Five Atlanta executives getting diversity, equity, and inclusion right

In 2018, the Metro Atlanta Chamber recognized the 10 startup companies that were selected for involvement with the VC Pathways program, which paired startup founders from underrepresented groups with mentors from within Atlanta’s thriving business community. In the process, the Chamber lauded the number of budding startups with diverse founders that were emerging within the Atlanta area, and lionized Atlanta as “... an epicenter to challenge the societal norms of bigotry and racism” due to the reputation of Atlanta as a city where diversity is celebrated.

However, it can be difficult to monitor what isn’t measured. A 2019 study commissioned by Sage exposed several inherent flaws with the approaches that many of Atlanta’s businesses are taking with respect to diversity and inclusion initiatives. For example, barely 60% of the Atlanta businesses included in the study track diversity at all, a little more than half track differences in race, ethnicity and gender amongst their corporate leadership, and only 23% track the promotions of women within their organizations. In other words, the foundations upon which the value of new DEI initiatives could be measured are nonexistent within many of Atlanta’s companies.