2023
Senior Vice President, Life & Executive Benefits Business Management
INTERNATIONAL
Want to diversify corporate America? Tear down this barrier Diversity, Equity and Inclusion has changed over the last 30 years in corporate America. As a Black professional in corporate America who has been actively involved, benefited from and sees more work to be done in DE&I, I want to address three areas concerning this topic: The current state of corporate diversification, one key barrier to corporate diversification and a recommendation to move forward.
Education: BS, Mathematics – Actuarial Science; Florida A&M University Company Name: Lincoln Financial Group Industry: Insurance Company CEO: Ellen Cooper Company Headquarters Location: Radnor, PA Number of Employees: 11,000 Your Location: Greensboro, NC Words you live by: “Either do or do not. There is no try.” –Yoda Who is your personal hero? My Father – Stafford L. Thompson, Sr. What book are you reading? Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black by James E. Clyburn What was your first job? Secret Shopper for Nolan Research, a focus group company in Alabama Favorite charity: United Way of Greensboro Interests/Hobbies: GOLF; Community Service; Financial Literacy Family: Wife Michelle Thompson and Daughter Mikayla Thompson (11)
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2023 Fourth Quarter
The current state of corporate diversification Thirty years ago, the focus of diversity was on recruitment, while divesting itself from quotas. Progress since then has been slow and incremental. Recruitment has often focused on hourly or junior-level professional positions, while companies have lamented a perceived lack of availability of experienced professionals. I have seen a change since May 25, 2020. To quote Star Wars, “There has been an awakening in the Force. Have you felt it?” Since the murder of George Floyd, corporations have held conversations about racism and social change. These topics were taboo in corporate America heretofore. Corporations have pledged billions of dollars toward supporting minority businesses and developing minority talent. They have made efforts to diversify corporate Boards and Leadership—yet challenges remain. One key barrier One hindrance to the advancement of corporate diversification is the use of experiential hiring and job descriptions. The challenge with experiential hiring is that far too often diverse talent does not fit the description. As I researched a job in 2003, the description appeared reasonable — five years of life insurance experience, five years of pricing experience—but, I had neither. At that time, only 50 black actuaries were fully certified. Only 25 were focused on life insurance, 20 were too senior and the other five didn’t fit the description. However, if you asked who was qualified to do the job, the number of candidates expanded significantly. Long story short, I got the job! Corporate America has attempted to solve this issue by mandating diverse talent slates. However, while candidates are getting interviews, corporate America has not realized the transformational opportunity before it. Recommendation to Move Forward We can solve this issue with a switch from experiential hiring to intentional, skills-based hiring. Experiential hiring asks the question, “Have you done the job?” Skills-based hiring asks, “Can you do the job?” Skills-based hiring recognizes short-term pain for long-term gain, while experiential hiring focuses on minimizing disruption. If we stop eliminating candidates based on a lack of previous experience and start being intentional about hiring diverse candidates when those candidates reach our top three, then we will see a dramatic reshaping of corporate America and an unlocking of all the benefits that diversity has proven to add to an organization – including its bottom line. www.diversityjournal.com
AWARD
Stafford L. Thompson, Jr.