The pressure of a short, critical meeting is eased when the organization has already engaged the customer through various channels like events, medical team interactions, and clinical trials. This allows the rep to have a strategic conversation instead of a transactional data dump.
The common practice of adding a gender qualifier ('female') to a woman's leadership title, while not doing so for men, reinforces the idea that male is the default and female is the exception. This linguistic habit subtly perpetuates inequality and should be consciously avoided.
DEI progress will only accelerate when it's treated as a core business objective, not a philanthropic one. If missing DEI targets impacted a leader's bonus as much as missing financial targets, organizations would see rapid, meaningful change.
When a customer is clearly exhausted after a long day, the most empathetic and effective action can be to reschedule. This prioritizes the customer's well-being and the long-term relationship over ticking a box for a completed call, demonstrating true customer-centricity.
Don't wait for a corporate mandate. Any leader, even of a small team, can demonstrate commitment to DEI by including specific diversity and inclusion goals in their personal performance objectives. It would be a brave senior leader who would push back on such an initiative.
A senior female leader's primary concern about maternity leave was that her career progress would be lost, forcing a quick return. This reveals a deep-seated fear that having a family is a career penalty for women, a burden men don't typically face.
Forcing reps to follow a strict script and hit daily call targets makes them feel constrained, preventing them from adapting to the customer's needs. True connection happens when reps are trusted and equipped to be human, not just follow a checklist, especially in high-stakes meetings.
While calling out a lack of visual diversity (e.g., an all-male panel) is important, it's also a bias to assume they all think the same. The real danger is when leaders look the same *and* think the same. True diversity is cognitive and shouldn't be judged solely on appearance.