Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Alumni
  • Login
  • Volunteer
  • Clubs
  • Reunions
  • Bulletin
  • Class Notes
  • Help
  • Give Now
  • Stories
  • Alumni Directory
  • Lifelong Learning
  • Careers
  • Programs & Events
  • Giving
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Alumni→
  • Stories→

Stories

Stories

21 Jan 2022

Real Talk

Businesses can't properly tackle diversity with computer-based training sessions, say Susan Harmeling (MBA 1991) and Charles Henderson (MBA 1991). You want a more inclusive organization? Be prepared to get vulnerable.
Re: Susan Harmeling (MBA 1991); Charles Henderson (MBA 1991)
Topics: Leadership-Leading ChangeDemographics-DiversityPersonal Development-General
ShareBar

Courtesy Equitas Advisory Group

In the months after the death of George Floyd, Susan Harmeling (MBA 1991) and Charles Henderson (MBA 1991) came together to form Equitas Advisory Group, an evidence-based consultancy geared toward helping businesses and organizations reimagine and achieve their diversity, inclusion, and equity goals.

Harmeling, a business and ethics professor at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, brought her deep knowledge of the case method, which she employs in her classrooms, to dig deep into the complex issues like inclusion in business. Henderson brought more than 30 years of experience in executive-leadership diversity training at places like Nike and Citigroup, and across business and organizations in Asia, Africa, and post-apartheid South Africa. And they brought data.

Their take on the current diversity-consultancy models based on their research? “The approaches are largely: cover your rear end,” observes Harmeling. And, say the Equitas partners, other models are largely a few hours’ worth of training made up of PowerPoint presentations, computer quizzes, and surface-level Q&A, with little lasting impact. Instead, Equitas asks participants, especially executives, to get vulnerable.

After dozens of interviews with CEOs, DE&I trainers, employees, entrepreneurs, military leaders, and colleagues who have used storytelling to bridge difference in their organizations, and through their own work with clients, the Equitas founders have seen the model work again and again. Henderson recalls working with the management team at the largest bank in South Africa, post-apartheid, after he asked them to share their personal experiences. “I saw these guys—I mean big, rugby-playing, Afrikaner boys—break down in tears at times, sharing their stories. It was often pain that they had bottled up from past experiences, and it was amazing, when they were able to do that and allowed themselves to be vulnerable; the bonds that then were able to be created across the racial divide were incredible.”

Support the next generation of leaders Make a gift now
ShareBar

Featured Alumni

Susan Harmeling
MBA 1991
Charles Henderson
MBA 1991

Post a Comment

Featured Alumni

Susan Harmeling
MBA 1991
Charles Henderson
MBA 1991

Related Stories

    • 01 Dec 2022
    • HBS Alumni Bulletin

    Full Court Press

    Re: Victor Williams (MBA 1998); Mark Tatum (MBA 1998); Tope Lawani (MBA 1995); By: Dan Morrell
    • 27 Oct 2022
    • New York Times

    John Middleton’s Big Swing

    Re: John Middleton (MBA 1979)
    • 06 Oct 2022
    • HBS Alumni News

    On the Road to Recovery

    Re: Alex Moreno (MBA 1988)
    • 29 Sep 2022
    • HBS Alumni News

    Securing a Resilient Future for Senegal

    Re: Sijh Diagne (MBA 2017); By: Maureen Harmon

More Related Stories

 
 
 
 
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
  • Explore
ǁ
Campus Map
External Relations
Harvard Business School
Teele Hall
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
Phone: 1.617.495.6890
Email: alumni+hbs.edu
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
  • Terms of Use
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College