If you’ve received decent Diversity and Inclusion training, you know this fact: companies with more diverse workforces and more diversity in the C-Suite perform better financially. And new report from McKinsey & Company underscores this fact yet again.
But sadly, the message doesn’t seem to be getting through to corporate leadership, especially in the US. The reality is that 97% of American companies have senior leadership that fails to reflect the demographics of the available workforce. The UK is only slightly better, with 78% failing to reflect.
What’s Going On? Human nature. As a species we are fundamentally tribal; we hang out and do business with those who are members of our tribe. This tribalism is in our DNA and goes all the way back to our hunter-gatherer pre-history. And for eons it worked well; it assured the survival of our tribes, even in the face of devastating onslaughts by other tribes.
But today, the fact is all of the world’s tribes are taking part in the global business community. Savvy leaders get the business case for valuing and leveraging diversity: they make more money when they do. But, it takes effort and a willingness to respect and trust those who are not of our tribe. And so, in the face of overwhelming anounts of work, responsibilities and deliverables, we take the easy route and keep working with those of our tribe and unconsciously exclude those who are different.
If you want better financial performance, one place to start is with respect for others who are different from you. It makes good business sense.
