Cobb Chamber diversity co-chairs address South Cobb Businesses
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During a gathering of South Cobb business leaders last week, a pair of executives from Georgia businesses detailed practices aimed to promote diversity within their companies. Britt Fleck, regional director at Georgia Power, and Darian Mitchell, executive director of corporate banking for JP Morgan Chase, co-chair the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council, spoke before members of the South Cobb Area Council.
The two offered advice on successful practices following an update on the Equity and Inclusion Council’s initiatives to promote diversity within the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. They each spoke about bias, whether intentional or subconscious, that can creep into the hiring process while sharing practices that have been successfully implemented at their companies including a mentorship program, wiping identifying names and schools from resumes, and recruiting applicants from historically Black universities.
Said Fleck, you need to go in with a blind resume … taking the names off as well as taking the schools off so that you cannot tell who they are. You’re strictly going by their skills and experiences.” She went on to explain their mentorship program that requires all managerial-level positions to have a mentor and where employees are required to be placed with someone of a different race, gender, ethnicity or cultural background. “We get to know each other in a different way, and we prop each other up,” Fleck said. She encouraged attendees to see the value in new, fresh perspectives of a mentor with a different background than their own.
Mitchell told the group that JP Morgan Chase has created a fellowship where they recruit from more historically Black colleges and universities during the students’ sophomore years to build their skills for successful careers in the banking industry. “We’re going to groom these guys, mentor these guys,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell and Fleck also emphasized to the business group their overall goal of building a chamber that most accurately reflected the demographics of Cobb County and having intentional conversations to accomplish that goal.
Fleck encouraged feedback on the initiatives from their audience due to the long-term nature of their plans and goals and received some direct comments from those in attendance which included concerns about continuous talks of long-term goals and the need for quick wins. Another expressed concern about the amount of action taken by chamber members and leaders after talks and meetings have concluded. Said Littie Brown, co-owner of SpeedPro Marietta, “Talking about diversity and inclusion is one thing. Being diverse and included is another … we want to just be included in the success of the county, and I think we have a good platform to help get us there.”