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Fostering Mutual Understanding: Transform Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Initiatives with Valerie Purdie-Vaughns, Associate Professor of Psychology, Columbia University
Embrace new advances
The world related to diversity — it’s changed in very, very powerful ways. In the 1970s we were really thinking about two groups – one is women mostly in the workplace and also African Americans. Today we’re thinking about diversity in a very, very broad range. We’re thinking about first generation, those who go to college for the first time. We’re thinking about veterans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender individuals, parents who are returning to the workplace. We’re thinking about ageism. One of the most powerful stereotypes is age and what I mean by that is not people that are 90; it’s people that are in their 40s and 50s. Along with that we’re thinking about the expansive ways of thinking about ethnicity. So African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, white Americans.
We’re also beginning to think of groups in multifaceted ways and this is very exciting. So in the 1970s and 80s if we were thinking about, say, an African American, you’re just thinking about what would be the best way to reduce bias and increase fairness in terms of recruitment and promotion and retention of African Americans. Today we’re thinking about the idea that black women may differ from black men in very important ways. We’re thinking about the idea that those who have multiracial identities have different kinds of needs than those who are black women or black men. So we’re now starting to think about subgroups, which is more complicated but I think it’s more precise because what each group needs is driven by the nature of the different stereotypes. So for instance with respect to African Americans, the stereotype of being aggressive and assertive actually helps African American women – particularly in finance, in banking, in law firms —, but it hurts African American men. So if you’re thinking about tackling stereotypes, different groups have different kinds of concerns.
A third kind of advance that’s really exciting is that we’re moving beyond the idea of access, the idea that once you have a diverse workplace that everything’s fine, and we’re thinking about all of the different ways in which bias, stereotypes, just outsider status, is baked into the workplace. So for instance just a few years ago the idea of happy hours, happy hours at bars. What if you belong to a religious group where being in a bar is inconsistent with your religious values or it’s just inconsistent with the idea that you have young children at home and you need to go home? The idea that what seemed to be just workplace fun is being thought of in a more sensitive way, that… let’s have family picnics in addition to Thursday night happy hours…. so have multiple spaces where people can both work and relax. So thinking about workplace environment from the perspective of the company as opposed to from the perspective of the employee, I think, has been tremendously exciting.
The last advance that I think has really started to transform diversity is this idea that bias operates outside of our awareness. This is now common knowledge and it’s now at least common rhetoric. The idea that all of us have biases, that we need to think about these biases, and we need to address them. That’s actually very, very new, and the idea that they operate in ways that we may not even be aware of. So it’s not about going around hunting for the one bad apple. It’s about thinking about our environment in a systematic way. All of these are very exciting advances. We still have a long way to go, but we’re thinking about diversity in ways that are more consistent with respect to the way humans are and the way humans behave.
Confront complexity head on
There are many, many complexities that are increasing in all companies — so people who were using pads of paper to make calculations, we now have statisticians and economists and game theorists who we’re adding just to make simple decisions about whether to buy or sell a bond. So just as every part of a company is getting more complicated, diversity should become more complicated because it’s also another integral piece of the company. So thinking about it as a normative growth process, I think, helps thinking about it in this more complex way. That’s number one.
Number two, what we want to do is we want to consider the idea of making sure every company has an expert. Everyone should be on board with respect to diversity just like everyone should be on board with having a profitable company. But you really need one or two or three key experts who are well trained in the company, who know about the science and know about the best practices. And then once you have key diversity officers who are well paid, well respected and have access throughout the company, then a lot of this knowledge and learning can be distilled through them.