The Power of Allyship: a Master Teacher on Getting It Right

BY Emily Nonko | July 28, 2021

Willie Jackson was one of three contractors at ReadySet, a consulting firm specializing in making more human-centric, inclusive work environments, when it was founded in 2015. At the start of Covid-19, there were eight employees. Following the historic year of a pandemic and social-justice movement, which prompted Corporate America to make new commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the staff is now at 35 and growing.

“Nothing has been the same” since the death of George Floyd, according to Jackson. “I have never seen this kind of response to a social movement and a lot of this interest is really continuing.” Jackson joined Elizabeth Stock, executive director of Portland Women in Tech (PDXWIT), for a conversation at From Day One’s July virtual conference, “Diversity’s Many Roles: How Mentors, Sponsors and Allies Each Play a Part in Inclusion.” They talked about Jackson’s experience over the past 16 months as ReadySet’s head of learning and development, as well as insights for how companies can get allyship right.

Off the bat, Jackson broke down how DEI work is both “interpersonal and structural”–the personal experiences of marginalization and racism alongside the structures that uphold racist systems. “Our analysis of bias is that it exists interpersonally and also structurally,” he said. “We forget that we’re not talking about people from hundreds of years ago, we’re talking about people like my grandmother, who was born in 1932, or my grandparents, who were sharecroppers in the rural South.” Organizations have to be open to exploring the ways that both interpersonal and structural biases are upheld.

Jackson still sees a place for “performative” allyship, a kind of earnest but bland activism that’s been called out recently. “A lot of people discount it out of hand for the purpose of being seen on the right side of history–is that so bad all the time? I don’t think so.” He believes it is important for people to speak out and signal to others where they stand. But he also encourages people to analyze if they’re expecting credit or a pat on the back. “Would you still do it and would it be worth it? It calls into question your why.”

Speaking on allyship: Willie Jackson of ReadySet, left, and interviewer Elizabeth Stock of Portland Women in Tech (Image by From Day One)

Jackson cited a study carried out by Stephanie Lampkin, chief executive of Blendoor, a diversity analytics company, that found that tech companies making statements of Black Lives Matter solidarity had 20% fewer Black employees on average than those that did not. “There’s a bit of a paradox,” he said. “What the data tells us is that the folks who have the furthest to go are often the loudest and most visible voices in this conversation.”

For companies that do want to make a real investment in DEI work, Jackson advises against the “companies trying, behind the scenes, to get it right and get it perfect, without taking folks along for the ride.” DEI work should be inclusive and communicative at every step. Most importantly, he added, “Senior leaders should own the progress for this. This work needs to be resourced, there needs to be a strategy.” To that end, Jackson pointed to companies that are tying executive compensation and bonuses to DEI targets.

And for those companies that are well-resourced and well-financed, he had a simple piece of advice: “Write a check,” he said. “People and communities and nonprofits and historically underfunded organizations doing important work–build their support into your revenue models.” He continued, “Some of the companies I’m most inspired by are writing very large checks to very important institutions and not telling anyone a word about it.”

Jackson also spoke to how inclusive values can tie into the return to workplaces in the post-pandemic era. “My concerns are around how many companies are not tracking who they’ve lost, from a demographic perspective, from the predictable Covid turnover.” He suggested that companies pilot return-to-work policies that track employee wellness using a quantitative and qualitative approach. Companies should be flexible and be open to how remote work has “leveled the playing field,” Jackson said. “It’s an opportunity to do things differently.”

Jackson wrapped the conversation with a video of basketball player Paige Bueckers’ acceptance of the 2021 ESPY Award for Best Female College Athlete, a speech in which she expressed solidarity with Black women. “This is obviously practiced, she named names, she said what she had to say, she was strategic and data-informed, she mentioned people living and not living, she also named her social identity,” Jackson noted. (Bueckers is white.)

A speech like this, Jackson believes, demonstrates a powerful example of allyship. “Is it performative? Completely,” he said. “Is it appropriately performative? I think so. I think the lesson we can draw is that when we have the spotlight or a platform–how will we use that moment?”

Emily Nonko is a Brooklyn, NY-based reporter who writes about real estate, architecture, urbanism and design. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, Curbed and other publications.

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