I was catching up with a managing partner of an AmLaw 10 firm and they said the firm’s management is struggling to understand why so many associates of color are leaving the firm, despite “all the programs the firm is offering.”
I can tell them why: Because the firm doesn’t really understand the problems of associates of color.
For me at least, my MAIN problems weren’t lack of education about diversity, or having more programs, webinars or seminars about implicit bias.
Hell, I can handle implicit (and explicit) bias. That’s the easy part.
What I couldn’t handle was the pressure of the new world I was thrown into, without having a support network to help me navigate it.
Many professionals of color are PIONEERS.
They are navigating a new world, without a historical, cultural or family background to draw upon.
On top of that, some are struggling with visa problems; with figuring out how to celebrate their own important cultural holidays “in the middle of the work week”; with how to explain to their bosses that they need to go home because they support their nephew, or niece, or grandmother.
This is not to say their problems are more, or less, than anyone else’s: They are just DIFFERENT.
And the first step to help someone is to truly, really, understand their problem.
Let’s try to understand each other more deeply — that already helps 💛
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