JEDI Professional Yemi Akisanya Says Representation Is Not The Defining Factor Of Success When It Comes To DEI
Yemi Akisanya believes Black populations should not be an afterthought when considering success benchmarks.
Akisanya currently serves as the vice president of justice, equity, diversity, inclusion (JEDI), and people experience at Axon, a company creating security technology products, such as TASER, primarily for law enforcement. He works within people operations and has partners including the company’s head of talent acquisition, head of culture, and head of internal communications. Akisanya says he ensures belonging and high performance are infused into the company’s global strategy, as mentioned on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast hosted by AFROTECH™ Brand Manager Will Lucas.
He admits that the best opportunities within the company are through talent acquisition, believing it is essential not to leave any stone unturned.
“We want to hire the best talent in all communities,” Akisanya mentioned. “We also want to make sure that once that talent comes to Axon, they have a culture that is able to harness their diversity of thought and perspective and produce better performance.”
Akisanya also discussed the overall landscape of DEI, which has seen a significant shift. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, many companies, such as Amazon, McDonald’s, Meta, Target, and Walmart, have scaled back on their commitments tied to DEI. The Trump administration has also issued executive orders dismantling DEI roles, programs, and initiatives at the federal level. Fortune notes that the politicization of DEI, while not the only cause, has helped push nearly 300,000 Black women out of the job market.
“I firmly believe, especially in the United States, that any organization, company, whether it’s service-based or consumer-based, that believes that the Black and African-American population is not a necessity for success, will fail in the next 10 to 15 years… That’s not a passionate statement… It’s just math,” Akisanya expressed.
He continued, “The power in Black talent, the acumen, the intellectual capacity, the creativity, the soul, the excellence, once we take things seriously… It can be very scary with regard to the power that lies behind the work that we do. So, I feel that companies right now who are not invested in Black communities or investing in Black talents, or what have you, are leaving room for other companies like Axon and others who see the value and who are pursuing it.”
Akisanya also shared how success in DEI should be determined moving forward. While he understands the importance of representation, he believes the experience of inclusion and performance should hold greater weight.
“Increasing the Black population by 5% is not success… DEI is about the experience of inclusion. You can bring a thousand people to the table… and we don’t have voices to influence decision-making, then how is that success,” Akisanya questioned. “Success will be determined by the performance that we have. And performance is always about action. That’s what success is about. And so for me, it’s like how do we change a narrative to shift away from the idea that it’s all about representation, it’s all about x’s and o’s, and it’s less around performance. DEI is performance for everyone, for everyone. And equity is recognizing that we’re not all on the same stage.”
Watch The Full Interview
To hear the whole conversation with Akisanya on “Black Tech Green Money,” click here.
