Don’t Let DEI Die

By Yonhee Choi Gordon

In her 2014 TED Talk, Mellody Hobson—the co-CEO and president of Chicago-based Ariel Investments—introduced and championed the notion of being color brave. In an effort to dispel the notion that there are benefits of color blindness, Hobson noted that individuals and companies who embrace color blindness are ignoring the problems of racial inequity and the lack of diversity that exist in the corporate world. Conversely, by addressing the topic of race head-on—by being color brave—the business community can benefit tremendously by incorporating diverse viewpoints. As Hobson stated, “We have to be willing, as teachers and parents and entrepreneurs and scientists, we have to be willing to have proactive conversations about race with honesty and understanding and courage, not because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s the smart thing to do.”

I find the end of that quote compelling. The conversation around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is often met with rolled eyes and deep sighs—mostly because companies and individuals now think they have to bring it up for the so-called “right” reasons. The reality, however, is that DEI efforts have been met with tremendous success. One could look at Hobson’s stunning rise to the top of her firm, the position of chairwoman of the Starbucks Board of Directors, and the Time 100 list of most influential people (among other achievements).

I also often look to my own career, simply because of my path in an industry that has been (and still is) dominated by male, white individuals. I came to the United States from Korea at age three, was raised by two Korean immigrant parents, and English was my second language. When I joined my firm 38 years ago, I certainly was not surrounded by people of color. Even when I attend conferences, board meetings, and presentations today, I am often just one of few women of color.

The natural segue at this point might be to lament about how things haven’t changed and why corporations are solely at fault but this goes both ways. As such, I’ll take the opportunity to lay out some effective methods that I think can help preserve DEI efforts, effectively making us more diverse and successful as an industry.

Guidance

Whether I’m on the road speaking with peers and colleagues, interviewing job applicants, or talking with friends and family, I find a key component individuals lack is guidance—specifically from their parents. Growing up, I had the great fortune of being raised by two highly educated parents: my father was a CPA and had his doctorate in economics; and my mother had her master’s in microbiology and was the founding principal of Chicago’s first Korean language school. Given my father’s background in accounting, I was exposed to an industry outside of what traditional Korean parents want(ed) their kids to go into: medicine and law.

I can’t count how many times I heard as a child that my only two career options were being a doctor or lawyer. It saddens me to know this is still the case today, because I also can’t count how many individuals I know of who made drastic pivots in their college major or career after figuring out there were other options available to them.

Of course, not every Korean parent forces their children into these professions. I bring this up as context for my suggestion that we should be broadening our children’s views as to what’s possible when they enter the working world. An easy way to do this is by simply including them in our careers—explaining to them what we do, how we got to where we are, and what we might have done differently.

Speaking from experience, this not only helped set up both of my children for successful careers but it has also strengthened our relationship immensely. I never wanted them to resent me for working so I decided to include them in my career. From a young age, they knew why I worked long hours, why they had to often use one of the conference rooms as their playroom on Saturdays, and that it’s possible for a Korean woman to be a mother and C-suite executive.

Shattering Misconceptions

Our profession suffers from what I think of as a double-whammy of widely held misconceptions—that math is the dominant component of financial planning and it is only for boys. Fortunately, the latter misconception has faded faster over time. Organizations like Girls Who Math have taken the right step in breaking down the stigma against women in STEM; they have proliferated in number and importance.

Not only that but per UNESCO’s GEM 2022 Gender Report, girls are performing the same as boys in mathematics. Notably, the same report showed girls are outperforming boys in reading across all education levels and country income groups. One could argue that reading comprehension is just as (if not more) important as math when it comes to our profession.

Math is a critical component for nearly every job—whether it’s used for calculating your own wage growth and taxes or projecting estimated tax payments for a client. That doesn’t mean other subjects and skills lack importance, however. Being in the relationship business, we should all understand that writing effective emails, reading financial documents, and digesting market information are critical components of being a successful financial advisor.

Engaging (Existing and Potential) Employees

My final piece of guidance is that we must strengthen the DEI conversation at the employee level. For the existing workforce, we as company leaders must keep our staff members engaged—regularly asking what DEI means to them, how diverse they think our firms are, and how the definition of DEI might have changed. For those of us in the C-suite or at the management level, we must keep in mind that we have a great responsibility in boosting our employees’ success.

We also have a great responsibility to serve our clients well and with a diverse employee base. One of the great benefits of globalization and increased immigration over the past few decades has been the buildup in wealth across several racial minorities. What I fear, however, is that the number of advisors who look like their clients will not climb at a fast enough pace. Coming from the same background is not the make-or-break factor as to whether a client will want to work with a particular advisor but if we get to a place where clients don’t feel any kind of connection to the person managing their wealth, how can a relationship be built?

It is encouraging to see firms like Charles Schwab & Co. supporting and empowering their RIA clients in their talent strategies by helping to create a pipeline of talent for the RIA industry. Their efforts to collaborate with universities across the country to develop financial planning education centers has provided more awareness of this profession.

That said, we need to be more diligent in our hiring practices. To connect it with the opening of this article, we need to embrace Hobson’s idea of being color brave. Too often, we are nervous of bringing up the conversation of diversity and race out of fear of backlash. Yet, look at how that has held certain industries back.

In Summary

It might feel as if the DEI conversation—at the macro level—is experiencing a slow death on the vine but that doesn’t mean we should pull the plug on boosting efforts around the diversity discussion. Even if the hype around the discussion itself is indeed fading, there are efforts we can take at the individual and firm level to keep DEI afloat. For many of us, the effort starts at home, by opening our children’s eyes to the world and allowing them to see the myriad professions they can explore. For racial minority groups in particular—especially my fellow Koreans—we must dispel the notion that being a doctor or lawyer is the only way to prosperity.

Any conversation involving DEI often sparks a blame game but those often end inconclusively and are inefficient. We can be practical in our approach to embracing DEI, even if its volume is seemingly being turned down.

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Yonhee Choi Gordon is principal, COO, CMO at JMG Financial Group.

image credit: istock.com/Angelina Bambina