Podcast Interview with Cletis Earle, Part 2: “Until We Get Uncomfortable, We Won’t Make Strides.”

When Cletis Earle stepped in as CIO at Penn State Hershey at the start of 2020, he barely had time to walk through the door before having to deal with a major disruption. By the time the organization wrapped its arms around that issue, Covid-19 started developing into pandemic.

Talk about a baptism by fire. “Everything had to go on the backburner,” said Earle in a recent interview. Fortunately, Penn State Health’s IT team adopted an “agile, fail-fast methodology” that enabled them to deal with the challenges at hand, while building up the skills needed to prepare for a potential second wave.

However, another issue surfaced for which no one was truly equipped when the death of George Floyd shined a light on racial injustice. And in fact, it was Covid-19 that removed so many of the issues that usually serve as distractions from the news – for example, the cancellation of sports events and movies – and brought the topic of racism to the front burner.

In our interview, Cletis opened up about the inequities that still exist in industries like healthcare IT, what leaders can do to address the lack of diversity, and why he believes that having tough conversations is so important – but at the same time, it can’t be all talk.

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[Click here to read Part 1]



Key Takeaways



* Talking about race can be extremely uncomfortable. But until individuals are willing to take that step, “We’re never going to make any strides” toward tolerance.

* Racism doesn’t come naturally; “it’s taught.” Fortunately, leaders have an opportunity to change those teachings by making awareness a priority.

* Diversity initiatives can be extremely beneficial; but only if approached the right way. “What this movement doesn’t need is for people to throw money at it.”

* It’s critical for leaders to understand two things: communities dominated by people of color were hit harder by Covid, and there’s an inherent distrust when it comes to some aspects of healthcare.



 

Q&A with Cletis Earle, Part 2



Gamble:  These are uncomfortable conversations that have to happen. It seems a lot of this stems from a lack of awareness, whether it’s intentional or not, that not everyone has the same opportunity, and that can be a roadblock.

Earle:  It is. These are crucial conversations, and tough conversations. One of the problems here is that there are things we don’t talk about. We don’t talk about religion. We don’t talk about politics. The other thing we don’t talk about is race. It’s a hard discussion. Many times people get uncomfortable discussing race because it makes them feel uncomfortable. Well, if it makes you feel makes uncomfortable, imagine how it makes us feel.

Of course, not everything is about race. We get that, but there is a lot that has to do with it. And until we get comfortable talking about uncomfortable subjects, we’re not going to make any strides. Because we’re going to act as if it doesn’t exist. Luckily, there are so many amazing people who are doing something about it. That’s the most touching thing for me; to see that there are so many people — not just people of color—who are out there fighting this fight and saying, ‘Enough is enough.’

And so, I do believe discussions need to happen. We need to challenge the status quo. Challenge people when you hear them making racist jokes or any other offensive types of jo...