What Is Equity: Beyond the Politics to Real Leadership

I sat down with Celeste Warren, a woman who spent decades leading equity and inclusion work inside major corporations, and I told her a story I’ve genuinely never told anyone publicly. Years ago, I was a CMO at a small firm in the Philly area. I was the only woman in the office, the only one working part-time, and I was crushing the numbers. Then I pushed for one thing: featuring more female-run businesses in our marketing.

I came in the next morning to find my entire office covered in drawings I won’t describe in detail here. When I told the owner I didn’t feel safe at work, his response was “boys will be boys” and “don’t be so sensitive.”

I left. Not because I can’t take hard feedback. Because nobody in that building had my back.

Celeste didn’t flinch when I told her this. She didn’t act shocked. She just nodded and said this is exactly why understanding equity matters, not as a political talking point, but as a fundamental leadership practice. And that’s what we’re going to unpack here.

What Equity Actually Means (And It’s Not What You Think)

Most people can’t define equity if you ask them to. They’ve heard the phrase “diversity, equity, and inclusion” so many times that it’s become white noise. Or worse, it’s become a political lightning rod. And that’s tragic, because underneath all that noise is something really simple. It’s just good management.

Celeste broke this down in a way I hadn’t heard before. Diversity is the easy part; it’s just differences. You can see some of them (race, gender, age), but not others (learning style, background, capabilities). Inclusion is when you build a culture where people of all kinds feel they belong. But equity? Equity is where most leaders get stuck.

Equity means meeting people where they actually are, not where you assume they are, so they can get to the same place as everyone else.

Here’s a real example. Imagine a manager with ten direct reports. One of them is a mom with a special needs child at home. She needs to leave at 3:30 some afternoons to get her son settled, then she logs back in at 8 PM to finish her work. A manager who doesn’t understand equity might see this as a problem; she’s not putting in the hours. A manager who understands equity measures outcomes instead of clocking time. She delivered what was promised. The when doesn’t matter. That’s not special treatment. That’s leadership 101.

But here’s what kills me: most managers would never think to ask. They’d just assume the person wasn’t committed.

The real work of equity starts with awareness. You have to actually look at your organization, or your team, or your family, or your board, and ask: where am I making assumptions instead of asking questions? Where am I measuring the wrong thing?

The Rocks, the Fence, and the Myth of What You’re Owed

Celeste gave me an analogy I have not stopped thinking about. Picture this: three people standing on a rock, looking over a fence. One person can see clearly over the fence. One can barely see. One can’t see at all.

Now give the second and third person extra rocks. Now everyone can see over the fence.

The first person, the one who could already see, starts asking why he didn’t get extra rocks, too. It’s not fair. It’s exclusive. It’s taking something away from him.

But here’s what he doesn’t understand: nobody took his rock away. He can still see exactly what he could always see. The work was never about punishing him or taking something from him. It was about giving other people access to what he already had.

And that fence? It’s not new. It didn’t go up overnight. The fence is racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, every “ism” you can name. It’s been there so long that the person who could always see over it doesn’t even realize it exists. He’s just been living his life not knowing there’s an obstacle for everyone standing shorter.

This is the conversation we need to be having. Not about politics. Not about who deserves what. About the fact that some people have been running a race with obstacles the whole time, and the other runners didn’t know the obstacles existed.

The myth people cling to is this: “You’re lowering the standard if you bring in people who are different.” Celeste addressed this head-on. The hiring manager gives the recruiter a list of requirements: skills, experience, capabilities. The recruiter goes to find people who meet those requirements.

But the qualifications are embodied in many different kinds of people. The best person for the job doesn’t have to look like the person who had the job before. Period.

How to Actually Practice Equity (Not Just Talk About It)

This is where it gets practical, and honestly, where most organizations fail. Because talking about equity is free. Practicing it costs something.

Celeste outlined six things every leader needs to do. I’m going to walk you through them because none of them are complicated, and all of them require you to actually show up.

Awareness. Look at your organization. Your team. Your board. Your family. What’s actually happening here? Not what you think is happening — what’s actually happening? Are your stated values (dignity, respect, fairness) actually showing up in your policies, your decisions, your hiring, your promotions? Or are you saying one thing and doing another?

Access. Remove the barriers that don’t need to exist. The mom with the special needs child shouldn’t have to choose between her job and her kid. The person who’s a primary caregiver shouldn’t have to hide that fact. You want to know what’s getting in the way of people being their best selves at work? Ask them. Then remove what you can control.

Advocacy. Use your voice. This one’s huge because it doesn’t require you to be the person being harmed. You don’t have to be the woman in the room to speak up when a woman is being treated unfairly. You don’t have to be a person of color to challenge something racist. When you see something, say something. You might be the only person in the room with the safety to say it.

Action. An idea in your head is just an idea. You have to actually embed inclusive practices into everything you do. Into your meetings. Your interviews. Your hiring. Your one-on-ones. Your policies. Your daily decisions. That’s where equity lives, not in a statement you published. In what you actually do.

Accountability. Measure it. Ask your team how they’re feeling. Look at engagement scores. Look at who gets promoted. Look at who leaves and why. If your numbers say people aren’t feeling valued, that’s data. Use it. Tell your team you take responsibility for those results and you want to know what you can do better.

Empowering people. This is the one that gets overlooked. Your team knows what’s actually happening on the ground. They have information you don’t. The people who are actually doing the work know what’s in the way of them doing it better. Create psychological safety so they can tell you the truth without fear of retaliation. Then listen.

Pro Tip: If you manage even one person, you can start today. Schedule a one-on-one with each person on your team — not a status check, an actual conversation about how they’re doing and what’s in their way. You don’t need permission. You don’t need a committee. You just need to care enough to ask.

None of this requires a big rebrand. None of it requires hiring consultants. It requires you deciding that the people you lead are worth understanding. That’s literally it.

Why This Matters Right Now

I know this topic is charged right now. I know people have opinions about it, and most of those opinions come from politics, not from lived experience. I’m not here to tell you what to think about policy. I’m not here to tell you how to vote.

But if you manage people, sit on a board, lead a team, or run a household, that’s most of you reading this, then this conversation is actually about trust. It’s about whether the people around you believe you see them. Whether they believe that if they speak up, you’ll have their back the way I needed someone to have mine in that office years ago.

That’s the real work. Not the optics. The actual work.

FAQs About Equity

Q: Isn’t equity the same as equality?
A: No. Equality means everyone gets the same thing. Equity means everyone gets what they need to succeed. If one person is in a wheelchair and one person can walk, giving them both steps isn’t equitable, it’s equal. Ramps and accessibility are equitable.

Q: Won’t giving some people special treatment be unfair to others?
A: It’s only unfair if you think fairness means everyone starts in the same place. They don’t. Some people start with obstacles that others don’t have. Equity is about acknowledging that and leveling the playing field.

Q: Do I have to be in HR or leadership to do this?
A: No. Celeste was very clear about this: everyone is a leader. You have influence somewhere. You can practice equity in your friendships, your family, your volunteer roles, your team, your board. Start where you are.

Q: What if my organization doesn’t care about equity?
A: Then you have a choice. You can be the person in your sphere who practices it differently. You can advocate for change. Or you can decide this organization doesn’t align with your values and leave. All three are valid.

Q: Isn’t this just political correctness?
A: No. This is about good business. Companies with more inclusive, equitable practices have better retention, higher engagement, and better financial outcomes. It’s also just being a decent human.

The Conversation Doesn’t End Here

So here’s what I want you to do: go listen to my full conversation with Celeste Warren. She’s brilliant, she’s practical, and she doesn’t make this feel like a moral lecture. She makes it feel like something you can actually do on a Tuesday.

Then ask yourself: what’s my fence? Where am I not seeing the obstacles because I’ve never had to think about them? Who on my team, my board, my family is trying to see over a fence I didn’t know was there?

And then, here’s the part that matters, ask them. Have the conversation. Be the person who sees.

Celeste’s book, The Truth About Equity, goes deeper into all of this. You can find it wherever you get books. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or at crwdiversity.com.

And if this conversation sparked something for you, if you’re thinking about leadership differently now, that’s exactly what The Well Lived Society was built for. We have foundational member spots open until August 1st, and after that it converts to a regular annual subscription. If you’ve been waiting for a sign, this might be it.