Robert Rodriguez - Employee Resource Group Excellence

First, the Hispanic community was much larger in Chicago than it was in Minnesota. I went from Hispanics being less than 5 percent of the population in Minnesota to being close to 30 percent of the population in Chicago. Being surrounded by a much larger Hispanic community made it much easier to connect with other Hispanics besides my family. Second, the Latino community in Chicago was much more diverse. In Minnesota, the Latinos in my circle were predominantly of Mexican descent. But in Chicago, the Hispanics were not just Mexican but also Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, Guatemalan, Colombian, Venezuelan, Peruvian, and so on. This exposed me to a much broader perspective of what it meant to be Latino. The third big difference was that many of these Hispanics were professionals with advanced degrees, and almost all held professional roles such as doctors, attorneys, entrepreneurs, engineers, marketing professionals, academics, and politicians. Not only did I know and meet very few Hispanics when I lived in Minnesota, but only a small percentage of them were degreed professionals working in corporate America like myself.

The biggest difference, however, was that many of the Hispanics I met were unapologetically proud of their heritage. They embraced it. They didn't hesitate to speak Spanish, eat at Hispanic restaurants, play Latin music, talk about what was happening in Latin America, or partake in Hispanic customs. In short, they were leaning into their Hispanic heritage, and being Latino was a big part of how they identified themselves. Not only did they celebrate being Hispanic, but they also wanted others to celebrate it with them. Many of the Latinos I initially met upon moving to Chicago were connected to nonprofit professional associations such as the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement or the Hispanic National Bar Association, which means they were also active in the Latino community.

My career path had now taken me to work at Amoco Corporation, the oil and gas company based in Chicago at that time. In connecting with this large, professional, diverse, and proud Hispanic community, I was searching for a group at my work to support my growing desire to lean into my Hispanic heritage. Enter the Amoco Hispanic Network (AHN), the Hispanic employee resource group at Amoco at the time. Many of my fellow Latinos at Amoco were members of AHN and they encouraged me to check it out. At first, I wasn't sure what the focus or purpose of the group was, but the concept of professional Latinos purposefully meeting while at work intrigued me and piqued my interest.

My connection with AHN was immediate. I instantly became involved and joined as an official member. I loved working with other Hispanic professionals and enjoyed a sense of freedom I hadn't felt before about being Hispanic at work. I still recall my first event – a Cinco de Mayo event held in the company auditorium in 1997. The focus of the event was to educate non‐Latinos that Cinco de Mayo was not Mexican Independence Day. The members of AHN were tired of constantly having to explain to non‐Hispanics the significance of this day. The feeling of helping others gain better awareness and understanding about my Hispanic heritage was satisfying. Not only did I want to learn more about my culture and have a stronger connection with my heritage, but the Amoco Hispanic Network taught me that we could educate others as well. This was my very first experience with employee resource groups, and I was hooked from the very beginning.

After working at Amoco for a few years, the company merged with British Petroleum in 1998. At the time, it was the largest industrial merger in US history. Eventually, my stint at Amoco ended and I went to work at RR Donnelley & Sons, the printing company also based in Chicago. Having had a positive experience with the Amoco Hispanic Network, I inquired if there was a Hispanic employee resource group at RR Donnelley; unfortunately, there was not. There was, however, a multicultural employee resource group called the Professionals of Color ERG. I joined and eventually became the chair of the group in 2001.

Like my experience with the Amoco Hispanic Network, my involvement and leadership of the ERG at RR Donnelley was quite rewarding. I soon found myself developing a strategy for the group, allocating resources, ensuring member engagement, and finding ways that I and others could bring our full selves to work, as they say. The chair role was also raising my visibility and exposure within the company, because many of my ERG duties involved meeting with executives and leaders within RR Donnelley whom I likely would not have met through the duties of my day job alone. Overall, I was having a blast and performing well as a leader of this employee resource group.

Ironically enough, after my ERG experiences at Amoco and RR Donnelley, I never again worked at a company that had employee resource groups. Yet the foundation had been set. I was thankful that the ERGs had raised my visibility, my capability, and my promotability. But the single biggest benefit I received from being involved in employee resource groups is that they helped me find my voice. The ERGs allowed me to gain confidence in being my true, authentic self. The combination of moving to Chicago and then joining employee resource groups helped me to understand that my Hispanic heritage was an asset and a source of strength. That leaning into my ethnic identity not only made me feel more authentic, but I also came across as more authentic to others. Never again would anyone say I reminded them of that damn Milli Vanilli group!

And thus, the foundation was set. I decided then and there that I would always support employee resource groups and talk about the many benefits they provide. If employee resource groups could have the same impact on others that they had on me, then I felt an obligation to help them grow and prosper within organizations. After earning my doctorate and eventually launching my own consulting firm, Dr. Robert Rodriguez Advisors (DRR Advisors) in 2012, it was clear that I was going to dedicate a significant amount of energy and consulting engagements to helping organizations create the conditions that will nurture ERG success and be a resource for ERGs and their leaders.

It is hard to put into words the influence that employee resource groups have had on my life. Not only did ERGs help with my career advancement, but they also helped me to become my true authentic self. My experience in an employee resource group provided the safe environment that I needed to embrace my Latino sense of identity. ERGs opened my eyes to seeing my world in a whole new way. My ERG experience allowed me to see life in brilliant color.

I often describe my experience of joining an employee resource group as being similar to the movie The Wizard of Oz . For those of you who have seen the movie, you'll recall that at the beginning, Dorothy is in Kansas and the movie is in black and white. Soon the twister (tornado) comes and scoops up Dorothy and whisks her away. Then there is that glorious scene when Dorothy awakens and opens the door of her house that has landed in Oz, and suddenly her world is shown in brilliant color. To me, when I joined an employee resource group, it was as if my world transformed to color. I could see all the richness and beauty – not only in my own Hispanic heritage, but in the promise of diversity and inclusion itself.

Employee resource groups have also provided me a comfortable living. Consulting to organizations on their ERG initiatives is quite lucrative, and my ERG consulting fees have afforded me and my family a life of comfort. And of course, ERGs have allowed me to meet amazing people all over the world. People who, like me, believe in the power of employee resource groups. People whom I now call my friends and who live in all four corners of this Earth. Ultimately, I am confident that this book will trigger a new wave of energy, research, and appreciation of employee resource groups. I believe that we have only just begun to uncover all the hidden value that exists within ERGs. There are still too many people who haven't experienced the joy and impact an employee resource group could provide them.