Inclusion, Inc.

Summary of Part 1

Chapter 1: Beyond Good Intentions

Some strides have been made toward workplace equality over the last 50 years, but over the last two decades, progress has stalled.

Common approaches to DEI have fallen short. Business leaders end up overwhelmed, trainings don't work or backfire, and statements of solidarity are called into question. Good intentions aren't enough.

The good news? When it comes to DEI, we've been doing it all wrong. The difference between businesses that break the DEI inertia and those who stay stuck is defined by one key perspective shift: Equity isn't personal. It's systemic.

Chapter 2: “But We've Always Done It This Way…”

Our unconscious mind drives up to 95 percent of our decision-making. It's where our biases are stored.

These biases often sabotage the most common approaches to DEI. When underestimated groups attempt to lean in, for example, they're treated differently than their peers. Because our perceptions of the ways people behave are built on a baseline of the ways we expect them to behave, we react negatively when those unconscious norms are disrupted.

We can't train our way out of these responses, and trainings often backfire. The more prejudiced people already are, the more likely they are to use the fact that they've attended a training to license less virtuous behavior later. This phenomenon is known as moral licensing.

Trainings also pose risk for underestimated individuals, who are sometimes treated as representative experts ...