Leadership

Being Introspective on #BlackLivesMatter: Building a Better World 

Diane Adams

June 10th, 2020

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4 min read

At Sprinklr, we strive to create a culture of belonging – where everyone feels valued and listened to in a judgment-free zone. We believe in treating one another like family. Kristina Henry, a member of our Culture and Talent team, shared her definition of family with our founder and CEO and Founder, Ragy Thomas, and me, which I love. “When something happens to one of us, it happens to all of us. When a family member is in pain, we’re all in pain.”

Black lives matter.

Last week I had the honor of meeting with a number of Sprinklr’s black employees. They came together and shared their stories with me in the most raw and vulnerable way. I got a glimpse of their pain. I am so very grateful that they trusted me enough to share.

My life is forever enriched thanks to these amazing people. I have always had a great passion for creating a world that is just and fair … a culture of belonging. That said, our discussion made me realize I fall short of where I want and need to be – a stronger ally – driving meaningful and lasting change.

Imagine a world where each of us TAKES ACTION and holds ourselves accountable to the highest standard …. a world where we TREAT EACH OTHER AS EQUALS versus simply talking about it.

It starts with us

The key to building a true “culture of belonging” is to reach deep within ourselves to understand our own biases, and listen intently to learn from people whose journey is different from our own. What a beautiful world this would be if, just once a day, we all reached out and embraced one person different from us to understand their lives – to “feel” their pain and their joy!

Let’s take action to go so deep within ourselves and with others, that we move to intense action! I’m lucky to work with our CEO, Ragy Thomas, and many colleagues who genuinely care about listening, learning, and taking meaningful action.

Here are several initial actions that we are taking at Sprinklr to accelerate building our culture of belonging:

1. Donating $1M in Sprinklr Software: We are donating $1M in software to help social justice nonprofits that support the Black community, enabling them to listen, engage, and reach millions of people who have taken to modern channels to discuss the need for change. We’re inviting employees into the process — to suggest, and help us find the best match for the opportunity.
2. Education & Training: Leading with company-wide panels on diversity and inclusion, and accelerating the roll-out of training programs including Diversity and Inclusion, Anti-Harassment, and Managing Unconscious Bias.
3. Hiring & Internships: Focusing on increasing our number of diverse hires; expanding the makeup of the hiring teams/panels to be more inclusive of our entire population; and, launching an internship program that places student interns from diverse backgrounds into full-time roles after they graduate.
4. Volunteering: Encouraging employees to take their “24-4-Others” day away from the office to get involved in social justice, or other give-back causes.
5. Amplifying Black Voices & Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): To further amplify the voices for racial equality, we’ve created a #BlackLivesMatter section on our social media advocacy portal with content to share; and similarly, we are sharing educational content with all employees across our internal channels. We will formalize Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and invite self-directed communities of interest to share experiences, build community, and make recommendations that benefit all employees and strengthen our business.

I would love to learn from you! Please share your insights and learnings and what you and/or your organization are doing to create a healthier and more inclusive culture!

History starts now!