Discover’s Chief Diversity Officer Jonita Wilson: 5 Steps We Must Take To Truly Create An Inclusive, Representative, and Equitable Society
An Interview With Tyler Gallagher
Take it upon yourself to build your capability in this space and educate yourself; read about other cultures that you are not familiar with, be naturally curious. You can also consult people who are like you but have done work to be more culturally competent with the culture or backgrounds that you are trying to understand or work more effectively and inclusively. Intentionally building a diverse network is another way to expand your learning.
As part of our series about ‘5 Steps We Must Take To Truly Create An Inclusive, Representative, and Equitable Society’ I had the pleasure to interview Jonita Wilson.
Jonita Wilson is Discover’s Chief Diversity Officer and has been with the company for over two years. Jonita is a human resources professional with vast experience in leading global teams, inclusion, diversity, project and change management, talent acquisition and talent management. Prior to her time with Discover, Jonita was Global Human Resources Business Lead at a global CPG company. Prior to that, she held various Human Resources roles in the Insurance and Consulting industries.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to ‘get to know you’. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I grew up in a diverse community in Evanston, a suburb north of Chicago. I was raised in a single-parent household with my older brother and two younger sisters. I was a student athlete and a member of the high school band. Growing up in a diverse community really helped me have a growth mindset. Seeing the different levels of economic status built a strong desire to drive for my own personal success. I also became more curious to learn about and experience different cultures. I do believe that my early life experiences really taught me how to navigate different groups and conversations, and I also learned how to embrace all people. These experiences helped me become successful in my current role at Discover.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
A book that has made a significant impact on me is called Daring Greatly by Brené Brown. With this book, I learned that it is okay to embrace vulnerability and that being uncomfortable stimulates growth and maturity. I also learned to treat myself with kindness and grace…and to have the courage to be imperfect. I believe these behaviors help me to connect better with people, limit my bias and have authentic connections.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life or your work?
My favorite life lesson quote is: “Most people need love and acceptance a lot more than they need advice.” from Bob Goff.
This quote centers me, especially in moments when I have to engage in challenging conversations. I really pulled on this quote when I had to listen to a colleague who had a strong one-sided opinion on a social issue and it helped me listen with patience and compassion.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
Leadership to me is about being a servant leader and an inclusive team member. They tend to go hand in hand, but I think it is important to be in service of others, show care, empathy and encouragement. For me, this comes down to leading by example. An inclusive leader extends trust, is truly collaborative in finding the unique qualities of individuals and engages and inspires people to deliver results.
In my work, I often talk about how to release and relieve stress. As a busy leader, what do you do to prepare your mind and body before a stressful or high stakes meeting, talk, or decision? Can you share a story or some examples?
My formula includes prayer and prep. I am extremely spiritual, so prayer centers me in everything I do, including my work. I also prepare for meetings by researching the topic to be discussed, understanding the key players, their roles and their position on the topic. If I can bring data into the discussion, I will be sure to pull it all together, analyze them for trends/stories/gaps and consider ways to mitigate any issues that might show up.
Earlier this year, I was invited to a high-stakes meeting with a few senior leaders and some external partners to discuss DE&I. I only had a high-level agenda, but was not entirely sure what direction the conversation would go. I tried to anticipate things that could come up in the discussion, and I pulled the necessary data points, collected information from my team on critical topics in the business and spent time with my leader gaining input and diverse perspective. Turns out, I was over-prepared, but I felt confident because I was ready for the tough questions.
At the end of the day, it’s important to decompress from all the prep, so I work out daily and I also have a few go-o mindless TV shows to help me rest my brain!
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. The United States is currently facing a very important self-reckoning about race, diversity, equality and inclusion. This is of course a huge topic. But briefly, can you share your view on how this crisis inexorably evolved to the boiling point that it’s at now?
I think that the issues are systemic and deeply embedded in policies and regulations that continue to lack equality and justice for diverse groups. I believe changes need to be made to these systems, laws, policies and programs for there to be real systemic change. People are tired of the inequalities and are starting to require changes at a systemic level.
Can you tell our readers a bit about your experience working with initiatives to promote Diversity and Inclusion? Can you share a story with us?
At Discover, we’re specifically focused on efforts that intentionally increase the diverse representation of our leadership, enhance our systems to be more equitable and strengthen our inclusive culture by providing resources and support that enable our employees to show up as themselves and do their best work.
These actions take effort big and small — and they involve each and every one of our employees and leadership making conscious efforts to move the needle. We’re proud of the strong sense of culture we’ve built at Discover to facilitate this journey, and how many of our employees have stepped up over the past year especially.
I had a conversation recently with one of our employees about their turning point, shortly after the murder of George Floyd. Our CEO hosted what we called a Candid Conversation with our Black Organizational Leadership at Discover (BOLD) ERG, where she spoke of it as simple but powerful. As the leader of Discover, he sat down to listen openly and let our employees speak authentically about their experiences. This event opened the doorway for similar events in other business units, and she called it a turning point in how our company listens, as well as how our employees listen to each other. Hearing stories like these and how these moments impact our team members is what gives me hope that we’re moving in the right direction, because when people’s hearts are connected we can really drive change.
This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have a diverse executive team?
At Discover, we believe DE&I is a business imperative, and ultimately, what enables our success. This takes different forms in different parts of our business, but all of this work fits together to bring people in and up.
At Discover, we believe our employees are our biggest asset. It’s their diverse perspectives and experiences that make us stronger and better able to serve our customers. However, sometimes diversity can mean differences in thought that can lead to conflict. That’s why building a culture where everyone feels like they can be their true selves and do their best work is critical. Without a culture that embraces an environment where people can feel safe to speak open and honestly — and be heard — inclusion efforts can lack, and diversity initiatives will fall flat.
That’s why myself and my team at Discover believe that the most powerful thing a company can do to promote DE&I is to lead from the top. Part of that means ensuring that an executive team includes diverse groups of talent to ensure true inclusion and diversity.
To ensure that we are advancing diverse representation across our organization and facilitating a more inclusive culture by doing so, we implemented a data-centric approach to increase transparency and help improve hiring, retention and promotion of underrepresented groups. In the next five years, we have a goal to increase the representation of women leaders to 50%, and minority leadership to 40% at Discover.
Ok. Here is the main question of our discussion. You are an influential business leader. Can you please share your “5 Steps We Must Take To Truly Create An Inclusive, Representative, and Equitable Society”. Kindly share a story or example for each.
- Take it upon yourself to build your capability in this space and educate yourself; read about other cultures that you are not familiar with, be naturally curious. You can also consult people who are like you but have done work to be more culturally competent with the culture or backgrounds that you are trying to understand or work more effectively and inclusively. Intentionally building a diverse network is another way to expand your learning.
- Speak up and use your voice to be anti-racist, actively start or continue your journey to be actionable allies and advocates.
- Get out of the need to deny the inequities that exists. Learn more about the disparities and critical factors that affect life chances for success. Learn what systemic barriers exist in policies, practices and operations that might make it harder for diverse groups, the practices you think are neutral or equal might not be.
- Use your mistakes to grow! Adopt a humble attitude and open yourself up to effectively interacting with people of different backgrounds, identities, and cultures.
- Overall, support any changes that will help to break-down institutional racism. Be the person who explains why these efforts are needed and how they help to level the playing field so that actual merit determines opportunity and advancement. Be a part of moving DE&I forward to create fairness and inclusion. It takes a village and we are all responsible to drive this change.
We are going through a rough period now. Are you optimistic that this issue can eventually be resolved? Can you explain?
While it is difficult to say where we will be as a community in five, 10 or even 20 years, I choose to stay optimistic, as companies such as Discover are working towards building more awareness for these issues and addressing them head on. Small steps make a large impact in the long run, and we hope that more companies choose to join us in striving for diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr,’s quote, “You must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope”.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I would love a sit down with Oprah Winfrey, Michael Eric Dyson and Melinda Gates. I love to learn, and I am inspired by unique life experiences as well as people who exhibit servant leadership. To me, these three leaders bring all of those to the table.
How can our readers follow you online?
You can search for Discover resources at www.discover.com, or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @Discover
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Thanks for your time!
Discover’s Chief Diversity Officer Jonita Wilson: 5 Steps We Must Take To Truly Create An… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.