Karima-Catherine Goundiam is the founder and chief executive officer of digital strategy firm Red Dot Digital and business matchmaking platform B2BeeMatch.
An undated photograph provided by the National Archives shows members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-female, all-Black unit formed during World War II.National Archives/The New York Times News Service
What can Second World War teach us about today’s workplace? Everything – if we’re paying attention.
Seen from the perspective of that historic period, today’s retreat from diversity, equity and inclusion efforts is not just a political shift, it’s a strategic mistake for businesses and society at large. History shows us that inclusion isn’t charity. It’s how we win.
In any film or book about the Second World War, you’re likely to see and read about the countless soldiers, mostly young white men, who performed heroic acts to defeat the Nazis. But dig deeper and you’ll learn that the war effort was far broader. History tells us that when it comes to achieving progress and innovation, to say nothing of defeating fascism, we need to open up pathways for everyone to contribute. That means Black people, Indigenous people and people of colour; it means LGBTQ people; it means women. And people from many more underrepresented groups, too.
One relatively famous Second World War example of how drawing on a diverse range of skills can save the day is that of Navajo code talkers, who, according to the U.S. National WWII Museum “used their traditional language to transmit secret Allied messages in the Pacific theater of combat.” In fact, at least 14 other Native nations, including the Cherokee and Comanche, served as code talkers in both the Pacific and Europe during the war. These heroes brought a specialized and valuable skill to the table and saved lives.
Speaking of fame, you’ve probably heard of Black entertainer Josephine Baker, whose fantastical costumes and dances made her the darling of the French stage. She was also an American civil rights activist. But only recently has she been recognized for her crucial role as a spy.
Jon Henley of the Guardian, in reviewing Hanna Diamond’s recent book Josephine Baker’s Secret War, writes “Baker’s far-reaching fame – which meant everyone, everywhere wanted to meet her – and easy charm (which ensured they also talked freely) were her real espionage assets.”
She befriended political figures all over the world and pinned secret messages in her undergarments to carry them across borders to the places she performed.
But a lot of heroes weren’t ever famous – they simply dedicated themselves to doing their part. That included thousands of Black servicemembers in the U.S. and Canada, as well as Indigenous soldiers from both countries, countless LGBTQ people (among them, Christine Jorgensen, one of the first trans women to receive gender-affirming surgery), and millions of women in Canada and in the U.S. who entered the labour force to perform critical tasks. As the U.S. National Parks Service reminds us, “They labored as welders, machinists and (of course) riveters. Women also drove trucks, cleaned houses, flew planes, organized fundraisers, treated patients, grew crops, broke codes and took care of children. Hundreds of thousands of them joined the armed forces.”
The common ground among all these groups of people is that they each faced discrimination even as they contributed their talents and risked – or sacrificed – their lives. BIPOC people were underpaid and denied opportunities for advancement; women were sexually harassed and sent back to be homemakers as soon as the war was over; LGBTQ people were frequently purged from service.
One truly awful example is the legendary computer genius Alan Turing, who was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his code-breaking work and elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London. According to Britannica, despite his groundbreaking and life-saving contributions, after the war he was convicted of “gross indecency,” meaning homosexuality, which was a crime in Britain in 1952, and was forced to undergo a year of hormone “therapy.” With his criminal record, he was barred from working for the British government’s postwar code-breaking centre. He died in 1954 of cyanide poisoning and it’s never been determined whether it was suicide, an accident or a murder. He wasn’t pardoned until 2009. He was just one of thousands of gay people who devoted their abilities to the effort only to find themselves mistreated and, sometimes their lives ruined, in reward.
In the decades following the war, the backlash against the demonstrated excellence of all these marginalized groups was strong. In turn, resistance to that backlash led to a lot of the social progress that has been built in our lifetimes.
That’s why it’s so frustrating to see DEI efforts rolled back in today’s business world.
As Toni Morrison once said, “The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work.”
We can broaden that to victims of other kinds of discrimination, too. The common ground is that we all have to waste valuable time, effort and energy simply trying to get in the door so we can do our jobs, and fighting discrimination and workplace bullying once we get there. Every DEI initiative that reduces that extra effort benefits all of us: members of equity-deserving groups themselves, of course, but also employers who get faster access to our excellence and the world at large whose lives improve as a result of our innovation.
In a time of global strife, climate change and economic instability, we need contributions from everyone. We need new ways of thinking, the wisdom the comes through different languages and cultures, the innovation that comes from people whose life experiences have not followed traditional paths. We need all of our combined skill sets to achieve business success in challenging circumstances. Now is not the time to put roadblocks in place. The business case for DEI has long been clear. Let’s stop wasting time. Right now, we have bigger battles to fight.
This column is part of Globe Careers’ Leadership Lab series, where executives and experts share their views and advice about the world of work. Find all Leadership Lab stories at tgam.ca/leadershiplab and guidelines for how to contribute to the column here.