Why diversity matters

Are you unconsciously
biased?
Why diversity matters

We live in a diverse world
•  In terms of gender, race, religion, sexual
orientation…

Yet, our power structures are
still fairly homogeneous
•  Mostly male, middle-aged, white, heterosexual,
and in many cases from Catholic upbringing

Exhibit 4
Gender diversity of executive management team1
Percent of companies by percent race/ethnicity diversity
1
9
22
38
1613
21– 30%11– 20%1–10%0% 41– 50%31– 40%
01
7
16
31
16
30
> 50%41–50%31–40%21–30%11–20%1–10%0%
00
10
19
7
63
21– 30%11– 20%1–10%0% 41– 50%31– 40%
Population diversity
Percent, 2012
Women
50.9% Men49.1%
Women
50.8% Men49.2%
Women
50.8% 49.2% Men
Average percent
women in
executive team
12%
16%
6%
1 Number of companies = 107 for UK, 186 for US, 67 for Brazil
Women are still underrepresented at the top of corporations globally
SOURCE: US Census Bureau, McKinsey Diversity Database
SOURCE: US Census Bureau, McKinsey Diversity Database
Exhibit 5
Compared with other countries, the UK is doing a better job in racial
diversity, though it still faces challenges

You can’t be what you can’t
see
•  Diﬃcult to be inspired when you don’t
belong, when you don’t ﬁt the norm.

We need deeper understanding
and deeper cohesion

Being more aware of our
unconscious bias
•  Yale study:
–  All of the professors received the same one-page summary.
–  In half of the descriptions, the mythical applicant was named John and in
half the applicant was named Jennifer.
–  On a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 being highest, professors gave John an
average score of 4 for competence and Jennifer 3.3.
–  John was also seen more favorably as someone they might hire for their
laboratories or would be willing to mentor.
–  Female professors were just as biased against women students as their
male colleagues.

Source:
Unconscious
Bias
@
Work
|
Google
Ventures

Unconsciously, we tend to like people
who look like us, think like us and come
from backgrounds similar to ours.  

•  Beliefs and values gained from family, culture and a
lifetime of experiences heavily inﬂuence how we view
and evaluate both others and ourselves.
•  These thought patterns, assumptions and
interpretations – or biases – we have built up over time
help us to process information quickly and eﬃciently.
•  Deep-in-the-brain automatic preferences

Implicit association test
Male
Female

Liberal
Arts
Science

Female/

Liberal
Arts

Male/

Science

Male/

Liberal
Arts

Female/

Science

•  About 75% of people who have taken the
IAT online complete the test faster when
white faces are sorted alongside pleasant
words, when male words are sorted
alongside career terms and when women
are sorted with liberal arts studies, not
science and tech.

Lessons from behavioural economics and social psychology
Recent developments in the fields of behavioural economics and social psychology help to explain why
diversity is lacking in organizations, and what methods can be used to increase it.
1. Underlying reasons for bias
A body of research in cognitive psychology and behavioral economics over the past 40 years has established
that human behaviour is heavily influenced by subconscious, instinctive, and emotional “System 1”
responses, rather than being under the exclusive control of rational, deliberate “System 2” thinking.* As a
result, behaviour and attitudes in the workplace are influenced by an array of cognitive biases that affect
decision making. The most relevant for diversity are:
ƒ Implicit stereotypes (sometimes referred to as “subconscious bias”): the association of groups of
people with certain traits or activities, such as men with science and mathematics and women with arts
and languages.†
Without our being aware of it, these associations can powerfully influence decisions such
as which candidate to hire.
ƒ Ingroup favouritism: a preference for people who are like us, so that an individual might choose to work
with someone of the same nationality, gender, and race.‡
ƒ Outgroup homogenity bias: the tendency for an individual to think that the group of people they belong
to (their “ingroup”) is more diverse, while their “outgroup” is more homogeneous, with members who
appear alike or even interchangeable.‡
22 Allen R. McConnell and Jill M. Leibold, “Relations among the implicit association test, discriminatory behavior,
and explicit measures of racial attitudes”, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2001, volume 37,
pp. 435–442.
23 Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly, “Great leaders who make the mix work”, Harvard Business Review,
September 2013, pp. 68–76.
Source:
Diversity
ma<ers,
Mac
Kinsey
2015

Gender inequity makes us
lose money and opportunities
Source:
Diversity
ma<ers,
Mac
Kinsey
2015

Source:
Diversity
ma<ers,
Mac
Kinsey
2015

Diversity and inclusion help
the bottomline
•  Venture-backed companies led by a woman actually produce 12%
higher revenues and launch on a third less capital than their male
counterparts, as show studies by the Kauﬀman Foundation and
leading universities. They have a record of greater capital eﬃciency
and a lower failure rate than companies only run by men.

•  According to DELL study, companies with more women board
directors outperform those with the least by 66% ROI capital, 53%
return on equity and 42% return on sales.

THE ADVANTAGE IN TALENT RECRUITMENT
In the decade before the financial crisis, it became apparent that demographic pressures and economic
Exhibit 9
Diversity has a positive impact on many key aspects of organisational
performance
Rationale
Diversity manage-
ment helps to…
…enhance the
company's image
▪ Social responsibility is becoming increasingly important
▪ Many countries have legal requirements for diversity (e.g., UK Equality Act 2010)
…improve
decision making
▪ Diversity fosters innovation and creativity through a greater variety of problem-solving
approaches, perspectives, and ideas. Academic research has shown that diverse groups
often outperform experts.
…increase
employee
satisfaction
▪ Diversity increases employee satisfaction and reduces conflicts between groups,
improving collaboration and loyalty
…strengthen
customer
orientation
▪ Women and minority groups are key consumer decision makers: for example, women
make 80% of consumer purchases in the UK
▪ Gay men and women have average household incomes that are almost 80% higher than
average
…win the war for
talent
▪ A strong focus on women and ethnic minorities increases the sourcing talent pool, a
particular issue in Europe. In a 2012 survey, 40% of companies said skill shortages were
the top reason for vacancies in entry-level jobs
SOURCE: Women Matter, McKinsey & Company, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013; Thomas Barta, Markus Kleiner, and Tilo Neumann, “Is there a
payoff from top-team diversity?”, McKinsey Quarterly, April 2012; Martin Dewhurst, Matthew Pettigrew, and Ramesh Srinivasan, “How
multinationals can attract the talent they need”, McKinsey Quarterly, June 2012; Diversity wins!, McKinsey & Company, November 2011;
McKinsey qualitative survey; The War for Diverse Talent, Green Park , September 2010; Scott E. Page, The Difference: How the power
of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies, Princeton University Press, 2007; McKinsey analysis
SOURCE: Women Matter, McKinsey & Company, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013; Thomas Barta, Markus Kleiner,
and Tilo Neumann, “Is there a payoff from top-team diversity?”, McKinsey Quarterly, April 2012; Martin Dewhurst,
Matthew Pettigrew, and Ramesh Srinivasan, “How multinationals can attract the talent they need”, McKinsey
Quarterly, June 2012; Diversity wins!, McKinsey & Company, November 2011; McKinsey qualitative survey; The War
for Diverse Talent, Green Park, September 2010; Scott E. Page, The Difference: How the power of diversity creates
better groups, firms, schools, and societies, Princeton University Press, 2007; McKinsey analysis

the bottomline
•  “Having a more diverse set of employees means you have a more
diverse set of skills,” says Sara Ellison, an MIT economist, which
“could result in an oﬃce that functions better.”
•  Among other results, the economists found that shifting from an all-
male or all-female oﬃce to one split evenly along gender lines could
increase revenue by roughly 41 percent.
h<p://news.mit.edu/2014/workplace-‐diversity-‐can-‐help-‐bo<om-‐line-‐1007

the bottomline
•  Companies With More Women Board Directors Experience Higher Financial
Performance.

•  Investments run by female hedge fund managers do 3 times as well as
those run by male managers over the past 5 years.
•  Venture capital ﬁrms that invest in women-led companies outperform those
that don’t, according to
research from the Small Business Administration’s Oﬃce of Advocacy.

•  And venture-backed companies that include more women on their
executive management teams are more likely to succeed than companies
with men-only executive suites, according to
Women at the Wheel: Do Female Executives Drive Start-up
Success, research conducted by Dow Jones.

the bottomline
•  Understand customer better: When teams had one or more
members who represented a target end-user, the entire team was
as much as 158% more likely to understand that target end-user
and innovate accordingly. (Apple)
•  If women’s paid employment rates were the same as men’s, the
USA’s GDP would increase by nine per cent, the Eurozone’s by 13
per cent and Japan’s by 16 per cent.”

Diversity makes us smarter
•  Being around people who are diﬀerent
from us makes us more creative, more
diligent and harder-working.

“What would have happened if Lehman
Brothers had been Lehman Sisters?”

Even movies about women
make more money…

Ninety-‐seven
of
the
133
movies
represented
in
this
selecQon
are
about
men.
Only
36
are

about
women
—
the
people
who
are,
as
it
is
now
proven,
the
bigger
box
oﬃce
draw.

That's
not
just
poor
representa<on,
it's
also
bad
business.

Transparency is the ﬁrst step
to changing this situation

Google’s ﬁrst set of diversity
statistics, released in May 2014

Source:
Apple
diversity
website

Diversity programmes are in essence a form of change programme: they seek to alter the composition of
leadership teams or staff and to disrupt old habits and routines. However, research into change management
has found that change programmes have a high failure rate of about 70 percent.21
Most efforts stall because
those involved—management and employees—do not believe in them or make them a priority.
Successful diversity programmes have clear objectives and are led from the top (not just the CEO, but the
entire top team). They foster active involvement from the wider organization and require the infrastructure to
actively manage against targets (not quotas) to hold individuals accountable for outcomes. Exhibit 10 sets
out questions for leaders to ask when planning a change programme and suggestions to help organizations
reach their diversity goals.
Exhibit 10
Aspire
Where do we
want to go?
Assess
How ready are we
to go there?
Architect
What do we need
to do to get there?
Act
How do we man-
age the journey?
Advance
How do we keep
moving forward?
1
2
3
4
5
Key steps for successful diversity programmes
SOURCE: Scott Keller and Colin Price, Beyond Performance: How great organizations build ultimate competitive advantage, Wiley, 2011
Diversity
▪ Create a clear value proposition for having a diverse and
inclusive culture
▪ Set a few clear targets (not quotas) that balance complexity
with cohesiveness
Define a clear
value
proposition
Establish a fact
base
▪ Understand the current situation in terms of statistics and
mindsets and learn from external best practices.
Understand root causes and underlying mindsets
Create targeted
initiatives
▪ Differentiate initiatives by diversity group, for example,
gender initiatives do not always resonate with other
minorities. Lead from the top
Define the
governance
model
▪ Define the rollout strategy for all initiatives. Launch 1-2
highly visible flagship projects at the beginning of the
effort. Monitor rigorously
Build inclusion
▪ Continuously address potential mindset barriers through
systematic change management. Link diversity to other
change management efforts
SOURCE: Scott Keller and Colin Price, Beyond Performance: How great organizations build ultimate competitive
advantage, Wiley, 2011
Which are the best practices in
terms of diversity and inclusion?

2. Techniques for overcoming bias
Behavioural insights can be harnessed to increase diversity in three main ways: by training and educating
people to reduce personal biases, by changing organisational processes to take bias out of decision making;
and by incorporating behavioural principles in the design of programmes and communications to spur action.
Educating and training people to reduce personal biases
Key success factors for raising awareness and building capability include:
ƒ Tailoring delivery to the audience. For example, one engineering company used a computer simulation to
show how a systematic 1 percent bias against women in performance evaluation scores caused women
to be underrepresented in top positions.
ƒ Getting people to experience bias personally. At Google, for instance, staff are encouraged to take a test
that measures biases.
ƒ Reminding people about biases at key moments, such as before reviews.
ƒ Helping people to focus on differences to reduce homogeneity bias and stereotyping. In one experiment,
French students discriminated against potential employers who were Arabs, but stopped doing so if
asked to describe differences between their photos.‡
ƒ Fostering empathy training and taking the side of the target group—a practice proven to reduce prejudice
and discrimination. Simply asking “How would I feel in this situation?” can be enough to have a positive
effect.‡
Changing processes and structures to reduce bias in decision making
Another way to increase diversity is to introduce techniques to minimise the influence of individual biases on
key decisions. These techniques can take several forms:
ƒ Analytical. One approach to reduce bias in recruitment is to define scoring criteria for each candidate and
use an algorithm rather than human judgement to make decisions based on the criteria. Daniel Kahneman
Source:
Diversity
ma<ers,
Mac
Kinsey
2015

ƒ Fostering empathy training and taking the side of the target group—a practice proven to reduce prejudice
and discrimination. Simply asking “How would I feel in this situation?” can be enough to have a positive
effect.‡
Changing processes and structures to reduce bias in decision making
Another way to increase diversity is to introduce techniques to minimise the influence of individual biases on
key decisions. These techniques can take several forms:
ƒ Analytical. One approach to reduce bias in recruitment is to define scoring criteria for each candidate and
use an algorithm rather than human judgement to make decisions based on the criteria. Daniel Kahneman
has applied this technique to improve the assessment of candidates for the Israeli army.* Modified
versions of the technique have been used by a variety of companies, including McKinsey.
ƒ Debate. One effective way to identify bias in decision making is to institute a “pre-mortem” by asking
people to imagine what could go wrong if a particular decision is taken.§
Another technique is to nominate
an individual to act as devil’s advocate and challenge assumptions behind decisions, such as implicit
stereotypes. A number of studies have shown that this approach leads to better decisions.
ƒ Organisational. Companies can, for example, create a decision challenge team.
Applying behavioural economics principles to diversity efforts
McKinsey has identified seven ways to apply behavioural principles: use information about peers, use
people’s natural reflexes, make sure information comes from a credible origin, provide strategic context,
trigger an emotional response, make information salient, and appeal to an individual’s self-image. Many of
these techniques can be used to enhance the effectiveness of diversity programmes; for instance:
Source:
Diversity
ma<ers,
Mac
Kinsey
2015

ƒ Peers: highlight the positive achievements of peers. This has been shown to be one of the most
effective ways to influence people. For example, informing taxpayers that others pay their tax significantly
increased tax contributions, whereas reminders of prosecution or how tax is used did not.¶
A company
could use internal statistics from other departments or business units that are more advanced in achieving
diversity, as well as external data on highly regarded competitors. Telling employees about their peers’
contributions to diversity is another effective technique.
ƒ Reflexes: prime people with images and words that discourage biases. A striking example of the
effects of priming—or introducing subliminal clues—was provided by research that showed that when
Asian women were reminded about their gender, they performed significantly worse in a maths test than
when they were reminded about their ethnicity.** Companies can use priming techniques strategically to
reduce bias, for example by displaying pictures of well-known powerful women.
ƒ Origin: make sure that diversity messages come from trusted opinion leaders within the
organization, whether they are line workers or managers, rather than from a diversity group that may be
seen as an outsider.††
* Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Allen Lane, 2011.
† Brian A. Nosek, Mahzarin R. Banaji, and Antony G. Greenwald, “Math = male, me = female, therefore math ≠ me”,
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2002, volume 83, number 1, pp. 44-59.
‡ Scott Plous, editor, Understanding prejudice and discrimination, McGraw-Hill, 2003.
§ Gary Klein, “Performing a project pre-mortem”, Harvard Business Review, September 2007.
Ryan T. Hartwig, “Facilitating problem solving: A case study using the devil’s advocacy technique”, Group
Facilitation, number 10, 2010.
¶ Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness, Yale
University Press, 2008.
** Clayton M. Christensen, Stephen P. Kaufman, and Willy C. Shih, “Innovation killers: How financial tools destroy
Source:
Diversity
ma<ers,
Mac
Kinsey
2015

The good news is: we can
rewire our brains!
So what can YOU do to shift your biases?

ANNEX
Examples of best practices

DELOITTE
•  Average annual turnover rate among female managers was huge : 33%.
•  Why ? Male-dominated culture. Not a confortable place to work in.
•  Change : accountability of women recruited and retained, networking
events and career-planning programs especially for women. Change in the
requirements for travel. Flexible work arrangements, which wouldn’t hinder
one’s professional advancement within the organization. Dramatic increase
of the use of these program by men and women.
• 
•  Deloitte number of female partners tripled, from 5 to 14% and saved USD
250 million in hiring and training costs.
•  So investing in women, rather than costing money is actually saving
millions of dollars and stopped hemorrhaging talented people.

Sthree
•  Identity initially focused on empowering women within the company and creating a
supportive environment in which they can succeed. The programme has provided
tools and information, developed a support network, highlighted successful role
models and held forums to share ideas. We have also been engaging with our clients
and candidates on gender diversity and supporting women in the community, for
example, working with female students to raise career aspirations.
•  Our maternity buddy scheme has played an integral role in 83% of employees
returning to work after maternity leave. For employees expecting a baby our buddy
scheme provides support for the duration of the pregnancy, maternity leave and
return to work.
h<ps://www.sthreecareers.com/en/diversity-‐
inclusion

American Express
•  “You can have as many diverse employees as possible, but if we
don’t have a culture where employees feel that they can speak up
and their voices are heard, you’re not going to really take advantage
of that.”
•  The groups provide mentoring, “speed networking,” and other
opportunities to connect with like-minded colleagues.
•  Helps with recruitment and retention of talent

Best practices
•  Diversity needs to be made a clear priority at
companies. That happens when diversity moves out of
workshops and becomes factored into the hiring
managers' bottom lines.
•  Managers at Chevron, for example, are rated in their
performance evaluations on their ability to reach
diversity goals.
•  At Procter & Gamble, managers’ stock options are tied
to diversity goal

Workshops to create
awareness
Teaching
about
all
forms
of
discriminaQon
and

implemenQng
lessons
into
workplace
decisions

can
mediate
prejudice,
both
blatant
and

subtle.

Judith
Williams,
the
Global
Diversity
and
Talent

Programs
manager
at
Google,
leads
the

unconscious
bias
workshops
designed
to

inform
employees
about
the
science
of

subconscious
decision-‐making.

Sthree
•  “I think three things need to happen,” she says. “Firstly,
there needs to be an HR policy in place - it has to be
supported at a corporate level. Secondly, it needs to be
top-down with senior level sponsors promoting the
initiatives. And thirdly, tactically, you need a bottom up
approach too, you need local champions.”
h<ps://www.sthreecareers.com/en/sthree-‐blog/why-‐workplace-‐diversity-‐is-‐good-‐for-‐
the-‐bo<om-‐line

Increasing attention of tech
companies on diversity challenges
•  Industry giants Apple and Twitter have published diversity audits
and pledged to do more to increase diversity in their workforce.
•  Janet Van Huysse, Twitter’s Vice President, Diversity and Inclusion
put it simply: “As we look ahead, we see opportunity rather than a
challenge.”
•  Companies currently looking to appoint Heads of Diversity include
Airbnb, Asana and Dropbox. Those recognised by Diversity Inc. as
making the most eﬀort to increase diversity this year include
Novartis, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Procter & Gamble.
•  This has become a mainstream issue, a competitive business
imperative.

APPLE
•  we continue hiring talented people from groups that are currently
underrepresented in our industry.
•  We’re supporting education with programs like the Thurgood
Marshall College Fund to help students at historically black colleges
and universities ﬁnd opportunities in technology.
•  ConnectED is bringing our technology to some of the most
economically disadvantaged schools and communities in the
United States, so more people have the opportunity to pursue their
dreams.
•  We’re also hosting hundreds of students at our annual developer
conference, and we’re setting up new programs to help students
learn to code.
Source:
Apple
diversity
website

APPLE
•  Building a vibrant community to support women in tech.
•  We launched our Supplier Diversity Program in 1988
•  We’re also working with a variety of STEM (science,
technology, engineering, and math) organizations that
oﬀer scholarships to developers from diﬀerent
backgrounds.
•  We partner with groups like the Human Rights
Campaign (HRC), which is the largest LGBT civil rights
organization in the United States.
Source:
Apple
diversity
website

APPLE
•  To encourage women to be part of the tech industry, we’ve
developed a strong partnership with the National Center for Women
& Information Technology (NCWIT). We’ve been working together
for over a decade. We’re proud to be their ﬁrst-ever Lifetime
Partner, and we’re dedicated to supporting all aspects of their
organization.
•  As part of our partnership, we’re helping NCWIT expand the only
national talent development initiative for women in tech —
Aspirations in Computing. Through this program, NCWIT and its
partners give support, scholarships, and career opportunities to
young women.
Source:
Apple
diversity
website

And yet, it is still a boy’s club

And the numbers are
dropping!
•  Women make up a tiny fraction, roughly 15%, of people
working in technical roles in the tech industry. And
amazingly, that percentage is dropping, not rising.
•  Multiple studies have found that the proportion of
women in the tech workforce peaked in about 1989 and
has been steadily dropping ever since.
Source:
American
AssociaQon
of
University
Women

Source:
American
AssociaQon
of
University
Women

Source:
Apple
Diversity

Why?
•  Most have very few female role models and colleagues.
•  Surveys find 23% to 66% report experiencing sexual harassment
or seeing it happen to others.
•  Half the respondents to my survey said they've been treated in a
way they find hostile, demeaning or condescending, and a third
said their bosses are friendlier and more supportive with their male
colleagues.
•  Women report being encouraged to move out of pure tech into
support functions, which offer less pay, are less prestigious and
have limited upward mobility.
•  A 2014 Glassdoor analysis concluded that women in tech are paid
less than their male colleagues, with another 2014 study putting the
salary gap at 12%.

The Athena Factor
•  After 10 years of work experience, “The Athena
Factor” found, 41% of women in tech leave the
industry, compared with 17% of men.

Forty-‐one
percent
of
highly
qualified
scienQsts,
engineers,
and
technologists
on
the
lower
rungs
of

corporate
career
ladders
are
female.
But
more
than
half
(52%)
drop
out.

Why?
To
be<er
understand
the
scope
and
shape
of
female
talent,
the
Athena
Factor
research
project

studied
the
career
trajectories
of
women
with
SET
credenQals
in
the
private
sector.

It
found
5
powerful
"an<gens"
in
corporate
cultures.

•  Women
in
SET
are
marginalized
by
hosQle
macho
cultures.
Being
the
sole
woman
on
a
team
or
at
a

site
can
create
isolaQon.

•  Many
women
report
mysterious
career
paths:
fully
40%
feel
stalled.

•  Systems
of
risk
and
reward
in
SET
cultures
can
disadvantage
women,
who
tend
to
be
risk
averse.

•  Finally,
SET
jobs
include
extreme
work
pressures:
they
are
unusually
Qme
intensive.

•  Moreover,
female
a<riQon
rates
spike
10
years
into
a
career.
Women
experience
a
perfect
storm
in

their
mid-‐
to
late
thirQes:
They
hit
serious
career
hurdles
precisely
when
family
pressures
intensify.

Companies
that
step
in
with
targeted
support
before
this
"fight
or
flight
moment"
may
be
able
to

lower
the
female
a<riQon
rate
significantly.

•  This
study
features
13
company
iniQaQves
that
address
this
female
brain
drain.
Some,
for
example,

are
designed
to
break
down
female
isolaQon;
others
create
on-‐ramps
for
women
who
want
to
return

to
work.
These
iniQaQves
are
likely
to
be
"game
changers":
They
will
allow
many
more
women
to
stay

on
track
in
SET
careers.

Why diversity matters

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