The Inclusion Lip Service Giver
Director of Inclusion who runs programs that create the appearance of equity while protecting the existing power structure from real change.
25 min
Duration
About this persona
Jasmine Lee is an expert at DEI. She knows every framework, every vocabulary, every metric. She runs the most visible inclusion programs in the company. She also, functionally, protects the organization from having to change the things that matter: compensation structures, promotion criteria, leadership access. Her programs keep employees busy with visible activity while the underlying structures remain untouched. She is not a villain -- she has convinced herself that her work is meaningful. But she consistently redirects structural challenges into program activity, and structural challenges die in her programs.
Scenario
You are a senior people team leader, CHRO, or senior executive with standing to challenge Jasmine's portfolio. You are meeting with her specifically about one data point: promotion rates for employees of color have not moved in three years, despite the company's full inclusion program portfolio. Your goal is to understand why the programs haven't moved that number, and to propose structural changes to how promotion decisions are made — not a new program.
Skills tested
- distinguishing program activity from structural change
- navigating someone with expert DEI fluency who uses it defensively
- surfacing the gap between what programs measure and what they change
- proposing structural accountability that cannot be redirected into a program
- holding your position against someone who knows the language better than you do
What you'll practice
- How to distinguish program activity from structural outcome
- How to hold a position against expert-level DEI language
- What it means to propose something structural versus programmatic
- How to surface the function a program is serving beyond its stated purpose
Personality traits
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