Stephen Frost & Danny Kalman, Kogan Page, £29.99/£25.64 e-book
These are dark times for diversity. The proportion of women on executive boards remains anaemic and, as Brexit looms, workplace tolerance of difference has, by some measures, taken a drastic nosedive. But these are just symptoms of what Stephen Frost (former head of diversity at the 2012 Olympics) and talent expert Danny Kalman believe is a more structural malaise.
At the heart of their argument lies one four-letter word: bias. Though we know plenty about where our unconscious predispositions originate, we have failed to take them seriously. Sameness is so “seductive”, the authors argue, we have hardwired it into our organisations to advance our narrow view of ‘talent’. The result is homogeneity and groupthink of the kind that sank businesses such as Swissair and Kodak.
We can explain the concept of ‘out groups’ until we are blue in the face, but all we are doing is inadvertently reinforcing a perception of diversity training as preachy and self-serving. But Inclusive Talent Management isn’t just about diagnosing the issues; it isn’t afraid to advance radical solutions, championing firms such as South West Trains and legal disruptor Obelisk, and praising the way Facebook has encouraged anti-bias initiatives to spread organically through the business.
What these companies have achieved, say the authors, is to take real responsibility for inclusion, rather than advancing narrow, self-serving causes or being tokenistic. They are full of practical ideas about how to rethink recruitment, tackle “ecosystem” issues, create internal demand and deploy nudge theory to shift thinking. Much of it is provocative; little of it is business as usual; all of it is immediately usable. As the authors conclude: “Inclusion 3.0 starts from the premise that people want to ‘do the right thing’, they just need some practical tools rather than be lectured to.”