A new report from the Eos Foundation offers a damning critique of many organizations that serve as the public face of Massachusetts’ leading industries. 

In some ways, the Eos survey measures a lagging indicator – many of those white men in top jobs in this state are the beneficiaries of the varying degrees of bigotry and sexism that existed as they climbed the corporate ladder. Conditions lower down on the corporate ladder may be more “woke” than they were when these CEOs started their ascent 20 or 30 years ago, but they are by no means copacetic. 

Some white, male managers might find it tempting to be satisfied that they and their employees do not harbor explicit racial animus or sexism, but that mistakes the nature of the problems they must fight. Even if they are blessed with a team of veritable angels, it is axiomatic that they all carry unconscious biases, and must be trained to recognize them and counteract them. 

Harder to fix are efforts to overcome the effects of decades of discrimination that limit many people’s professional social circles.  

Many hiring and promotion decisions rely on personal connections between hiring managers and their future direct reports, an effect that only gets stronger the higher up a company’s ladder one climbs.  

But if an industry starts out as predominantly white and male, it will take a very long time for women and people of color to break in, much less develop a culture in an organization where their peers feel welcome and want to work if they can find equally remunerative work in other, more diverse industries.  

Companies and professional organizations must create ways to short-circuit these invisible legacies of racism that structure our lives and build talent pipelines specifically for women and people of color.  

If America – and Massachusetts – had not spent the last several hundred years alternately enslaving, disenfranchising and discriminating against women and people of color, Eos’ statistics would look very different.  

Some groups, like the commercial real estate trade group NAIOP-Massachusetts, are pushing hard to dismantle these structural legacies of sexism and racism. NAIOP, the Eos data show, is finding success with tactics like setting diversity goals for its board and actively recruiting women and people of color to leadership positions. It has also created internship programs and networking groups that help younger women and people of color find mentors and friends among older, more established people in their industries. 

Work like this is not easy and takes time, but is crucial for any company or group that wants to remain relevant to and valued by their clients and employees today and in the future.