Awareness
Understand how assumptions, experiences, and organizational patterns influence decisions.
A question an executive might ask
Which assumptions or patterns are shaping the decisions my leadership team makes about people?
Last updated: November 2026
The Equity in Action Model
Equity in Action: from good intentions to everyday leadership practice
The Equity in Action Model is Celeste Warren's six-part framework that helps leaders examine how their decisions, behaviors, and organizational systems shape the experiences and opportunities of the people they lead.
CRW Diversity built its executive advisory, workshops, and briefings around this model. Equity does not become real simply because an organization believes in it. It becomes real through the decisions leaders make every day, which is why the model is organized around practice rather than principle.
What are the six elements of the Equity in Action Model?
The six elements are Awareness, Access, Advocacy, Action, Accountability, and Empowerment. Together they move a leader from noticing patterns to changing outcomes, and they apply equally to personal leadership behavior and to the systems an executive oversees.
Access
Examine who has access to information, opportunities, relationships, and resources.
A question an executive might ask
Who in our organization reliably hears about stretch roles, key meetings, and sponsors, and who does not?
Advocacy
Use your influence to ensure talent, ideas, and perspectives aren't overlooked.
A question an executive might ask
Whose talent and ideas am I personally using my influence to put forward?
Action
Turn awareness and good intentions into deliberate leadership decisions.
A question an executive might ask
Which decision this quarter will show that our intentions have become practice?
Accountability
Look beyond intentions and pay attention to outcomes.
A question an executive might ask
What outcomes are we measuring, and what do they tell us that our intentions do not?
Empowerment
Create the conditions for people to contribute, grow, and use their voices.
A question an executive might ask
What conditions would let more of our people contribute fully and speak up?
Why a model built for executives matters
Executives shape the systems everyone else works within: policies, practices, access to opportunity, leadership decisions, and unwritten norms. The Equity in Action Model asks senior leaders to look beyond intentions and pay attention to outcomes, which is where their influence is largest.
Celeste Warren developed her perspective over 28 years at a Fortune 100 company, including 10 years leading global diversity and inclusion. Her book The Truth About Equity asks a related question: what if the problem is not the people, but the systems surrounding them?
Ways to use the model
- In executive advisory, to examine a specific decision or system.
- In executive briefings, to give a leadership team a shared language.
- In workshops such as Equity in Action for Managers, to build daily habits.
- Through the free guide 6 Practical Ways to Lead More Fairly, Intentionally and Effectively, available on the CRW Diversity website.
Return to executive advisory for leaders.
Common questions
What is the Equity in Action Model?
The Equity in Action Model, created by Celeste Warren, gives leaders a practical way to examine how their decisions, behaviors, and organizational systems shape the experiences and opportunities of the people they lead. It has six elements: Awareness, Access, Advocacy, Action, Accountability, and Empowerment.
Read this answer in the full FAQWhy focus on systems instead of individual behavior?
Because individual change rarely lasts if the systems around people do not change. Celeste Warren asks what within the organization is helping people succeed and what may be getting in their way: policies, practices, access to opportunity, leadership decisions, and unwritten norms. Her work examines how people lead and how organizations operate.
Read this answer in the full FAQIs there a free resource to start with?
Yes. The free guide 6 Practical Ways to Lead More Fairly, Intentionally and Effectively introduces the Equity in Action Model with key insights, reflection questions, and simple next steps for Awareness, Access, Advocacy, Action, Accountability, and Empowerment. It is available on the CRW Diversity main website.
Read this answer in the full FAQWhat are the 5 P’s of leadership?
The 5 P’s of leadership vary by source, and versions often include purpose, people, process, performance, and perspective. Treat any such list as a memory aid rather than a standard. The Equity in Action Model offers a practical alternative for executives: Awareness, Access, Advocacy, Action, Accountability, and Empowerment, applied to daily leadership decisions.
Read this answer in the full FAQWhat books has Celeste Warren written?
Celeste Warren wrote The Truth About Equity, which challenges leaders to examine how everyday policies, practices, systems, and decisions shape access to opportunity, and How to Be a Diversity and Inclusion Ambassador, a guide to everyone’s role in helping all feel accepted, engaged, and valued.
Read this answer in the full FAQIs there anything for managers, not just executives?
Yes. Equity in Action for Managers is a practical learning experience that helps managers recognize where equity shows up in day to day leadership and gives them tools to put into practice immediately. It is designed to be short, practical, and suited to busy leaders. Details are on the CRW Diversity main website.
Read this answer in the full FAQBring a complex leadership challenge to the table
Every engagement begins by understanding where you are, what you are trying to accomplish, and what may be standing in the way.
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