Neutrality Does Not Build Trust
Black History Month is often framed as reflection. For communicators, reflection should lead to recalibration.
We are operating in a climate where cultural identity is increasingly politicized. Terms once used to build bridges now spark hesitation in boardrooms. In tense moments, leaders often default to “treat everyone the same” in pursuit of neutrality.
But neutrality is not the same as trust.
The data supports what communicators experience daily. McKinsey has consistently found that companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity are 36% more likely to outperform financially. Culture is not peripheral to performance. It is correlated with it. When organizations treat identity as an afterthought, they are not minimizing risk, they are forfeiting competitive advantage.
I grew up watching my father navigate rooms where he was often the first, and sometimes the only Black. As one of the early Black athletes to desegregate professional basketball, he understood something long before I had language for it: excellence alone does not move systems. Narrative does. How people are seen shapes what becomes possible.
That lesson has informed my career in journalism and now in crisis strategy. Facts matter. Performance matters. But context — cultural context — determines whether those facts are believed and whether that performance earns legitimacy.
Early in my career as a television journalist, I covered a story involving a community that had long felt overlooked by city leadership. The data was clear. The policies were technical. Yet the story did not resonate until we reflected the lived experience behind the statistics. Once that perspective was accurately represented, engagement shifted. Leaders responded. Viewers listened.
The facts had not changed. The framing had.
When organizations flatten cultural nuance in pursuit of sameness, they often erase the very experiences that make audiences feel seen. And when people do not feel seen, they disengage — quietly at first, then decisively.
Communicators are not neutral messengers. We are architects of narrative ecosystems. The language we recommend, the spokespeople we elevate, the audiences we prioritize — each choice either affirms identity or subtly diminishes it.
This is especially relevant now. As organizations recalibrate public commitments amid political scrutiny, some equate discipline with retreat. I would argue the opposite. The most durable brands understand that culture is not a complication to manage away; it is strategic intelligence. It informs how messages land, how trust compounds, and how loyalty is sustained.
Culture is not limited to race or ethnicity. It includes the culture of industries, neighborhoods, professions, and generations. It shapes interpretation. It shapes memory. It shapes credibility.
The future of our industry depends on whether we see culture as risk mitigation, or as competitive advantage.
Because when communicators choose comfort over context, we do not protect brands. We shrink them.
Black History Month is not only about honoring the past. It is about deciding what kind of narratives we are bold enough to build next.
And in this moment, shrinking the story is the greater risk.
