We must be better.
:+: By Maria Boyer, Ruben Cañas & Amanda Spraker
As a company, we pride ourselves on being change agents, on challenging the status quo, and on finding the best creative solutions for our customers. We started the year with expectations that 2020 would be ‘the year’, one in which all of our intentional refining efforts would align through our business units – achieving a new level of success for MacDonald-Miller.
We did not expect to find ourselves amid a global pandemic where the inequities of social economic injustice for people of color would finally find its voice amplified.
This is the landscape we share, a change agent company looking holistically at our most important asset, our employees. The Leadership Team is listening, learning, and reflecting upon how we show up in our company and communities… questioning if we are doing all we can. The very essence of anti-racism is present in our values of Community and Collaboration… we know we fall short, but more importantly we know WE MUST BE BETTER. As voices amplified, employees reached out to MacMiller leadership. Amanda Spraker, Maria Boyer, and Ruben Cañas met with interested and engaged MacMillians exploring how we could be better and lead in our diversity and inclusion efforts.
The result is that in June, we launched the company’s first ever Inclusion Council. The council is co-chaired by Ruben Cañas and Joshi Graf, and Maria Boyer serves as the Executive Sponsor. The role of the council is to provide a cohesive vision and strategy for how we increase diversity and inclusion in our company. The council is made up of 13 dedicated employees representing each of our locations and much of our diversity across teams.
The Inclusion Council will provide us with intention and accountability to our values and it is the responsibility of each of us individually to lead the way to real and lasting change.
2020 will be ‘the year’ – one we can all be proud to say we acted and stood strong as leaders and change agents for social justice equalities.
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