I wrote this book, Qualified: How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work, to address an urgent need for workplace dignity and advancement for Black and other people of color. What we think is going on in the workplace is false and the narratives that diversity equals a lack of qualifications and is a lie, so what is the truth?
“Why do we think certain people are qualified and others aren't?
Why do I feel compelled to list my achievements?
I'm Shari Dunn, the author of Qualified, How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work.
Even as I speak to you now, I'm aware of the constant need to prove my competency.
Black and other professionals of color need to be twice as good to get half as far.
The expectations are higher,
they need more qualifications,
and they are facing a narrower,
more formal path of entry.
This isn't about a lack of talent, special treatment, or broken pipelines.
That pipeline isn't broken; it's blocked by a practice called competency checking that repeatedly forces us to prove our worth.
We've been treating workplace racial bias with the wrong medicine at the wrong time for years.
And those colorblind solutions?
They often end up being blindingly white.
It's time to unmask concepts like imposter syndrome and see how they've been
weaponized against women and people of color.
Qualified isn't just based on my personal experiences.
It's grounded in rigorous research and real solutions.
This book is a roadmap for transforming our society and our workplaces and the
assumptions we make about who's qualified.
To win the future, employers must be ready to lean into diversity, not retreat from it.
The future is now, and it is diverse in our workforce and our consumer base.
The companies that understand this will be the ones that win the future.”
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