Starbucks does the right thing. Are we doing enough?

In an unprecedented move, Starbucks is closing all 8,000 of its company-owned stores on the afternoon of May 29 for an important educational experience: racial-bias training for their nearly 175,000 employees.

Facing backlash from two allegedly racially-charged actions against African-American men in their stores less than a week apart, Starbucks leaders took a stand to say that they will not tolerate unfair treatment of any person in their stores.

The day of training will no doubt cost them millions in overtime/wages and lost revenues, but we at Advantage applaud them for doing the right thing instead of sweeping it under the rug. Equality is an important value in the Advantage family as well, and we encourage all of our clients, colleagues, partners and friends to reflect on these questions:

Are we doing enough in our diversity & inclusion efforts? Will we be proactive about preventing events like what happened at Starbucks, or will we scramble to correct things after serious backlash has occurred?”

There are many resources out there to confront these challenges before they happen. Starbucks has chosen a stellar cast to partner with to design the program: former Attorney General Eric Holder; Sherrilyn Ifill, the president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League; and executives from the progressive think tank, Equal Justice Initiative and Demos.

For companies who may not be able to enlist this particular A-Team, the A-Team at Advantage is proud to offer several world-class experiential learning solutions focused on related topics including Cultural Diversity, Emotional Intelligence/Psychological Safety, Unconscious Bias, and being an Inclusive Manager.

Diversity is an irrefutable fact of life. Inclusion, however, is a choice. How you respond to this reality will be a defining characteristic of your company, its ability to attract great talent, its customer loyalty, and its public image.