My Experience as a Black Practitioner at Deloitte

I feel that to an extent as well, in my case it's slightly better because I'm used to it. I was the only Black kid in my classes all throughout school. I also went to a college that had fewer % of black people than my parents' HBCU had % of white people. Needless to say, I'm used to being the only one.

One thing I experience a lot is surprise. I did debate so I'm good at public speaking. Almost without fail, people marvel at how well I speak. On one hand, they're objectively correct (state & national championships), but on the other hand the feeling is "oh I'm surprised you can speak well".

I use it as a teaching moment: yeah, you probably don't know many black people in your life, so I'll let you know that we are not a monolith and we're as diverse internally as whites, asians, hispanics etc

To my peers and colleagues of color who see themselves in this, know that your experiences are valid and deeply important. Being Black is something that can only be fully understood through lived experience, and it shapes us to our core. A lack of empathy or understanding from others does not diminish the truth of our reality.

And to you, the OP, thank you for your honesty and reflection. Keep shining and leading boldly, because our people need your voice and presence now more than ever."

Having worked for Deloitte earlier for quite a bit as a person of color myself though I empathize with you, my experience was entirely different.

It's an organization which demands excellence and gets it to a fair extent. If you're expecting your due, you're in the wrong place. It's a firm where you need to put in > 100% and then network the heck out to get ahead. But this is well known and not a secret. Some of what you're posting seems like you just found out about this.

But and there is big 'but' - here is where I must disagree with you. A lot of what you're feeling is perception based self-victimization. I could have chosen to feel the same being a POC or maybe one of 2 PoCs in a team of 5/10 but I didn't. I'm an immigrant who got the opportunity to come to another country, work my ar$e off and have a better life...and I was thankful to Deloitte and grateful to God for each and every minute.

The above approach is the half glass full approach to look at things and life in general. That way you're always optimistic and looking ahead, forward and seeing how to better yourself. The approach which is fashionable in society today (also pushed by political parties) is to think of oneself as a victim, believe that everything should be handed to one, our situation in life is someone else's fault (the rich/the white man/the immigrant) and generally feeds on envy of "the other". This is the most destructive turn in our society i.e. half glass empty approach. The way we choose to think is entirely our own and not enforced so we can all choose how we go about life.

At a granular level, as a PoC myself I've worked for a female African American Sr Manager earlier in my Deloitte career (who incidentally was one of the best people I've ever worked with...period) and a Black Muslim MD towards my last days at Deloitte (who hailed from Africa and wasn't African American) at Deloitte (something which would have been unthinkable maybe 15 yrs ago) so I don't even agree with most of what you mentioned but I'm not going to discount it as that's your perspective as you mentioned.

Having worked at least 6 companies other than Deloitte, the one piece of advice I can give is you're working for one of the best companies you'll ever work with and cherish every minute, learn as much as you can.... every other company I've worked at pales in comparison.

You know the ol' saying - Grass 'seems' always greener....

PS: There are other statistics you've mentioned about race and so on...I won't delve into those as for those you need to ask yourself the '5 whys' and if you're truly honest with yourself....the truth as they say is always ugly.

A lot of what you're implying is not equality of opportunity...what you're seeking is equity....not the same and is also a result of the 'half glass empty' approach to life. Else half of the NBA/NFL/MLB should have been white and exactly 15% hispanic and 5% Asian sprinkled throughout....none of which I'd enjoy watching.

Shocked at some of the responses here. OP, thank you for your candour and thoughtful engagement. It's important to have these conversations.

And then when you realize the # of mediocre white men (and women) that have been able to achieve financial freedom and live quite well......

You sound like someone who gets it, and if Deloitte doesn’t value that then maybe another firm will. If it makes you feel better, I felt very out of place as a guy who grew up lower middle class and had a southern accent when I entered the consulting world. Was called “folksy”, “lacking gravitas”, “a bit too colloquial“, etc and had to work harder than others to build credibility. I played the game, too, and over time re-integrated my “folksiness” with a sh*t ton of intellectual depth and mastery. That combo has since become my superpower as I am now develop very authentic relationships with all of the trust and none of the pretense.

I’m not trying to say we’re the same because I definitely don’t understand what it’s like to be black in the elite consulting world, but I do know what it’s like to not “fit”. What I can tell you is that if you can get over the hump, you’ll find yourself in a place where no one is like you (in a GOOD way), thereby morphing what you might see today as a handicap into a unique differentiator.

Thanks for sharing your experience. That’s not always an easy thing to do.
I’m curious to learn what percentage of professionals self-identify with Deloitte. From what I understand, the majority of our firm declines to self- identify. I don’t have a solution of how we can encourage more professionals to self-identify, but it’s an important practice and helps with workforce planning, decisions regarding progression, etc. Without that data, we don’t have a comprehensive understanding of the diverse makeup of our business.

In my firm we’ve had a real push to increase representation in terms of diversity. It’s worked to a degree. But the clients are part of the problem. Often if you present staff with any sort of ‘difference’ you get a subtle pushback. I don’t actually find race to be the worst, often it’s a disability or health issue. You get a bland unspecified request to ‘replace’ the person on weak grounds. I’ve tried all sorts of things to overcome the issue but it’s the same staff over and over again. It’s often clients who claim to be progressive like government agencies who are the worst. The private sector tends to be more results orientated. Only solution is to be good and defy stereotypes which can mean working a bit too hard. Very sad I know but keep going, one day it will be overcome.

Thanks for sharing this as a reminder or reality in corporate America. I have friends that say this doesn't happen but as a former EO program director its easy for me to spot and comes across as gaslighting and covert racism when people say it doesnt exist despite the objective evidence

My question is this

African Americans are 12% of the US Population, given the qualifications to work at a Big4 firm (education, experience) that number drops to 2% even theoretically qualified, so if Uncle D is 4% they are ahead of the curve

Powerfully stated, Deloitte. I stand with your message and have experienced this firsthand.

1. Sounds like you’re an immigrant and can’t grasp OP’s perspective.
2. Sounds like you acknowledge that there is a problem, you just chose to ignore it. Likely easier to do as an immigrant.
3. Sounds like you were lucky and worked with good people, including Black Leadership. Something not everyone gets to experience.

The pushback you experience is also about the way high flying companies operate. Some employees are in the inner circle, others are not, human nature that goes all the way back to cliques in school, college etc.

But to get to a central issue - sure you`re `not one of them`, of the predominant ethnicity but since when was Deloitte Touche Ross etc founded by and for Black people?

Since when were western institutions formulated by and for Black people? They were not created by Black Africans who were brought to the west - they weren`t invited because their cultures had created technology, modernizing philosophies etc even if Africa had some civilisations in the past like Ethiopia. Black people overwhelmingly came to the US via the slave trade with their own rulers selling them out to the western traders.

Black people were also enslaved by Arabic slave traders and none of their descendants today are living in first world countries with all the opportunities available.

If the shoe was on the other foot and Africa was the most developed continent in the world, white people and other minorities wouldn`t even be working at the equivalent of Deloitte Touche Ross to name one out of thousands and thousands of institutions.

You are certainly intelligent for working there and the way you articulate it all but keep in mind affirmative action policies ultimately don`t help the image of Black people as capable of acting independently and achieving without quotas, government backing and programs etc.

All this focus on being Black and that`s why you don`t get credit is kind of similar to the dumb reasoning that snow sports are racist because a small minority of Black people participate at the highest levels. Snow sports are not part of Black culture, why should Black sportspeople be more numerous in them?

And there are plenty of white people who don`t come from anything like a remotely privileged background in terms of generational wealth, post high school education, parents doing good jobs, social networks that can get you contacts etc. They miss out because they`re not in the circles and they don`t have the circles to do snow sports or the money anyway. And no matter how inherently intelligent some of these kids are, they will never work at Deloitte Touche Ross.

Just saying from a Black dude.

lol ! All the way

wow

Bruh

Sorry to hear about your experience. I’m not at all surprised based on my Deloitte work. I can say from my personal experience that the partnership’s rhetoric on a range of issues, from inclusivity to environmental concerns, are window dressing for their lily white US Board of Directors, profits from their energy clients, and attracting intelligent talent. Run away.

For me, deloittte was 3 years of wasted time. You are 100% correct on relationships being a major factor in getting on quality projects - or on any project. I’ll never forget that one my first day of orientation at Deloitte, they gathered us in a room, told us we were part of the “only 1 out of 5 interviewees who get hired, and that the way to even get started at “the firm” was to “use your network”. From the look on nearly every face in the class, I could that they wer thinking the same thing I was - “what network? I just got here”.
I’ve had a long career in consulting. Deloitte was by far the most cliquish organization I’ve ever worked at. Full of poseurs and phonies who smile in your face and do nothing more. And the Black PPD’s are the worst offenders.

Tbf I’m the last us citizen for the last 3 projects and I wasn’t even born here lol. Everyone is from India.