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.
And so here we are, from my humble beginnings as the son of Mexican American migrant workers raised in Minnesota, to my struggles with my Hispanic identity and being perceived as inauthentic, to eventually joining and becoming a leader of employee resource groups. All this led me to where I am today, which is arguably being considered one of the nation's top experts on employee resource groups. This book seeks to capture all my experience working with employee resource groups, as well as the findings from studying and researching ERGs. This knowledge will be supplemented throughout the book with real‐life examples of employee resource groups that convey excellence. Add to this my trained academics eye for noticing underlying theoretical foundations and the nation's largest collection of ERG data analytics obtained through my 4C ERG AssessmentTM, and this book is sure to provide unique insights and strategies aimed at elevating ERG impact and performance.
In considering the arc of this book, in Part 1 we'll first explore the current state of employee resource groups before talking about common ERG derailers before celebrating ERG leaders. From there, the book transitions into Part 2, which includes a deep dive on the 4C Model and the 4C ERG Assessment, two of my inventions and things I consider to be my gift back to the employee resource group community. We will explore each of the 4C (career, community, culture, commerce) pillars in great detail and outline how they contribute to employee resource group excellence. The book culminates with Part 3, which focuses on ERG solutions and strategies and ends with what I call the ERG Excellence Manifesto.
My goal is that this book will trigger a new way of thinking about ERGs. I look forward to providing a roadmap that leads all employee resource groups toward excellence.
1 Beyond Food, Flag, and Fun: The Current State of Employee Resource Groups
The aspirations for this book are not meek, nor are they muted. The purpose of this book is to help employee resource groups (ERGs) achieve excellence. Every company that has approached me to help with their ERGs wants to know how to get them to perform at their best and with distinction. This book intends to inform these efforts.
In today's polarized world, employee resource groups are now more necessary than ever. The work of ERGs is too important, and the need is too great, for them not to perform at their best. My experience with employee resource groups goes back 30 years to my first jobs in corporate America back in the early 1990s. Ever since, my relationship with employee resource groups has evolved and matured and resulted in having a much more textured understanding of, and appreciation for, all the great things employee resource groups provide.
This personal journey with employee resource group includes being an ERG member, an ERG leader, running ERG consortiums, conducting research on ERGs, establishing contests to identify “best‐in‐class” ERGs, helping companies launch ERGs, serving as a judge to determine the top ERGs in the country, writing ERG white papers, and helping ERG to pivot on their strategy and so on. It is without any hesitation that when it comes to employee resource groups, I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. This extensive experience uniquely positions me to write this book – see Table 1.1.
Companies ranging from Amazon to Zillow have all asked me to help with their ERGs. Working with large companies, like Walmart, and small companies, like Zebra Technologies, has given me a unique perspective of ERGs that is not matched by many others. Seeing these groups operate in every industry allows me to take a step back to notice ERG trends, observe best practices, identify key derailers, and hear the discourse associated with these groups. This puts me in a very privileged position. My academic training, including a doctorate in organization development, helps in the analysis of how employee resource groups operate within their larger organizational systems.
This book intends to share these lessons learned and insights. In doing so, the goal is to further help organizations create the conditions that nurture ERG success. For ERG leaders
