On Culture: Your Equity Strategy Has a March Problem

Myste Wylde
Feb 27
6 min read

Dear Culturati Insider,

If your organization’s commitment to equity disappears in March, was it ever real?

Black History Month was not born from goodwill, but from erasure. Carter G. Woodson, son of enslaved people and second Black American to earn a Harvard PhD, founded Negro History Week in 1926 because American institutions had systematically omitted Black intellect, contribution, and humanity from the record. His argument was epistemological: a people without their history cannot build on it, and a nation that edits its past cannot learn from it. That argument is as critical today as it was nearly a century ago. Leaders can use this time to examine talent systems, address bias through education, and open space for lived experience. Then keep going. Even imperfect action compounds.

Here’s what the data actually shows: America is not as fractured as the headlines suggest. A recent Brookings-Gallup survey of nearly 5,000 adults found that cross-racial interaction is routine at work, in friendships, and in families. In controlled hiring experiments, performance drove decisions far more than race. The workforce is already diverse. What it is not, yet, is equitable. Organizations determine whether diversity translates into economic mobility and real leadership representation. The onus is on them to convert what already exists into structured collaboration, fair advancement, and genuine inclusion at the top.

The legal landscape has shifted, yes, but the framework for acting within it still exists. After the Supreme Court’s 2023 affirmative action ruling, equity entered a redesign phase. NYU law professors Kenji Yoshino and David Glasgow offer the clearest strategic framework: focus on process, not preference. They distinguish between levelling—removing structural bias from evaluation systems—and lifting, which raises people that exclusion has held back. Both are essential and both are legal when the focus is on removing bias from the process, not on the outcome. With the U.S. projected to have no racial majority by 2040 and 25% of Gen Z identifying as LGBTQ+, organizations that build fair systems and develop cross-difference capability now will outcompete those that wait.

Nowhere is this more consequential than at the governance level. Research on 30 directors across 120 boards representing $18 trillion in market value shows that diversity delivers value only when inclusion is actively managed. Many boards have broadened their composition. Far fewer have dismantled the informal power dynamics that keep diverse directors peripheral to real decisions—what researchers call “boards within the board.” High-performing boards widen recruitment beyond legacy CEO networks and invest in structured onboarding, while cairs who actively draw out dissent convert diversity into sharper oversight and stronger innovation.

In Mark Twain's 1884 novel, Huck Finn helps Jim (an enslaved man) escape to freedom in direct defiance of everything his culture taught him was legal, moral, and God-ordained. When faced with that choice, Huck said "All right, then, I'll GO to hell" and chose Jim anyway. Moral psychology research confirms what Twain dramatized: social norms shape us, but they do not determine us. And leaders carry a dual responsibility—to build organizations that perform and societies that progress. Raising marginalized people accomplishes both.

Choosing humanity,

Myste Wylde, COO

Black History Month: The Catalyst to Foster More Inclusive Behavior Year Round

HR Morning

By Michele McGovern

Summary: Black History Month can serve as an operating reset for culture. Many organizations elevate recognition in February, then shift focus, which signals that equity runs on a seasonal calendar. Leaders can use this moment to drive sustained behavior change by addressing microaggressions and bias through education, opening space for lived experience, and examining talent systems. Progress requires ownership, resourcing beyond ERGs, and integration into recruiting, sponsorship, development, and performance management. Imperfect action compounds. Treat February as ignition, then build systems that reinforce inclusion every quarter.

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We Asked Americans How They Felt About their Interracial Interactions. The Answers May Surprise You.

Brookings Insitute

By Andre M. Perry

Summary: A new Brookings and Gallup survey of nearly 5,000 adults challenges the narrative of a racially fractured country. Cross-racial interaction is routine at work, in friendships, and in families, and hiring decisions in a controlled experiment were driven far more by performance than race. Interracial marriage has more than tripled since 1980, and most Americans say race carries little weight in choosing friends or business partners. The workforce already operates in diverse networks, so competitive advantage hinges on converting everyday exposure into structured collaboration, fair advancement, and leadership representation. Social cohesion is advancing at the interpersonal level; institutional systems now determine whether that progress translates into economic mobility and durable trust.

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‘DEI is Dead, Equality Isn’t’: Experts Chart Path Forward Amid Trump’s Culture War

The Guardian

By Lauren Aratani

Summary: As DEI continues to face legal and political headwinds, equality is entering a redesign phase. NYU law professors Kenji Yoshino and David Glasgow share that after the Supreme Court ended affirmative action, organizations are advancing fairness by focusing on process over preference. They distinguish between “lifting” and “levelling,” citing blind orchestra auditions that increased women’s representation from 5% in 1970 to 35% by 2016 by removing bias from evaluation systems. Their strategy centers on universal design, shifting from cohort-based programs to content-based skills open to all, and elevating character and lived experience within current legal guardrails. With the U.S. projected to become majority-minority by 2040 and 25% of Gen Z identifying as LGBTQ+, companies that strengthen fair systems and cross-difference capability expand talent access, reduce risk, and reinforce long-term competitiveness.

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Are You Leveraging the Diverse Talent on Your Board?

Harvard Business Review

By Linda A. Hill, Lynn S. Paine and James I. Cash, Jr.

Summary: Interviews with 30 directors serving on 120 boards representing $18 trillion in market value show that board diversity delivers value only when inclusion is actively managed. While many companies have broadened representation, directors report that without deliberate facilitation, conflict management, and trust-building, diverse voices fail to influence decisions. Only 48% of workers in broader research report having a manager of another race, and similar hierarchy patterns can surface inside boards through “boards within the board,” where informal power concentrates among a few insiders. High-performing boards widen recruitment beyond traditional CEO networks, welcome first-time directors, and prioritize interpersonal skill, courage, and listening alongside expertise. Chairs who actively draw out dissent, conduct one-on-ones, design structured onboarding and mentoring, and prevent insider cliques convert diversity into sharper oversight and stronger innovation. Inclusion at the board level strengthens governance quality, reduces blind spots, and protects long-term enterprise value.

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Going-Against-the-Grainers

Aeon

By Dane Leigh Gogoshin

Summary: This essay uses Mark Twain’s Huck Finn to explore how moral courage develops. Raised in a pro-slavery culture, Huck believes helping Jim will condemn him, yet he chooses loyalty over conformity. His decision reflects a tension central to moral psychology: social norms shape us, yet they do not fully determine us. Research shows praise and blame influence behavior and observation increases compliance, but enduring moral agency emerges when values are internalized and tied to the human consequences of action. Huck’s proximity to Jim, coupled with enough distance from rigid indoctrination, allowed his innate moral instincts to mature beyond his environment. For organizations operating in polarized contexts, culture becomes formative infrastructure. Environments that encourage perspective taking, principled dissent, and accountability to shared human dignity cultivate leaders capable of acting with conviction when prevailing norms falter.

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