Year-End Recap

Comms Plan for D&B 2021 Year-end Recap

To: eteam@
From: MTH  
Date: Feb. 1, 2022
Subject: D&B: A Glance Back at 2021   

Hello,

I’m writing to you to share D&B: A Glance Back at 2021. I feel fortunate to be able to continue to support the work each of you do in advancing diversity and creating connection within our base of employees and on the platform. Thank you for your individual and collective efforts. With all that you have on your plates executing on the vision for [this company’s] future, I imagine that it’s hard to take stock of the multitude of ways in which you contributed to accelerating our D&B efforts.

If there was ever any doubt, 2021 proved once again that we have the strength to go the distance. I believe that our source of strength lies in your leadership, which has honed our ability to focus on that which is important to us: our commitment to creating connection and belonging. It’s a commitment that begins right at home with our ability to create a foundation within the company in which a diverse array of people can flourish and derive a sense of belonging.

Our inaugural 2019 State of D&B at [XYZ] set forth key findings and, with that, the mandate to translate those findings into a set of fearless goals and active practices. As with any starting habit, it took both practice and purpose to build a muscle for D&B at a company-wide level. We held to our commitments in 2020 and 2021 despite interruptions to the business and the world as we know it. 

When I survey the accomplishments of the last year, I see D&B priorities becoming shared practices. The highlights you see in our D&B: A Glance Back at 2021 may seem familiar to you for a reason; you have all contributed to them and we are operating from a common playbook now. We are, as they say, “doing the work” and, in the process, setting a standard as a company that allows people of all backgrounds, identities and experiences to feel respected, valued and able to contribute fiercely as we continue to build a platform that truly creates connection and manifests belonging.

In my conversations out in the world, I am constantly reminded that we are recognized for our efforts to champion equity on our platform and the commitments that we have made inside the company. Our practices are held up as a model in D&B efforts, particularly in the world of Tech. I set out the call, but you carried it forward and amplified our central efforts in your organizations. The result was a cascade of focused efforts to advance D&B. Those efforts have reverberated in the ability of our people to focus, create, work hard and deliver value to our hosts and guests and the communities from which they hail. We have much to be proud of. 

And yet we must not rest on our laurels. I invite you each to recommit to advancing Diversity & Belonging in 2022, to continue to develop that muscle and use it for creating the connection and belonging that the world seeks. 

Thank you for your leadership and continued collaboration. 

All the best,
MTH