Off-Ramps and On-Ramps

4

The Business Case for Diversity

Regina was what you might call a superstar—one of a generation of high-achieving, highly educated young women who seemed destined to break glass ceilings. Her accomplishments were all the more impressive because she grew up in a housing project in Newark and was raised by a single mother. Regina won a full scholarship to Rutgers, graduated with honors, and went on to Columbia Law School, again on a partial scholarship. Upon graduation, she joined a highly prestigious New York law firm—“one of the firms that people in law school kill to work for,” she recalls.

Regina settled in well and found her job exhilarating. She made a lot of money and enjoyed the status and standing that went along with her high salary. ...