Leaders may mean well when they tout the economic payoffs of hiring more women and people of color, but there is no research support for the notion that diversifying the workforce automatically improves a company’s performance. This article critiques the popular rhetoric about diversity and revisits an argument the authors made 25 years ago: To fully benefit from increased racial and gender diversity, organizations must adopt a learning orientation and be willing to change the corporate culture and power structure.
Four actions are key for leaders: building trust and creating a workplace where people feel free to express themselves; actively combating bias and systems of oppression; embracing a variety of styles and voices inside the organization; and using employees’ identity-related knowledge and experiences to learn how best to accomplish the firm’s core work. Read more
by Robin J. Ely and David A. Thomas
Source: hbr.org
Companies can’t afford to ignore the professional talent available in Africa. Andrew Kris has a conversation with Borderless Consultant Aisha Jallow, who has the passion for and expertise in finding and attracting executives based in Africa for leadership roles in international companies.
Despite rising demand and a clear consumer call for change, Black brands encounter outsize challenges to scaling and meeting the demand. While Black Americans are more likely to start businesses than any other ethnic group, they are up against tougher challenges from the get-go, with capital of only about $35,000, on average, compared with $107,000 for White entrepreneurs.
Restructuring my organization was one of the toughest things I’ve done as a business owner. In the last 18 months, the demand for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) transformative work has exploded across the business world. With the rise of social justice movements and civil unrest, many businesses felt compelled to make DEI a bigger focus in their organizations.
