Every once in awhile there’s a TED talk that stands out from the pack of excellent TED talks and requires leadership discussion. This is one of them.
Mellody Hobson (CEO of Ariel Investments and wife of George Lucas) delivers a compelling talk on the importance of being “color brave” and embracing the conversations that are uncomfortable about race and diversity, particularly as it pertains to leadership.
As she says, “It’s time for us to be comfortable with the uncomfortable conversation about race: black, white, Asian, Hispanic, male, female, all of us, if we truly believe in equal rights and equal opportunity in America, I think we have to have real conversations about this issue. We cannot afford to be color blind. We have to be color brave. We have to be willing, as teachers and parents and entrepreneurs and scientists, we have to be willing to have proactive conversations about race with honesty and understanding and courage, not because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s the smart thing to do, because our businesses and our products and our science, our research, all of that will be better with greater diversity.”
Here’s her full talk: