Giving Notice: Why the Best and the Brightest Leave the Workplace and How You Can Help Them Stay

1.1. A Contradictory Picture

Even as corporate America applauds its diversity efforts, hails the triumph of a true meritocracy in the workplace, and parades its principles of fairness, decades of research documenting thousands of workplace experiences of people of color, women, and gays and lesbians paint a nettlesome, contradictory picture. The quantitative and qualitative findings lead to one sobering conclusion: the twenty-five-year diversity crusade by corporate America has been a costly failure leading to stunted careers, wasted money, and disillusioned observers.

This unfortunate reality exists despite the estimated $8 billion spent annually on diversity efforts—including advice on recruitment, diversity training, career development, and ...