Simply believing you have a diverse workforce isn’t enough for businesses today; there needs to be conversations about color. The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce’s conference on opportunity, diversity, and equity discussed this year how implementing this in businesses is crucial to the effectiveness of a company.

One of the conference’s keynote speakers, Janet Stovall – who is the head of diversity, equality, and inclusion for NeuroLeadership Institute and has also served in similar roles for United Parcel Service and other companies – spoke on acknowledging the existence of racism: “I’m a firm believer in racism…I speak about racism.”

As a student at Davidson College in North Carolina, she estimated there were about 50 African American students there. Despite a program designed at recruiting students from inner city communities, Davidson was actually setting them up to fail, she said. One student, in particular, caught her attention.

When the student authored an essay, school leaders said the program didn’t work, because the student received a failing score for the paper, Stovall said. Instead of dismissing the student, the college could have helped him, Stovall said.

“He wrote it in Ebonics, because that’s the only way he knew,” she said. “Equity for Davidson was to offer remedial classes.”

Society changed in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer. An African American, Floyd’s death set off a series of protests across the United States. Ethnic minorities and their allies were tired of the killings of people, such as Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, and took to the streets. The protests eventually led to major companies announcing policy changes, she said.

But, has it continued?

“It was OK to say the quiet part out loud,” Stovall said. “But, what does it mean? Where are the leaders now?”

Talk is one thing, but company leaders need to consciously communicate, she said.

Conscious communication requires a deliberate, educated, and purposeful plan.

“Conscious communication is the fine art of not saying something stupid,” Stovall said. “We are all communicators. And when we talk about conscious communication, we each take an opportunity to lead.”

Be thoughtful and selective before communicating, she said.

“Go after what you can change,” Stovall said. “Ask yourself, ‘Am I communicating consciously?’ You can be the people your organization and community have been looking for.”

During a question-and-answer session, Stovall wasted little time in dispelling concerns. Asked if equity in organizations is, itself, discrimination, she pushed it aside, saying businesses need to do more in the area.

“I really don’t have time for soft language,” she said. “We have too much work to do. When companies call for equity, I say BS.”

In order for opportunity, diversity and equity to work, people have to address it on a daily basis, knowing the challenges they face, Stovall said.

“The thing is to never get tired. Get up every day, ready to fight…” she said. “We have to stay in the fight.”

Unfortunately, as companies don’t truly embrace equity, “diversity fatigue” sets in, Stovall said.

“Think about all the people doing this work,” she said. “We have the right to be tired. But we get up every day and fight for the cause. Conscious communication doesn’t mean we’re quiet or be nice. It means we get involved.”

But equity is more than companies feeling good about creating work environments where people “can feel safe at work,” Stovall told more than 800 people attending the day-long conference at CHI Health Center Omaha.

“I don’t feel psychologically safe in my own country,” she said. “How am I going to feel psychologically safe at work?”