Valerie Purdie Greenaway: Signal your capacity to lead

- There's two ways to look at issues of diversity. … Clearly, what the most important thing is … to think about it from an institutional perspective. … What can a company do … to break down barriers and stereotypes? … But until that day comes, … if you are a member of underrepresented group, … there are many, many books, articles, ideas now … that are suggesting that it's important to signal, … to convey in a variety of ways … that you have executive presence. … And so I do think that members of underrepresented groups … need to know what these signals are … and then make a decision about whether or not … they're going to use them and in what capacity. … (light music) … It is important to signal … that you understand the workplace culture. … And you could do that in a variety of different ways. … You can do it by talking about … your previous experience in a company. … You can do it by signaling connections … that you may have. … You can do it by asking for stretch assignments … and then of course producing in those assignments. …