The Challenge and Opportunity of Diversity in the Workplace

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The Challenge and Opportunity of Diversity in the
Workplace
Sylvia Ann Hewlett The Association of
Independent Schools of Greater
Washington October 30, 2008
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Hidden Brain Drain Task Force
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Global Talent Pool
Africa Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South
Africa Tunisia Asia China, India, Japan,
Korea ½ Russian Federation Europe Czech
Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, ½
Russian Federation, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine,
United Kingdom Latin America Argentina,
Brazil, Chile, Mexico Venezuela North America
US Canada Other Australia New
Zealand Figures estimated based on UNESCO
Institute for Statistics, Enrollment in
Tertiary Education 2001/2002,
www.uis.unesco.org, accessed April 4, 2006
Catalyst, Quick Takes African-Americans, Asian
Americans and Latinos/Latinas, updated 2/22/05,
www.catalyst.org, accessed April 7, 2006 Higher
Education Statistics Agency, First Year UK
Domiciled HE Students By Qualification Aim, Mode
of Study, Gender and Ethnicity 2004/05,
www.hesa.ac.uk/holisdocs/pubinfo/student/ethnic040
5.htm, accessed April 6, 2006.
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Leadership in Your Midst Tapping the Hidden
Strengths of Minority Executives

• In-depth study designed to explore the full round
  of minority professionals lives
• 1,601 professionals, including 1,001 minority
  women and 200 minority men
• College or professional degree
• Ages 28-55

Sponsored by General Electric, Time Warner,
Unilever
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Findings Cultural Capital of Minority Female
Executives is Rich and Valuable

• 41 and 35 of highly-educated African Americans
  and Latino/Hispanics are involved in social
  outreach
• 25 of highly-educated African American women are
  active leaders in their religious community
• 24 of Latino/Hispanic businesswomen are mentors/
  big sisters
• 14 of all minority women hold leadership roles
  in professional organizations
• 13 of all minority women serve as board members,
  spokespersons and fundraisers for not-for-profit
  organizations

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The Case for Diversity

• Diversity of thought often delivers stronger,
  faster results than homogenous teams.
• It took a team of not only mathematicians and
  linguists but also chess grand masters,
  classicists, and crossword addicts to break the
  German enigma code during World War II.
• It was a team of marine biologists,
  mathematicians and salvage workersand not a
  group of submarine expertsthat located the USS
  Scorpion in 1968.

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Findings Hidden Bias Legitimacy Big Concerns

• 42 of minority professional women in large
  corporations feel constrained by the white male
  model and struggle with style compliance issues
  (speaking style, hand gestures,
  clothing/hairstyle)
• 30 of minority women professionals believe
  promotions at their companies are based on
  appearance, not ability
• 25 of minority business women feel they are
  perceived as Affirmative Action Hires and
  struggle with legitimacy

For 28 of younger Latina/Hispanic women, hidden
biases are severe enough to make them think about
quitting
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Findings An Overload of Care

• Minority women shoulder heavy responsibilities
• 51 of African American women and 47 of
  Latina/Hispanic women have children under 18 in
  household (vs. 41 of white women)
• 24 of Latina/Hispanic business women care for
  needy youth in the community (vs. 14 white
  businesswomen)
• 18 of African-American women ages 28-40 are
  single parents (vs. 7 white women) or main
  breadwinners
• 17 and 11 of highly-educated African Americans
  and Latinos/ Hispanics care for elders/extended
  family

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Findings Distrust Invisibility are Big Issues

• 52 of minority women professionals do not trust
  their employers and fear giving them ammo
• Distrust leads to reluctance to share personal
  lives
• 56 of minority women believe their outside lives
  are invisible

Larger firms (1,001 employees or more)
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Implications of Findings for Organizations

• Cultural Capital. Inability to recognize and
  leverage transferable skills of cultural capital
  is a big missed opportunity.
• Hidden biases undermine diversity and inclusion
  efforts
• The high level of mistrust impedes sharing
  information makes it difficult to recognize or
  support employees

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What Can Organizations Do?

• Shine a Light Create greater awareness and
  appreciation of community work (American Express,
  Cisco, Time Warner)
• Lessen the Load Widen the tent to support the
  extended family (Time Warner, Citigroup)
• Re-imagine Inclusion Expose hidden bias in
  order to build trust and authentic communication
  (BP, PepsiCo)
• Finish the Job of Leadership Development Apply
  what is learned off the job to leverage talent
  and accelerate careers (Goldman Sachs, Pitney
  Bowes)