by Carlton Yearwood

Chief Ethics and Diversity Officer
Waste Management, Inc.

Comfortably Watching World Series action on the widescreen in my family room, the high-def pinpointed with startling clarity a well-hit baseball carving an arc over the Philadelphia stadium’s outfield lawn. Into the stands, for sure, I thought. but, from the far corner of the screen, one of Tampa Bay’s rookie outfielders sprinted an outlandish distance to spear the ball on the fly, diving full-length at absolutely the last instant to snare a trophy in his mitt.

“How do we collectively take the next steps of relevancy in our profession?”

“Wow, that kid’s a game changer!” Intoned Fox Sports announcers. Hard to disagree.

Again in front of the TV weeks later, I was thinking of that situation and that exclamation. But the broadcast scene was Chicago’s Grant Park on Election Day evening. As electric and emotional as any partisan sports crowd, the throng welcomed our new President and family with cheers, tears and every other emotion-on-your sleeve.

One can’t help but think whether that electric shift in our politics has changed the game for what we do, too. Or at least causes us some serious self-assessment.

Take a second, step back from our professional work and look at what we do under the penetrating light of the november 4th outcomes. For a long time—for some of us, now 25 years or more—it seems we’ve lived out a fairly well tested paradigm of how to manage diversity and inclusion in business circles. We know the issues, we’re pretty good at structuring solutions, and our organizations accept and promote our results. oh, things have evolved, but even on our best days we’d characterize that all as incremental.

So now we come face-to-face with a nation that, by a majority and in an instant, has both pushed the baseline for expectations about diversity and inclusion to a wonderfully higher level, and declared that, yes, we are truly a multiracial, gender-blind american society. Our country has come to a place through voter mandate where we all have tried tirelessly for years to elevate our individual companies and their cultures.

What’s a diversity leader to do? Well, for one thing, I’m making a point to feel like a winner, too. There’s cause to celebrate for a long time in this one. We’ve seen the triumph of ability, of reason, of possibility, of individual worth and potential realized. these are all things that we’ve long espoused, and we should rejoice in such an encompassing result.

But this new environment raises the ante for us, too. How do we collectively take the next steps of relevancy in our profession? And what might those leaps forward be? Certainly not more of the same. Or is it exactly more of the same, with more energy, focus and higher expectations? As a profession, can we be up to defining the new challenges and even more thoughtful solutions in this captivating national environment? One can’t help but answer, “Yes … yes, we can.”

This article has been sponsored by:
Waste Management, Inc.

Carlton Yearwood

Carlton Yearwood

Chief Ethics and Diversity Officer
Waste Management, Inc.

Waste Management, Inc. is the leading provider of comprehensive waste and environmental services in North America. The company is strongly committed to a foundation of financial strength, operating excellence, and professionalism.