• by Paolo Gaudiano , Op-Ed Contributor, October 6, 2015

Choosing from the dozens of presentations at Advertising Week, I attended three sessions that touched upon issues of diversity and equality in media and advertising.

Perhaps because I have a daughter who recently entered the professional world, or maybe because I live in Harlem, in recent years I have become increasingly aware of the privileges that I enjoy as a white man. At the same time, I have become increasingly uncomfortable with the challenges faced by minorities in the professional world. There’s no doubt that business success is much harder for anyone belonging to a minority, be it on the grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or any other trait.

Conference sessions on these topics have become commonplace – just one of many signals suggesting that I am not the only person interested in these issues. Still, as I sat through these latest presentations, I felt I was hearing the same things over and over again: litanies of data showing how bad things are; optimistic pronouncements about how much things are improving, often buoyed by anecdotes of individual successes; and vague or highbrow suggestions about what must be done to improve matters.

Unfortunately, these sessions often leave me with the sense that there is little I can do as an individual to make a difference. It seems that for those who care, there are two choices: become an activist, or do nothing, other then perhaps showing support by attending these workshops.

During one session —  “If Everyone’s Talking About Digital Diversity, How Come It’s Still Mostly White Guys?”— I had an idea: What about creating a list of simple things we could do in our daily lives, which individually might only be of minor help, but at scale would have a major impact? I decided that during the Q&A I would ask the panelists about this, and see if they had any specific ideas.

As if she had read my mind, less than two minutes later Janet Balis of Ernst & Young suggested that everyone could help by finding someone in their workplace who is a minority member and offer to help him for her: for instance, by making introductions to folks in their network. When I asked my question a bit later, acknowledging her comment, people in the audience and on the panel nodded in agreement. A couple of ideas were formulated, but it seemed that everyone was struggling with the same issue: It’s not easy to promote diversity on an individual basis, let alone be reminded of it regularly.

Still I decided to take a stab at it during the weekend. Here are some ideas:

-- In social media, follow someone who is in a minority group. Do this every day or every time you have a chance, and make sure your “portfolio” is balanced.

-- Make sure you like or share articles, stories, blogs or social media items by minority authors.

-- If you are planning an event, make an effort to have balanced representation.

-- If you are at a conference, plan to attend sessions led by minorities, or are at least gender-balanced.

-- Offer to make introductions into your network for a colleague or friend who is in a minority group (thank you, Janet!).

-- Join a group or organization that supports minorities in the professional world (also suggested by Janet).

I used these and a few other suggestions to create the Web site minorhelp.com.

Please consider using some of these ideas.

Better yet, use the comment space below to make additional specific suggestions. What else can we do to help?