Building an Inclusive Organization summary

Introduction

Building an Inclusive Organization by Stephen Frost and Rafi Karim Al-Adina True diversity and inclusion drive innovation and financial success. What do diversity and inclusion really mean for your company? How can you move beyond slogans and put them into practice? Too often, companies treat diversity as a box-ticking exercise.

The authors call this diversity 101. They might place people of color in token positions or begrudgingly appoint a woman to the board. Then they proclaim themselves diverse. But if decisions are still made by homogenous teams of white men, this diversity is merely surface-window dressing.

Leaders must see a lack of diversity as a crisis. It impacts the intrinsic culture of the company. This crisis must be addressed at the highest levels. Instead of expecting minorities to assimilate, company culture needs structural changes.

It must become truly inclusive. Companies that integrate diversity and inclusion policies are more creative. They are more innovative. They have more engaged employees.

They even earn more money. Inclusive organizations create benefits for employees, leaders, and businesses alike.

The Echo Chamber of Exclusions

The Echo Chamber of Exclusions. We have all done it. We have clicked unfollow or unfriend. Perhaps on a family member who spouts abhorrent political beliefs.

Or a friend who posts tasteless Facebook memes. Memes that make our blood boil. It seems like an easy solution. With a simple click, you never hear their awful theories again.

And why not? Why should you be forced to listen to things that enrage you? The problem is unfriending your racist uncle. It does not make him less racist.

Now he has no one to contradict him. His racist views go unchallenged. The key message here is important. In increasingly polarized times, workplace diversity is crucial.

Diversity is about engaging with different perspectives. But in recent years, we have become polarized. We exist in homogenous silos. People share the same identity and opinions.

This division affects our political landscape. It deepens conflicts between different social groups. People find it harder to find common ground. Social media makes this polarization worse.

Technology optimizes your online experience. Cookies track your tastes and interests. They reflect them back in the content you see. Before the internet, people consumed news.

It came from a handful of newspapers and TV channels. Today, they are informed via a personalized feed. They are rarely confronted with contradictory opinions. Worse still, many sources are biased.

Some are even completely fabricated. Our lives are made poorer by homogeneity. In the workplace, a white male team has blind spots. It is prone to groupthink.

They produce fewer original ideas. They are ill-prepared for the future. These environments often lead to cronyism. Gender pay disparities and nepotism strangle growth.

They scare away fresh talent. In these politically intolerant times, corporations have a responsibility. They must create genuinely diverse and inclusive workplaces. Employees can learn from each other.

They can bring their whole selves to work. How can corporations transform homogenous cultures? As we will learn in the next chapter, it starts by confronting unconscious bias.