I am excited to sit down with Daisy Auger-Domínguez, chief people officer at VICE Media. She is also the author of the brand new book “Inclusion Revolution: The Essential Guide to Dismantling Racial Inequity in the Workplace.” In this episode, Daisy and I talk about her career path, her work in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, her book, and much more.

Daisy started her career as a credit risk analyst at Moody’s Corporations, where she was introduced to corporate America and began her complex work journey. During her time at Moody’s, she managed the company’s global foundation and eventually became the company’s first head of diversity and inclusion. 

That’s how she made her entrance into the HR field. Daisy’s previous perception of HR as ‘the place you go when you are in trouble” changed as she developed a passion for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Daisy continued down the path of DEI, taking her skills to companies such as WarnerMedia, DisneyABC Television Group, Google, Viacom and now VICE Media. Her accumulated experience and stories from other professionals provide a narrative she hopes that people can connect with and alter their behavior as a result.

“I always knew that I wanted people to finish reading the book and leave with just a few things that they were going to do differently. That to me, that’s my win. If you leave the book with two or three things you’re going to do differently and the courage and inspiration to go and do it, I would feel incredibly rewarded,” Daisy shares.

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Equitable Organizations Start with Removing Old Structures

Many companies make public statements to improve their organization’s DEI efforts by bringing in innovative chief diversity officers or creating stronger people teams. These efforts fall short because these teams aren’t allowed to make meaningful changes.

Before the pandemic and the death of George Floyd, companies used a simple formula when it came to diversity. Companies would form employee resource groups and create a generalized training with unconscious bias. These one-off minimal training sessions would prove to the press that their company was supporting diversity initiatives. 

But this formula doesn’t work in the long term because it lacks a “deep reflection of what you’re trying to solve for and how.” Daisy shares that organization leaders need to think about how to structure DEI roles better by examining the resources they have to deliver—and the will to make lasting changes.

“What I found over the course of my career is that it’s not about ‘can we do this work?’ its, ‘do we have the will to do this the right way?” she says. “And most organizations lack the will to invest in it properly, to prepare people properly for these roles and to prepare and build readiness, to accept and adapt to the changes that are required to build truly inclusive and equitable workplaces.”

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

Daisy says HR should be about looking to the future while integrating with the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB). She breaks down why these elements are essential to HR and organizations:

• Diversity. “Diversity is about the compositional representation in the organization. And it is our responsibility to manage that and to assess that and to work with leaders, to ensure that there are no significant gaps across the way.”

• Inclusion. “Inclusion is about creating that workplace where people feel that they’re part of the fabric of the organization, that they are connected.”

• Equity. “My total rewards team, our benefits and compensation and payroll are constantly thinking about equity.”

• Belonging. “That higher-order state, feeling valued, you can be invited to important meetings and still not feel that you can speak up and still not feel that people like you, should be around the table.”

Daisy believes that strong HR partners, leaders, and business partners need to connect the dots with DEIB to successfully implement new strategies and develop a better work culture. 

A Sustained Commitment: Chief Diversity Officer Community

DEIB isn’t a one-and-done strategy that will last until the end of time. Mindsets are constantly changing, and the work is a continuous, intentional process required to see real change. DEIB can’t just be one person’s job—it’s a job for everyone.

Daisy says that diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging are “core and critical skillsets for any leader in the modern work world.” It is not just an initiative that a chief diversity officer has to handle; instead, it’s the entire organization’s responsibility.

To Daisy, there isn’t ONE single chief diversity officer. “Everyone on my team should be a diversity and inclusion expert. I say this to my team all the time ‘I am not the only one,’” she says. “Obviously, they come to me, and I’ve got the experience and the background, but there is no chief diversity officer at VICE, intentionally.”

People in This Episode

• Daisy Auger-Domínguez: LinkedIn, Twitter, Website, “Inclusion Revolution” Book