HBR's Women at Work Collection

CHAPTER 26

Reframe Diversity by Teaching Inclusivity to All

by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox

Deloitte has started a major debate in diversity circles by turning its approach upside down. The firm is ending its women’s network and other affinity groups and starting to focus on . . . men. The central idea: It’ll offer all managers—including the white guys who still dominate leadership—the skills to become more inclusive, then hold them accountable for building more-balanced businesses.

“A lot of our leaders are still older white men, and they need to be part of the conversation and advocate for women,” is how Deepa Purushothaman, national director of Deloitte’s soon-to-be-disbanded women’s employee resource group (ERG), puts it.¹

This is a reversal from ...