Looking Beyond the Label of DE&I to Build an Inclusive Culture That Sticks
Judy Jackson, Founder of JLC Ventures, draws from her dynamic career in Human Resources to highlight the long-lasting power of integrating DE&I into the core of an organization to foster connectivity, community, and opportunities for employees to thrive.
Judy Jackson is a well-respected thought leader in human resource management. She has spent her career supporting underrepresented groups in their growth, development, and well-being. Judy served as the Head of Culture and Engagement at WPP, the Global Chief Talent officer at Wunderman Thompson, and the Chief Talent Officer at IPG Mediabrands, North America.
Judy recently established her own consulting company to help clients build inclusive cultures where people can be valued, respected, and celebrated for who they are. JLC Ventures builds bespoke programs geared toward creating inclusion and equity for people of color in the workplace.
Judy co-founded We All Rise Together, which tried to minimize the impact of the pandemic on communities most at risk, and was the president of BRAINY, an organization committed to developing people of color in the communications industry. Judy is also the 2024 recipient of the Ad Color Lifetime Achievement Award and received the American Advertising Association's Gladiator Award in 2022.
The Continuum sat down with Judy to discuss the history of diversity programs, the backlash against DE&I, and what agencies can do to support and grow all employees.
One of your early roles was hiring diverse talent for ABC. This was in the 1980s before anyone was talking about DE&I. Was there any resistance to those efforts then?
Part of my job at ABC was looking for Black talent. Mostly for behind-the-scenes jobs like producers, writers, and sales team members. I didn’t hire the on-air talent like the newscasters, but it was a great place to work because I got to meet all of those journalists. I also got to work with young people looking to build a career in the communications or television industry, and there was so much talent there. Some of the people I hired went on to have really successful careers.
There wasn't pushback at ABC. They were actually under some pressure from the community to bring in more Black talent. I don’t remember pushback when I went to work with ad agencies, either. In fact, we had some clients under scrutiny for not having enough diversity and others who had government contracts and were required to have affirmative action plans. Some of this work was remnants of the Civil Rights Movement and the turmoil of the 1970s. So, we shouldn't be surprised that it continues to have its ebb and flow.
You’ve spent most of your career in human resources and have always worked on diversity issues, but you’ve said you never wanted to be seen as a separate DE&I entity. Can you explain that?
As an HR person, this work was always part of my team's and my organization's responsibility. It was just part of my job. I feared that having a separate entity focusing on it would give agencies an excuse to shift the accountability in the direction of that department versus keeping it at the center of the organization. In my view, it was better to embed these practices into the everyday work of talent recruitment and management.
Of course, that all changed in 2020 when DE&I was pushed into the spotlight.
“If we could think about DE&I as just part of doing good business, taking care of our employees, and ensuring all consumers have a voice at the table, it might be more sustainable.”
That was a pivotal year for DE&I between the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd. You started an organization called We All Rise Together. Can you tell us about that?
I started it with two other women in advertising. One was a CEO (Monique Nelson) and a CMO (Deidre Smalls-Landau). Our goal was to find job opportunities and offer resources for people who may have lost their jobs or been furloughed due to the pandemic. We had three pillars: one was around employment, one was around mental health, and the other was around helping small businesses survive the pandemic.
We brought on job coaches to help people find new opportunities and mental health experts to help keep us all sane. One of our leaders established a consortium to help people who were small business owners find grants and other ways to keep their businesses afloat during that trying time.
Much of the effort, though, was focused on building community. My philosophy has always been that we’re stronger together. It’s hard to do something alone, and I knew that if we could network, help each other, give each other leads, and support one another rather than compete with one another, we would advance further.
It started in April 2020, and then a little over six weeks later, you had the murder of George Floyd, which made it an even more powerful need. People needed community even more because they were hurting. We became a safe space outside of work for people to come and talk. We met virtually on Thursday evenings. We would have 50 or so people in the advertising industry come together to give each other strength in whatever way they needed it.
I think we all found power in coming together, myself included. We needed that feeling of connectivity.
As you said, everyone started talking about their DE&I efforts in 2020. We’re only a few years out from that, but it seems like there’s been some backsliding and maybe even some backlash. Why do you think that is?
It was a crisis, and like any crisis, people reacted. Agencies brought in DE&I roles to show their commitment to this effort without necessarily considering the long-term goal of these roles. But this was never part of the DNA of many organizations. If that’s how you think about it, you’ll just change course when the next crisis comes along.
I’m not going to lump all ad agencies into one bucket. Sure, we’ve heard the stories about some agencies dismantling their DEI teams or reducing their funding, but negative news often gets more attention. There are a lot of agencies that are still investing in efforts to create an inclusive workplace. I applaud them for their work.
I think we've done a disservice in some ways by putting labels on things. If we could think about DE&I as just part of doing good business, taking care of our employees, and ensuring all consumers have a voice at the table, it might be more sustainable. If we put these things in buckets, when it’s no longer raining, we can just remove the bucket.
In truth, if you treat the most underserved groups well, you're probably treating everybody well because you're trying to make an environment where everyone can have access, feel included, feel valued, celebrated, and all of those other wonderful things. I think most companies get this in theory, but I don't think they all understand how to do it in practice.
You had to put some of this into practice as the Head of Culture and Engagement at WPP. What kind of programs and initiatives did you spearhead in that role?
I think it’s very important to make sure you’re looking at the whole life cycle of the employee and whether that’s inclusive. A lot of people think about diversity in terms of recruiting and hiring, but that’s not enough. I’ve seen companies hire diverse talent, but within a year or a year-and-a-half, that talent leaves because they do not feel like they're part of the workplace culture.
In 2019, when I moved into the role of culture, I noticed that Black employees were leaving faster than any other segment of the population. I saw reports by McKinsey and Lean In that confirmed this was also happening in other companies. And then, in digging further, I noticed that Black women were leaving even faster and more quietly, just going without indicating why. I asked the company if I could create a program focusing on black women. Initially, WPP said no because they thought the population was too small and the program wouldn’t have enough impact. But I came up with the budget for a pilot program and tested it with 20 women across WPP in North America.
They were mid-level women, mostly in client-facing roles, and we connected them with a C-suite sponsor for a year. We also provided workshops and other programming to help them gain confidence in their voices. The program was very successful. Most of those women have moved on to greater roles within WPP or elsewhere, and the sponsors also got a lot out of it.
After that success, WPP started implementing the program, which we called Elevate, on a wider scale. We also created a similar program called Ascend for Asian American employees. I’ve now taken the programs with me to my consulting firm and used them with other agencies, such as IPG, Verizon, and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).
“In truth, if you treat the most underserved groups well, you're probably treating everybody well because you're trying to make an environment where everyone can have access, feel included, feel valued, celebrated, and all of those other wonderful things.”
You left WPP to start JLC Ventures, which stands for Judy Loves Culture. How did you decide to start your own company, and what projects are you working on now?
I retired from corporate America, which had always been my plan. I wanted to stay for the security until my daughter graduated from college, and I was ready to have more work/life balance and more say in my work.
When I took the role at WPP in 2019, I announced that I’d do the job for two years and then move on. It ended up being four years, but it was clear as we were creating the programs that I was eventually going to bring them into my own business.
I’m running the Elevate program for clients and recently worked on a project for Black men at Ogilvy. I also have a client called 2045 that is dedicated to building community and creating empowerment opportunities for rising leaders of color. And I’m doing volunteer work with breastcancer.org, Adelphi University where my daughter is an alum, and other organizations.
Everything I do hopefully has a lens of building culture and community and creating spaces where people can thrive.
A lot of your programs use a sponsorship model. We often hear about mentorship, but sponsorship is a newer concept. What’s the difference?
What I tell people is that your mentor is your cheerleader. They’re the person who will give you advice and cheer you on. They’re going to be an excellent sounding board. Your sponsor is your agent. They’re going to tell you the truth. They may not be the person who consoles you when it’s not going your way, but they will tell you the truth. They’re also the person who will speak for you in the rooms you're not in. Your mentor can be anywhere in your field, but your sponsor should be in your company and have a clear line of sight of your progression. They can use their equity to help provide a career path.
“A lot of people think about diversity in terms of recruiting and hiring, but that’s not enough.”
What would you tell an agency that wants to start a sponsorship program?
It can be very simple. It’s just about connecting your talent. When someone comes on board or gets promoted, use that moment to connect them to more senior people who can help them navigate their careers. Hopefully, that connection will turn into a sponsorship. In some cases, these relationships might happen naturally, but new staff, especially people of color, generally are not in environments where they meet senior leaders. This is especially true post-pandemic, where we’re often not all in the office at the same time. Those conversations at the water cooler or the bathroom just aren’t happening.
When I was at WPP, we held some Mentoring Circles for rising talent of all colors and genders. We’d have senior leaders rotate through tables of mid-level staff. Maybe there would be a question or a prompt to spark the conversation, but the purpose was just to get people talking. Those kinds of events are opportunities to make connections, and that can be how sponsorship starts.
November 19, 2024
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