Hiring for Diversity

FOREWORD

Diversity and inclusion may seem like recent buzzwords in the business world. In fact, these concepts trace their origins in corporate and military organizations as far back as the 1940s, when President Harry Truman desegregated the U.S. military. Meanwhile, in the last 20 years, we have watched business owners, shareholders, employees, consumers, and policy makers all increasingly agree that diversity and inclusion are important investments—for almost every company imaginable.

This is for good reason: The talent pool available to founders and leaders is becoming more diverse than ever. Women now outnumber men among U.S. college graduates, and representation among people of color continues similarly to expand. Ten years ago, it would have been difficult to find a technology start-up that mentioned diversity or inclusion in its IPO filing, and very few Fortune 500 public tech companies discussed the topic with their shareholders.

During those ten years, I've spent my career as a leader in the DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) space. Two poignant observations stick out.

First, the key to successfully building inclusive workplaces and high-functioning diverse teams is to think more like a businessperson and less like a diversity person. What do I mean by that? In all aspects of business, we are constantly looking for data from which we can glean any meaningful insight. Diversity is no different. When your business has the right data systems in place, it is easier to ...