Why celebrating Black talent promotes an inclusionary world
There are many industry, business and creative awards these days that celebrate diversity – all endeavouring to change the hackneyed narrative of the archetypical entrepreneur, artist, role model or high achiever and inspire the rest of us about what is possible.
From Forbes 30 Under 30 to Women In Tech, MOBOs to LGBT leadership awards; these accolades usually tell an important, alternative, atypical story of those who, despite the barriers presented by their age, gender, sexuality, race or ability, have succeeded commercially, artistically, professionally and socially in an inherently inequitable world. The sheer diversity of marginalised groups celebrating triumph over adversity is testimony of just how expansive and ubiquitous the human experience of discrimination is. Slowly but surely the conventional male, pale and stale figures of leadership that we have come to know for aeons are being challenged and chipped away.
Of course, the lived experience of discrimination is not a universal one. Nuances compound the issue. A white gay man navigating the corporate ladder will have a different plight to a Black woman negotiating the same path. The same could be said of a white man from a working class background entering an elitist work environment versus a privately educated Asian man bestowed with unique privileges and connections. There are inherent inequalities in the disparities between each. All still, however, may be united by the shared experience of being othered; of masking true selves; of being undermined, mocked or excluded.
It takes sheer determination and bravery to withstand the setbacks, to stay on track no matter how thorny or rough the road that’s trodden. Having personally worked in recruitment for over two decades – a career inspired by my own experiences of employment discrimination – I know how inherently hostile the process of job application and career progression can be. Which is why awards and recognition lists that acknowledge the achievement of marginalised individuals remain an important component of a wider offensive to even out the grossly skewed playing field.
Such awards that celebrate diversity, of course, aren’t without detractors. I launched the Black Talent Awards last year with the valuable backing of Merlin Entertainments, Serco, Haleon and EDF Renewables UK. We provided a vital platform to champion not just Black professionals but also nominate key organisations that have demonstrated clear accountability for the success of their DE&I efforts. I faced my fair share of internet trolls. Reading below the line, I saw comment after comment – naturally from anonymised sources – keen to denounce it, alongside other awards such as the UK Black Business Awards, as exclusionary and racist. “Imagine if there was a White Business Awards,” chimed one. “People would be up in arms!” confirmed another.
Constantly having to justify the reasons for why such awards exist to offended parties who, on the face of it, aren’t interested in being rationalised with or engaging in healthy debate is genuinely exhausting. The inability to see why such awards are, in fact, inclusionary not exclusionary is also testimony of the unacknowledged privileges these commentators are likely to have benefited from and enjoyed. They remain resolute in their unempathetic stance, invested in the romanticised notion of meritocracy; that in a democratic, first-world country, anyone can achieve – no matter the identity or social background – if they work hard enough. Effort and intelligence, they argue, will result in deserved success. They use the appointment of USA’s first Black president and the fact that the UK government has never had so many people of colour in cabinet as irrefutable proof of this truth.
Indeed, on the surface, this does look like progress. Look beneath the hood, however, and you’ll find all the machinations of that success: a private, elitist education and a middle or upper-class background are fundamental to the unique opportunities open before them. Just 7% of British people are privately educated yet this extreme minority dominate major industries and fields including politics, medicine, law and journalism. They comprise 65% of senior judges; 57% of those in The House of Lords; 52% of foreign and Commonwealth Office diplomats and 43% of the top 100 most influential news editors and broadcasters.
Those who succeed without those privileges remain the exception rather than the rule but, largely, the public figures, entrepreneurs and role models that are widely celebrated and who we most often read about in the press are not the anomalous mould-breakers born into disruptive and dysfunctional families, raised in social housing, funded by benefits and nourished by free school dinners. Rather, they are more socially representative of the tiny governing minority. Underplaying or denying the part that privilege plays in success stories remains a large part of the problem.
In championing diversity awards we are acknowledging and owning the fact that, in the land of the free and liberal, some people – by virtue of winning life’s lottery – are simply more equal than others. That is the way the world in which we live was built. But it was never fit for purpose and it needs radical restructuring to be truly fair; to ensure that those who, conversely, drew the short straw in life’s lottery, have the opportunity to sit on the board of a FTSE 100 company or hold the highest office in government based on true merit. To achieve success without having to be inauthentic or ashamed about one’s identity or discriminated against for one’s roots is surely a basic human right.
In the meantime, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that there aren’t enough relatable entrepreneurial role models from ‘ordinary’ or disadvantaged backgrounds being written about or recognised for what they’ve achieved. Diversity awards add colour to the homogeneity of narratives that we are all too used to consuming. Previously closeted narratives are finally getting the air time they deserve. Critically, these relatable role models are speaking to an increasingly disenfranchised ethnic minority and Gen Z audience. Black success stories are changing the negative narratives of discrimination that we’re all too used to hearing. If we lived in an ideal world where discrimination did not exist, there would never be a need for such awards. But we don’t. In the meantime, diversity awards are a powerful conduit for positive social change. And the good news is, they’re not about to go away.
