1kg Equity Please

When there is a power-cut and kids are annoyed, we tell them “Here’s 10 rupees, go to the shop and buy 1kg current (electricity)”

The kids immediately get it. You can’t purchase electricity like that. It is not an off-the-shelf good.

But when it comes to equity (equity as in “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion”, not the stock market equity), several groups/organizations seem to do worse than kids.

They think that equity can be purchased. They hire a consultancy firm, create a specific HR role, and conduct a few workshops. And they wait for equity to flourish in their organizations.

Equity is an organizational value

Organizations have values. And equity is a value. Values of an organization are embedded in the culture of the organization. The culture and values of an organization are set from day 0 by the founders. These are reinforced every day, every moment, in every conversation, every meeting, every decision, every hire, every project, every time, all the time.

And as such, you can’t buy equity.

How to build an organization where equity is a value?

Core values of an organization start from the core values of its founders. Unless the founder(s) understand, value, and practice equity, there won’t be any equity in the organization.

And then, the value has to be protected with every new person joining the organization and every new direction the org moves.

The founders have to be very careful in ensuring that there is value alignment in everything that’s done.

If new leaders arise, they also have to be aligned on values.

In short, to build an organization that has equity as a core value, find people who have equity as a core value.

Can you regain equity as a value if you’ve lost it?

If the organization is hierarchical and the leadership put their soul into it, they can shape people’s behavior, fire the right (wrong) people, and slowly put equity back on the plate.

In anarchic/decentralized organizations (like social movements, voluntary groups, etc often are), this is very hard. (Hence THE TYRANNY of STRUCTURELESSNESS)

But what about practical compromises?

Indeed. Compromising on core values is how you end up losing those values. Often people think they value something, but the compromises they make reveal what they actually value.