“The reframing that I do around that is that meritocracy is a myth, the fact that everyone wants to get a job on their merit. Sadly, we know that lots of people get jobs because of who they know not necessarily what they know. They get opportunities and extra opportunities because of who they are...” In Episode 38 of Why Care?, I am joined by Jenny Garrett, Founder of Jenny Garrett Global to discuss her book, Equality Vs Equity. We discuss colourism, racial discrimination and power, and how we can assimilate our differences and create a society where we are all benefitting. Jenny’s interest in DEI is evident through her experiences as a career coach, leadership developer, TEDx Speaker and author. She has nearly two decades of experience in running a global business, she founded the first Diverse Executive Coach Directory in the UK and is a Co-Founder of the social enterprise, Rocking Ur Teens. She is passionate about helping people to make the transformation that they are seeking to happen and in doing so, she received an OBE award in 2021 for her services to Entrepreneurship and Women in Business.  Jenny talks about her internal conflict before writing Equity vs Equality.  She didn’t want to be put in a box, but what motivated her was her desire to empower people and help the world have conversations and take action on race and ethnicity. She speaks about the clear distinction between equity and equality. As she explains, equity is more about changing the systems, for instance, there is an unwritten rule that oftentimes makes it difficult for those with certain accents to progress at work. So, with this, it is more about ensuring that the senior leaders are aware of systemic inequities and are actively creating change. She explains that, at times, people struggle with racial inequity because they have no direct contact with those from an ethnic background, so it becomes difficult for them to understand their lived experiences. It becomes easy to ‘other’ them as a result. As she identifies, there is a huge stigma around being called ‘racist’ and that breeds fear and reluctance around the topic. Some people have grown up being told not to mention anything about ethnicity, so it is challenging for them to have to unlearn that.  Later on, she speaks about colourism - how the closer people are to whiteness, the more advantages they have. She identifies that as someone with ‘medium brown skin and green eyes’, she has benefitted from this, as it has made her more appealing and accessible to others. Despite this, she recounts her experience of racial discrimination at an evening gala, and, what felt most painful was the lack of allyship... Jenny then explains the key concepts in her book: -       Shape-shifting – With the speed of change in the world, bias and discrimination can be heightened because of the way AI is being built and developed. So, it is about this shift from ‘people are not recognising me’ to ‘AI is not recognising me’. It is about being aware of how micro-aggressions can present differently in the future of work... -       Interest Conversion – Jenny identifies that people need a reason to care about racial inequity. She cites the business case for diversity as an example - businesses invest in DEI because of the financial returns they will get. For those with an ethnic background, it could be because they want more opportunities and, for her, it is about creating a society where incidents like George Floyd’s killing don’t happen. -       Mindset shift – Jenny explains that people need to understand the power they have in different situations and to use that power with humility and not see it as a burden. She references that, as a straight woman, she has a privilege because she isn’t being discriminated against because of her sexual orientation. So, she can support the people from the LGBTQ+ community and be there for them.   Links: Jenny can be found on: -       LinkedIn -       Instagram -       Facebook