Meet Lenovo's new Chief Diversity Officer, Calvin Crosslin

4:58PM Aug 26, 2021

Speakers:

Keywords:

ibm

mother

children

inclusion

year

diverse communities

underrepresented minorities

work

access

year old son

grade school

technical aptitude

field

goal

technology

chief diversity officer

texas

grandfather

florida

lenovo

My name is Calvin Crossan. I'm the new chief diversity officer and president will nose foundation.

I was born in Daytona Beach, Florida. My mother was an IBM er so we moved around a fair amount for our career to the usual IBM spots that were popular at the time Boca Raton, Austin, Texas and the New York tri state area. I went to college at the University of Texas, El Paso on a track scholarship, and then returned to New York where I worked at American Express, at&t, and then eventually IBM. My mother, as I said, was an IBM er, and her first job as a programmer in the 1970s, you could imagine that there were not too many women in that field, but a Black or African American woman as well. Her father was also he was a physician. And in Florida at the time that he was in grade school, a young male could not go beyond the eighth grade, except for perhaps two institutions. So watching them navigate what they had to navigate just in terms of the entry point into their careers, which could could one could argue is diversity, then the next piece is inclusion, how difficult was it for them to then be included? Now my lifetime has been far easier, and so as my children, but I'd like to be able to have that same influence and that same impact globally, for our workplace here at Lenovo. Well, I don't certainly don't have the same science or technical aptitude as my grandfather or my mother, I'm able to use my own skills and abilities. To help others in this field. I think technology and the medical field are probably the two places where it's most important to have a equal playing field or equal access. If you think about the technology we're using right now for even grade school children to go to school, it would show you that no matter how good teaching might be, if they don't have the same access as other children, then they're going to be left behind. I think we have an opportunity to set a leadership role in DNI from an employee perspective. And from a product perspective. I think from an employee perspective, you think about inclusion or engagement. That is a non compensation factor that I think people look to as a place to work or as a desirable place to work. And also think we have a lot of opportunity now product space, to be known for products that are tailored towards diverse communities, people with disabilities in the light. We're ending the year on a high note, you're achieving a goal that we set establish for ourselves in 2018. So seeing us reach an executive representation of women at 20% overall, underrepresented minorities in the us at 28%. With African American and Hispanic being 10%, is a goal we've been working on for three years. So to achieve that goal is phenomenal for me, particularly given the times that we're in with COVID. And some of the other things that we've been dealing with around the globe this year. I've seen a big change this year in terms of equity and access. Following the George Floyd situation, there seems to be a conversation going on and corporations that I've never seen before in my lifetime, I'm having conversations that work after 33 years in the workforce that I've just never had not only one on one with friends, but in a more broader context with many of my colleagues that I don't even know that well. So my hope with having you know three children myself, 28 year old daughter, a 23 year old son and a six year old son is that continues to happen. I as I mentioned before, the experience that I've had growing up in my childhood and my life working, versus my grandfather or my mother has been tremendously different. And the access and opportunities that my children have experienced thus far has been tremendously different different and I like to see that continue.