Connect the Dots 101

Implicit in my professional acquaintance’s observation is the assumption, which I have also heard articulated by younger white men, that giving women and people of color equal opportunities will mean lowering the bar — that we are not quite as qualified and the businesses that hire us will suffer. This is ostrich thinking that ignores the privilege that has allowed white men to dominate the leadership ranks of almost every institution in the United States for centuries, whether or not they were the strongest candidates.

And it’s just plain incorrect. There is an enormous body of research that shows teams made up of people from different backgrounds, ethnicities or genders perform better.

But making the business-case argument misses the point. We all need to pay attention not only to the statistics but also to our actions and our words: the coded racism in the water cooler banter; the casual passing over of the Black woman in favor of a white man who went to the same university as the boss.

www.nytimes.com/2021/11/02/opinion/culture/board-diversity-black-women.html