

• Create a holistic program to improve representation and belonging at your company, no more one-off trainings (they do not work). Invest in DEI software that measures inclusion, belonging, and retention.

In the world of talent

❤️ Leadership tip I love: in order for teams to follow, you need to create room for trust. Tenisha Griggs shares how a leadership class at an equine farm taught her that the first step in leadership is making your team feel safe. Read her story.

📣 The reminder we all need:

📚️ Open-source resource you need: Mathison created a cultural moments calendar that you can export as a CSV and upload to your calendar of choice. It includes cultural, humanitarian, commemorative, and religious events. You can access it here.

❓️ WTH is quality of hire? My friends at Ashby have talked to a TON of leaders in Talent Acquisition and are launching surveys in their platform to track Quality of Hire, reliably. Don’t believe it? Register for the launch to learn more!

Kat’s corner

🏈 My Super Bowl picks:

• Best commercial: We have a friend who produces FanDuel’s Super Bowl commercials, so that’s my pick! We ❤️ Joey Z! Honorable mention goes to UberEats for Victoria & David Beckham’s recreation of their viral meme.

• Prop bets I’m taking*:

  • Coin toss: heads

  • Kelce first score

  • Pacheco over 66.5 rushing yards

  • McCaffrey over 4.5 receptions

  • Kittle over 49.5 yards receiving

  • Purdy to complete his first pass

  • I’m taking the under!

    *Do your own research!

• Winner: the color red. The NFL. This is going to be one of the most-watched Super Bowls in the last 25 years thanks to Taylor Swift’s influence on an entirely new demographic.

🫶 Special shout-out: This week’s shout-out goes to my writing accountability group, starting with the OGs Rebekah Bastian & Ashley K. Stoyanov Ojeda. Being a part of the group is helping me stay accountable for writing and researching my first book!