Women, Minorities, & Other Extraordinary People

The New Path for Workforce Diversity

Greenleaf Book Group, 2018

15 min read

11 take-aways

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What's inside?

After 50 years of diversity efforts, US workplaces remain largely inhospitable to women and minorities.

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Most American CEOs are white men. Most board members are white men, as are companies’ senior executives and other people in authority. Few women or minority group members hold positions of power. This is how things were 100 years ago and even 50 years ago. Despite decades of corporate diversity initiatives, power in the American workplace seldom mirrors the society at large. Subconscious bias accounts for most of this imbalance. Barbara Adams, a diversity expert with more than 20 years’ experience, advises business leaders on what they can do to eliminate this bias and make their firms more diverse and inclusive. Adams discusses concrete policies businesses might apply to increase diversity and bring more women and people who belong to minority groups into positions of power. She also details attitudes and judgments many already in power hold, whether they know it or not. Adams’s insights will serve hiring managers, HR professionals, executives, and all those who want more equitable workplaces.

Summary

Inclusive Diversity Is Great for Business

For some time, businesspeople have discussed, written and spoken publicly about two hot topics: diversity and inclusion. Diversity means hiring, retaining and promoting all types of people, including women, minorities and “other extraordinary people.” Inclusion calls for integrating them into your organization’s operations and activities.

Combine diversity and inclusivity, and you get inclusive diversity. This sound strategy is better for business; it leads to stronger financial returns, higher productivity and more consistent innovation. Inclusive diversity leads to improved global GDP, and it’s the correct moral and ethical way for companies to manage hiring and retention in recognition that worker rights – no matter who the workers may be – are human rights.

For evidence of the value of inclusive diversity, Catalyst, an organization that focuses on improving women’s role in the workplace, states that firms with three or more female board members achieve a 53% better return on equity, a 42% better return on sales and a 66% better return on invested...

About the Author

Barbara Adams, PsyD, is the founder and chief learning officer at GAR (Gender, Age and Race) Diversity Consulting in San Francisco. She holds a doctorate of psychology in organizational development, and she is a former director in the National Diversity & Inclusion office at Kaiser Permanente.

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A. 2 years ago

Where do we draw the line on hiring women and multi-races in place of "white men"? When will they become the odd persons out?
- 1 year ago
  
  Women and underrepresented minorities are already the odd persons out, old white dude. Leveling the playing field is the right thing to do. Rest assured, old white dudes will still be in power for years to come.

Barbara B. Adams PsyD