From Athletics to Engineering (eBook)

Chapter 1
It Starts With Each of Us

The most important first step in supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion for all is deciding to act. Committing to making progress is a precondition for success, and for systemic problems, we cannot sit around and wait for someone else to solve them. It starts with us, and we each have a role to play. The decision to take action is often the hardest step, but it’s the most critical because without a commitment to improvement, the system will not get better.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” A famous quip in retort is that “the moral arc doesn’t bend all by itself.” In other words, we have to take action to move toward our goals. As with everything else in life that is important, waiting for someone else to solve our problems or waiting for the moral arc to bend on its own does not get us where we want to be. We have to bend it, but we do not need to bend it by ourselves, as that task is too great. In fact, we will need all of us working together to bend the universe’s arc toward justice, which is why we discuss teams and collaboration later in this book. Standing aside while others do the heavy lifting or, worse, actively working against them, is not what the world is calling for. Each of us has a responsibility to decide how, when, and whether to engage. We encourage you to take that step, strengthen the team, and move us toward the destination together.

Think about what is within each of our individual spheres of influence and what we can achieve. The first step is recognizing that we each have to take action because society cannot improve itself on its own. This is where we take a page from athletics. The most productive sports teams are built with a culture of “We,” “Us,” and “Team,” not “They,” “Me,” or “I”—with a notable exception: accepting responsibility for an individual’s part in achieving the team success. This approach often leads to enhanced trust and a stronger bond among teammates with consistent team success.

Getting Started

For this or any other long-term process, the most difficult task for most people is simply getting started. And maybe for this topic it is even harder than normal because some people are not sure the desired outcome (a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace or community) is a priority. Humans have a lot of inertia, so going from inaction to action can require significant effort. For many, the enormous size of the challenge is intimidating and gives a sense of impossibility. This feeling is one Johnnie typically saw at the start of the NFL season with his teammates’ goal of winning a division championship or Super Bowl. Michael has seen this with his students starting a multiyear dissertation project for their Ph.D. Perhaps you have been daunted by your own goals, such as losing weight, taking your business to the next level, or launching your own company. There are rarely overnight successes; most of the time, it takes months or sometimes years to reach our destination. From that distance, it can be hard to get motivated and take the first step.

In addition, many people are afraid their pathway will not be perfect. The rocky path Johnnie described in his prologue will undoubtedly make its presence known. The desire for perfection combined with the enormity of the task and the duration of the process is likely to inspire procrastination despite the urgency that might be felt. The key to overcoming procrastination is to focus on taking the first step instead of fixating on the entire journey, the barriers in the way, or the difficulty of the requirements. Rather than focusing solely on the end goals, like winning a national championship, writing a 200-page dissertation, or taking your business to the next level, it’s important to identify the main goal and then break down the process into many smaller steps so you can work through them one by one. Think about the next step, which is close at hand, rather than the last step, which is far away.

To win a national championship at the collegiate level, the coach knows the process begins with the first day of offseason training. They know competing schools aim for the same goal. They also know every team is operating under the same rules and guidelines that pertain to training, practice, and game schedules. To put their team in the best position to win the national championship, every coach begins the process by taking the first step. They set a mini goal they desire to accomplish on the first day of training, then turn their full focus to achieving that goal. Whether or not they accomplish their goal for that day, they evaluate their process, adjust as necessary, and turn their full attention to their goal for the next day. They continue this process throughout the season until, at such time, two teams compete for the right to be crowned the champion.

Breaking down big goals into a series of smaller, manageable objectives makes it less intimidating to get started. This is key for our goal of diversity, equity, and inclusion for all, but it applies to most other goals in life too.

Start Where You Are

Another key aspect of this is to start where you are. A lot of people are daunted because their destination seems so far away, but no one starts at the destination. Start where you are, then make steady progress toward the goal.

Johnnie learned a great deal from his many years in the NFL, competing against some of the greatest athletes in the world. As such, he understands that the process to goal attainment is slow and steady, and it starts with where you are today. The life lessons he learned from being coached and competing against the teams of some of legendary coaches squarely imprinted his understanding that goal attainment is a process of many daily incremental action steps, not simply a destination. This process applies to all aspects of our lives. No coach would put their team through one offseason training session or one regular season practice and expect them to be ready to compete for a championship. No sales manager would establish a sales quota with a new sales associate and expect them to hit it in one day.

When you plug a destination into your GPS, it gives you an estimated time of arrival at your desired destination that is based on your starting point in relation. Starting where you are is a vitally important part of the goal attainment process because it helps determine what fundamental activities are necessary to achieve your aims. In all aspects of our lives, it is the consistency with which we practice those activities with faith and perseverance that provides us the opportunity to achieve our goals. This is also the case as we pursue diversity, equity, and inclusion for all.

It Doesn’t End With Each of Us

Though supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion starts with each of us, it does not end with each of us. We are not, and should not be, alone in this endeavor. Rather, our work is part of a team spanning many countries and centuries. Progress is slow, and we need to keep it moving forward.

The Olympics provides some teachable examples. Because the Olympics draws teams from around the world and because the different skills required to compete vary so much from sport to sport, it is a prominent celebration of remarkable racial, ethnic, religious, and physical diversity. The athletes come in all different sizes and ages, and from various socioeconomic backgrounds. When petite gymnasts stand next to tall basketball players or stout discus throwers walk alongside lanky runners during opening ceremonies, it is clear these elite athletes belong despite their obvious physical differences. But it wasn’t always that way.

Jesse Owens, a Black man on Team USA, achieved international fame at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, by winning gold medals in four track and field events: 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump, and 4x100-meter relay. When he and his teammates won the 4x100-meter relay, they did so in a then world record time of 39.8 seconds. This remarkable feat was accomplished under adverse circumstances. At the time, in his deeply segregated home country, he was unable to sleep, dine with, or accompany his white Olympic teammates. In Germany, he was allowed to stay in the same hotels, but was still subjected to racist taunts by the Nazi regime that hosted the competition. Jesse Owens’ fourth gold medal in the relay race is a fitting parable for the challenge of supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

In the relay race, four teammates are required to collectively run 400 meters. Each team member runs 100 meters before passing a handheld baton to another teammate. The lead runner passes to the second leg, who passes to the third leg, and finally, the baton is passed to the anchor leg or the fourth runner, who completes the competition by covering the last 100 meters of the race. Speed is of paramount importance but so is the passing of the baton. If the baton is dropped, the team loses. As such, the winning team has both the fastest runners and smoothest handoffs.

As one of the top athletes in the United States during his high school career, Johnnie was recruited by or received scholarship offers from more than 100 different colleges and universities around the United States in four different sports. He chose to accept a scholarship to play football at the University of Texas at Austin. Like the public school system in his hometown of La Grange, Texas,...