The day Dr. Ford testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee I was fortunate enough to speak on the Rabbit Hole Women in Blockchain Salon panel. Both the panelists and attendees were mentally exhausted from the news that day. I accepted the opportunity to speak about the Blockchain Basics Salon and how we can make this space more diverse. Introducing underrepresented communities to new technology is a passion of mine. What came out of my mouth that night was that women and minorities MUST be included if we want this new paradigm called blockchain truly change how we transact. That includes being directly involved as it’s being developed. No excuses.
It was a moment of realization for me. How do we convey this message outside of conferences and panels? When speaking about diversity, what stats and anecdotes can be point to to show why this is so important? What are we missing out on by not being inclusive and diverse?
I would like to share some articles and easily digestible stats that show the benefits of diversity. Let’s read them, become familiar with them and keep them top of mind when discussing the importance of diversity in the workplace.
Companies that reported above-average diversity on their management teams also reported innovation revenue that was 19 percentage points higher than that of companies with below-average leadership diversity—45% of total revenue versus just 26%.
In the United Kingdom, greater gender diversity on the senior-executive team corresponded to the highest performance uplift in our data set: for every 10 percent increase in gender diversity, EBIT rose by 3.5 percent.
Revamping job descriptions benefits everyone, but can be especially helpful for diversity and inclusion efforts. As one often-cited Hewlett Packard study showed, men apply for a job when they meet only 60 percent of the outlined qualifications, but women don’t feel confident to apply unless they meet 100 percent. Rethinking the “requirements” section and remove the checklists that impede women and minorities from applying, and you’ll have access to a larger talent pool.
Leaders who give diverse voices equal airtime are nearly twice as likely as others to unleash value-driving insights, and employees in a “speak up” culture are 3.5 times as likely to contribute their full innovative potential.
Focus on intervention, not just bias reduction
The flexible structure allowed lead learners to change the content to specifically address “reverse racism,” which resulted in a 23% decrease in the number of people in that cohort who felt “reverse racism” was an issue at UCAR.