The Pomegranate Principle

Attract and retain the best and brightest professionals with these effective strategies for diverse talent recruitment

In The Pomegranate Principle: Best Practices in Diversity Recruiting, veteran executive search consultant and DEI expert Rory Verrett writes with clarity and expertise about the best practices in recruiting and retaining diverse talent for your organization. He offers proven, tangible solutions and accessible strategies for making the recruitment and retention of diverse talent the centerpiece of your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) vision.

Divided into three sections, the book begins with a critical examination of the realities of the 21st-century talent pool, and why, without a detailed strategy, it can be challenging for companies and organizations to recruit diverse talent. The author goes on to explain, in detail, a collection of commonly employed strategies that usually serve to hinder—rather than further—organizations’ DEI efforts. Finally, the book concludes with proven and innovative techniques and tools you can implement immediately to start recruiting diverse talent.

You’ll also find:

• A hiring handbook for leaders and hiring managers at companies, startups, professional services firms, nonprofits, and universities
• Strategies that anyone can use to advocate for and promote DEI initiatives at their place of work
• The benefits of tapping into the productivity, innovation, and creativity of talent from different generations, ethnic groups, genders, and life experiences

An effective and hands-on resource for hiring managers, Chief Human Resources Officers, Chief Diversity Officers, and other executives and business leaders, The Pomegranate Principle belongs on the bookshelves of every leader who aims to position their organization for success going forward.

Foreword xi

Acknowledgments xv

About the Authors xix

Introduction: Growing Up as a Pomegranate xxi

Who This Book Is For xxvi

Protégé Search: Our Mission and Methodology as a Diversity Recruiting Firm xxix

Part I The Structure of the Talent Market 1

Finding Pomegranates 1

What You Are Up Against in Your Diversity Recruiting Efforts 4

Chapter One The Labor Market 5

The Lure of Entrepreneurship 8

Your Company’s Brand or Reputation 12

First- Generation Big- Time 16

Part II What to Do About It 37

Chapter Two Stop Doing This: Not Recognizing the Phase of DEI Adoption Your Organization Is In 39

Phase One: You Need a DEI Strategy, but Don’t Have Anything in Place 42

Phase Two: You Have a DEI Strategy, but It Is Not Sustainable 44

Phase Three: You Have Some Momentum and Success with DEI, but Risks Remain 48

Phase Four: You Have a Sustainable and Integrated DEI Strategy 50

Chapter Three Stop Doing This: Relying on the Chief Diversity Officer Role to Solve Every DEI Problem 55

The Chief Diversity Officer Role 57

The Evolution of the Chief Diversity Officer Role: 1970s to Today 58

Stop Having the CDO Report to the Head of HR 62

Searching for Your Next Chief Diversity Officer 67

The Future of the Chief Diversity Officer Role 70

Chapter Four Stop Doing This: Having a Static DEI Strategy (or How the Murder of George Floyd Changed DEI Forever) 73

Black Trauma, White Discomfort, and the Civil Rights Case for DEI 76

Chapter Five Stop Doing This: Focusing Too Much on Culture Fit in Recruiting 85

The Culture of the Corporate Tournament 98

Chapter Six Stop Doing This: Allowing the Fake Failed Search to Thwart Your DEI Recruiting Strategy 103

Chapter Seven Stop Doing This: Believing Your Organization Is a True Meritocracy 109

Part III Solutions 117

Pomegranate Principles 117

Chapter Eight Principle 1: Building a Diverse Talent Pipeline in Advance of Hiring Needs 119

Chapter Nine Principle 2: Expanding the Archetype of the Ideal Candidate 131

Chapter Ten Principle 3: Diversifying the Recruiting Process 137

Chapter Eleven Principle 4: Recruiting the Whole Person 155

Chapter Twelve Principle 5: Onboarding Diverse Talent 163

Conclusion: What else Can You Do? 171

Notes 173

Index 175

RORY E. VERRETT is the Founder and Managing Partner of Protégé Search, the leading global executive search firm focused on diverse talent. He is the host of Protégé Podcast, a career show highlighting the success stories of diverse executives, entrepreneurs, and social impact leaders. Rory is an independent board member of Bolster, the on-demand executive talent marketplace, and serves as a diversity advisor to Mercury Fund, a $750 million early stage venture capital fund. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Howard University, Rory is the former president of the Harvard Law Black Alumni Network and a former trustee of Howard University. He splits his time between Potomac, Maryland and Lisbon, Portugal serving Protégé’s global client base.

In The Pomegranate Principle: Best Practices in Diversity Recruiting, veteran executive recruiter and leadership coach Rory Verrett delivers an innovative, yet practical framework for how to recruit and retain diverse talent to your organization.

In the book, you’ll learn how inclusive talent management techniques can strengthen an enterprise-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy, and help your organization thrive in a dynamic and disruptive marketplace. The author provides a much-needed handbook for hiring managers at companies, start-ups, professional services firms, nonprofits, and universities, as well as a comprehensive roadmap for other professionals seeking to make their organizations more inclusive.

Organized into three sections, The Pomegranate Principle begins by setting out a diversity recruiting framework which reflects some of the structural economic challenges facing modern companies and organizations. In Part II, the author explains some of the traditional talent management strategies and processes that organizations should cease because—while inevitably well-intentioned— they are simply ineffective in successfully recruiting and retaining diverse talent. Finally, the book offers innovative strategies and proven techniques any hiring manager or executive leader can implement immediately to recruit and retain diverse talent.

An essential and hands-on blueprint for recruiting the best, most diverse group of professionals available to your company or organization, The Pomegranate Principle is an indispensable resource for CEOs, Chief Human Resources Officers, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers, hiring managers, talent acquisition professionals, and other leaders who seek to recruit and retain the best and brightest talent in the market.

Praise for THE POMEGRANATE PRINCIPLE

“For almost 20 years, I have had the pleasure, privilege, and joy to know and work with Rory. Two of the best hires of my career thus far were sourced and recruited by Rory. He does the work to understand the needs of his clients—subtext and context—and makes matches to meet the need objectively and subjectively. Brilliantly conceived and flawlessly executed, The Pomegranate Principle actually delivers.”
—JACQUELINE M. WELCH, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, The New York Times Company

“The Pomegranate Principle is a deliciously straightforward exposition on the super-fruit benefits of sustained organizational diversity and inclusion recruiting and talent development. By providing readers with concrete frameworks for improving organizational outcomes, Rory reveals the strategies necessary to recruit and retain diverse talent today and for years to come.”
—DR. LISA COLEMAN, Senior Vice President, Global Inclusion and Strategic Innovation, New York University

“I’ve been approached by many executive recruiters. None of them have helped transform my career, and ultimately, my life, the way Rory has. I know I’m in a long line of executives who’ve been impacted by his wise career counsel. What you are reading in The Pomegranate Principle is what he’s imparted to me as I’ve sought to recruit and retain exceptional diverse talent on my team and the companies in which I’ve led.”
—VICTOR R. SCOTT, II, Fortune 15 Chief Communications Officer

“In the realm of diverse talent strategies, Rory is a true luminary whom I’ve had the honor of collaborating on a transformative placement. His concrete frameworks provide invaluable guidance for enhancing organizational outcomes and nurturing a culture of diversity and inclusion that will endure for years to come. The principles outlined in this book are not mere theories; they are powerful modern strategies that yield tangible results. Rory’s unique ability to connect the dots and execute flawlessly is evident in every page. If you are seeking to transform your recruitment and talent development strategies, The Pomegranate Principle is an indispensable resource.”
—JOSE MARTÍN, Chief People Officer, San Francisco Giants