Marc Jones attributes earning his Stanford law degree to having spent time as a teenager with his friend’s father, attorney James Montgomery. Montgomery was famous as legal counsel for Bobby Seale and the Black Panthers.

Later, Jones got to do legal work for major tech firms and eventually made the jump to become CEO of tech firm Aeris.

The importance of leadership role models who share identities similar to our own, as Montgomery was for Jones, is well documented. It becomes especially critical in the workforce, where assumptions about ethnicity, gender and orientation can narrow the path to the top for promising employees. Too often, without the spark of seeing a person like yourself being followed and admired, even brilliant contributors may miss the opportunity to lead.

A few concepts can help learning professionals widen the path for nontraditional leaders.

The “doll test” still applies

To understand subconscious bias in an organization, consider the work of Mamie Phipps Clark, a prominent Black psychologist in the 1950s, who developed a remarkably simple test that had a historic impact on American society.

Clark’s “doll test” involved presenting a choice of two baby dolls to groups of African American children. The dolls were identical, except for skin tone: one white, one brown. Overwhelmingly, Black children selected the white doll for positive traits and desirability.

The findings became central to the Supreme Court’s pivotal Brown vs. Board of Education case that overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine supporting school segregation. The doll test elicited this opinion from Chief Justice Earl Warren: “To separate [Black children] from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.”

Today, the doll test plays out every day among adults in the workplace. Many employees from historically underrepresented groups continue to see white males as the most apparent leadership choices based on deeply ingrained biased messages of whites’ perceived ability. These are constructs that have been supported by corporate practices of exclusively giving majority members greater opportunity to land leadership positions.

In other words, our expectations become conditioned: We expect from others what we have become accustomed to seeing.

Aren’t we post-racial yet?

From the Brown vs. Board of Education decision to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, some have questioned why the playing field between majority and minority employees is not more even.

The reality: Laws and expectations haven’t alleviated all bias. The legal remedies were essential, but the interpersonal shift hasn’t been able to catch up.

Unless you are a white male, it’s hard to find many places where leadership consistently “looks like me,” even in the hypothetical examples used in corporate learning.

Of course, there are Black, Latinx, female and LGBTQ leaders gaining recognition, but in the day-to-day workplace, many find themselves self-editing or disillusioned. Others may not see them as eligible as succession candidates.

Additionally, white leadership either isn’t motivated enough or isn’t working smart enough to solve the problem: for example, not actively recruiting from historically Black colleges and universities. This is evident when leaders state they can’t find qualified candidates and, when asked to list the top places they recruit, it’s obvious they are going fishing in a swimming pool!

Choosing teams on the corporate playground

The doll test comes down to “who we want to play with,” and it’s not too simplistic to say it applies to the workplace “playground.”

Research shows that on 360 feedback reports, whites need to demonstrate competence first and then put people at ease, but non-whites must put people at ease first and then demonstrate competence. Closing the affability gap and proving you are worthy of being a good playmate is a burden that non-whites must carry before they can even prove their capabilities.

Just like in elementary school, playing well with others is often a matter of feeling secure and safe enough to reveal oneself.

In 2018, Katherine W. Phillips, Tracy L. Dumas and Nancy P. Rothbard wrote about their research in a Harvard Business Review article focused on how people find it more difficult to share personal information about themselves across demographic lines and how this can hold back promising individuals:

“Decades’ worth of studies have shown that similarity attracts — a phenomenon known as homophily. Our research focuses on a specific aspect of this: That being one’s true self, disclosing elements of one’s personal life, and forming social connections are easier within one’s own group than they are across a demographic boundary such as racial background. This is crucial to keep in mind as companies aspire to become more diverse. Simply hiring members of a minority group won’t ensure that they feel comfortable or equipped to build the relationships necessary for advancement. And as companies invest in mentorship and sponsorship programs, making these relationships flourish among workers of differing races may require special effort.”

The authors describe examples of high-potential employees who hold back from deeper, more authentic-self social interactions because they assume their experiences are alien to coworkers from different backgrounds. This works both ways, too, as dominant demographic groups assume they’re too different to engage with “not-so-white” team members.

Organizational learning can be the catalyst to dissolve homophily. Following are ways to rethink how corporate education can get in step to assure the broadest field of talent is considered.

Make learning “look like me”

How many times in training and motivational talks are we regaled with the legends of older white male leaders? To be sure, Jack Welch left us many lessons, but what about the lessons of Ken Frazier of Merck, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Carlos Rodriguez of ADP, Lisa Su of AMD and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo?

When planning a curriculum for any learning engagement, it is not only responsible but imperative to go beyond the call of duty to present a wide range of examples. At first, we might not think that adults need pictures — but think again. Even at the top levels of business, high-performing minorities will be more willing to step into competition and succession plans if they see themselves reflected in the company’s brand.

Can the majority learn from the minority? Whites look to non-whites in athletes for inspiration — it’s OK to be white and model the golf swing of Tiger Woods — so why not in business? Presenting more diverse examples of leaders through learning conversations can improve this. Call it “visual affirmative action” that seeks out the examples of non-Western, non-white, non-male leaders and makes it part of the curriculum.

Even if an organization lacks diversity, it can start a process to improve on it simply by priming the expectation in the learning content.

Lose the biases

Overt discrimination has diminished, but in recruitment and selection, companies still rely on primarily majority lenses. Companies judge “fit” based on the ability to assimilate with white speech, attire, hairstyles, body language and lifestyle.

Job descriptions that focus more on conformity with the people who author them should be rewritten to seek a more objective positive behavior that adds value to the organization.

Public radio has done a good job of this over the past 30 years, bringing diverse dialects, accents and vocal ranges to the fore in a medium where the standard used to be a straight white man from the Midwest.

In recruitment and hiring, organizations find more talent when they recalibrate the norms for determining talent and skills. These can be acquired in a variety of nontraditional experiences that many whites may not be able to translate.

Embrace the reality of diverse upbringing

Leadership consultant Carl Bryant’s first leadership example growing up was as familiar to him as it gets.

“My mom, in her early 20s, lost her husband in a car accident,” Bryant said. “She made it her goal to do the work of two parents and she focused on raising her children in a way that would prepare us for future success.”

Bryant began his four-decade career in the U.S. Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel and leadership education specialist. As an African American executive with experience at the Center for Creative Leadership, Korn Ferry and the Veterans Administration, he cites many role models from his college years, but the fundamentals came from a single parent working overtime.

“Her love of reading, willingness to get me involved in sports (even though she did not enjoy them) and never missing an important event in my life set a high bar for what a good parent looks like,” Bryant said. “I try every day to be as good a parent as she was.”

When you are not a white male, it’s more likely you’ll have childcare constraints, a multigenerational home life, domestic responsibilities and ceilings on your work schedule. And if an organization keeps rigid schedules for work hours along with implied expectations for after-hours work, it’s going to limit who can participate.

To achieve more equity and inclusion, some companies are becoming more flexible and less hung up regarding volume of hours. They are focused more on workers’ needs to take care of home and family and how accommodating this yields better thinking, genuine engagement and superior product.

This is one more way to help include single parents, special needs households and immigrant families.

Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, called it “widening the aperture” when rules and processes are relaxed to be more accessible to all. As a physicist who broke race and gender barriers, Jackson commits herself to dismantling unnecessary hurdles in work requirements.

Focus on emotional intelligence

By eliminating bias, companies can focus on more valuable attributes, such as the emotional intelligence developed by nontraditional career paths.

Immigrants and demographic minorities bring different life experiences, from growing up in multigenerational, multilingual households to earning degrees as single parents, and often growing up in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, which require negotiation, sharing and high levels of resilience.

It was there that Bryant found adult role models who saw their roles as guiding younger generations.

“Coming from a blue-collar family, I wanted to connect with African American men who were doing better than most of the people in my community,” Bryant said. “I had no idea of what was possible, but my role models exposed me to new options and demanded that I work to excel. Those role models mentored me far beyond the college years.

“By living in my community I was exposed to the restrictions that Black men and women faced and how some, in spite of the challenges, persevered,” Bryant continued. “Daily, I saw people walking to work to make sure their families were provided for. I saw teachers who did more than teach. They got involved in the lives of students outside of class.”

Blending the perspectives and experiences of minority achievers with coworkers from affluent communities can be facilitated by learning professionals. Learning engagements and company policies can weave this awareness into the brand culture that advances both compassion and emotional intelligence.

The role of learning

Diversity in itself is a moral goal, but the results include better, more effective organizations. Time and again, it is noted that what derails most managers and executives are lapses in human interaction skills that hinder teamwork, collaboration and leadership.

“Pay attention to diversity research showing the advantages of adopting a learning orientation: Organizations and individuals benefit when exposed to differences,” wrote Philips, Dumas and Rothbard. “Although this orientation is typically established at the organizational level — modeled and reinforced by leaders — individuals can speak and act in ways that mirror it.”

Activating potential in bright, career-minded contributors to take the lead is what a “not-so-white” learning program can improve.

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