Our firm puts equity and inclusion in the center of its work. We look for leaders with a strong equity lens who are at the intersection of complex issues and diverse networks. In 2018 alone, 87% of Talent Citizen placements were female, 57% of placements were people of color and/or LGBTQ, and 50% of all placements were women of color.
• • •
Beyond building diverse pools, we work with clients in an equity-centered, Partnered Learning approach to question and address organizational barriers, challenging long-held processes and unconscious bias. We also interrogate our own findings through regular self-assessment. We believe that the work of transforming leadership is so much more than finding new people to sit in old chairs. Transformation requires greater cooperation and honest communication between Talent Citizen and our clients not only at the organizational level but also in addressing power imbalances in the field.
Talent Citizen is a proud investment partner to the Equitable Evaluation Initiative, which seeks to shift the paradigm of evaluation, exploring how it can be a tool of and for equity in the social change space. Talent Citizen is partnered with EEI in building out its leadership as it expands its reach and changes mindsets across the philanthropic ecosystem.
Our pursuit of equitable practice led to a relationship with Roanhorse Consulting, LLC, an indigenous-women owned think tank that is curating resources to catapult indigenous leaders. Along with six other Native American women entrepreneurs, Roanhorse Consulting co-founded Native Women Lead to build power across and within indigenous-led organizations, decolonizing the resources and tools that indigenous leaders can use to advance change. Talent Citizen has embarked on a joint exploration with Roanhorse as they reframe executive search with a co-designed approach that centers indigenous values and practice.
• • •
We believe that understanding and undoing oppression must be at the core of our work, and not an add-on. By working in deeper and more relationship-focused partnerships, search firms, along with many other partners, can share their collective learning to more responsively and comprehensively advance the capacity of the entire sector to confront and undo legacies of racism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism.
The impacts of COVID 19 as well as the manifestation of the frustration, pain, feelings of hopelessness and anger that is roiling across the US in response to decades of systemic racism is exposing the deeply entrenched injustices and divisions within our world. We believe that, more than ever, we must resolve to change mindsets and practices to truly dismantle oppressive practices and collectively build a powerful new ecosystem of social impact leaders.