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The Power of Difference: Where the Complexities of Diversity and Inclusion Meet Practical Solutions
Business Book Awards 2022 - Diversity, Inclusion & Equality categoryGood intentions are not enough - real diversity is about change. This book explains why it's our differences and how we combine them that creates true diversity and generates innovation, fresh thinking and ultimately, success. With clarity and wit, The Power of Difference brings together the author's own experiences with the latest research to explain why inclusion is more than just being nice to people, why unconscious bias training isn't the fix we need and why listening to all individual voices, not just assuming that one viewpoint represents a group, is key. Offering insight, analysis and practical solutions, The Power of Difference is a must read for all managers, leaders and HR professionals as well as anyone looking to engage with the topic, who doesn't know where to start. Exploring how to confront bias, question assumptions and avoid generalizations, this book illustrates why diversity should be part of the overall business strategy, not separate from it. It shows how for innovation and diversity to flourish, we must create spaces that are safe for disagreement, not from disagreement. Written in an engaging yet practical style, this book courageously tackles some of the most significant issues at work today.
252 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 3, 2021
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December 15, 2024
“You can build alliances with people without demanding total agreement.” ~ Simon Fanshawe
(That’s ironically not from this book, but it summarises it well.)
This is an excellent, challenging and demanding book. It makes no bones about how difficult diversity is - it is where all the “muck and bullets” are (72). Yet it’s one of those where you know as you’re reading that you’re in the presence of an expert. This book emphasises how diversity is not a thing you do, but a way of doing things.
Here are some of the most interesting findings:
- Having a staff which ‘represents’ all of society statistically is as laudable as it is “arithmetically” impossible (39). What you can do, however, is have enough diversity that it signals to your client base that there will be a range of difference in the staff. This also signals that you are a welcoming employer, thus attracting more talent to your staff recruitment (33).
- What’s more important than “we need more women”, “we need x number of black people”, etc. is business-specific goals. Why do we need more women? What qualities should this woman bring that will provide difference to what we’ve already got? And how will she function in the team? “…avoid generalisations so your diversity statements are about specific business goals rather than personal passions.” (52)
- Equally, per business, different kinds of diversity will be needed for different reasons. It’s not just about box-ticking. Sometimes a business will need greater diversity of race, sex, sexuality, disability, opinion, whatever - whatever category is required to cultivate differences specific to that business. “…make diversity an approach to acquiring and promoting the talent you need to achieve [business] goals.” (52) - OR - “it’s not who you are; it’s what you bring through who you are.”
- At its core, the point of diversity is to have a broad of spectrum of voices in the organisation that will disagree with each other. Safe spaces are safe for disagreement, not from disagreement. Inclusion is about difference of opinion - not “I am too uncomfortable to talk to this person!” (53-85, 206) Avoid the idea that emotional hurt constitutes actual harm. We need resilience in disagreement. He cites a number of examples - HMV and the RBS, for instance - as times when a lack of disruption and dissidence within a company led to its downfall because it failed to foresee a disaster.
- You need disruption because, in the world of business, “the most damaging phrase in the language is ‘we’ve always done it this way’.” (206)
- A crucial form of diversity for a boss to be aware of is generational differences. “Keeping an eye on…emerging set[s] of generational values will help to manage your younger people better and with more insight.” (204) Introverts and extroverts are equally valid; they just work differently (210).
- Bias is very real and very damaging - the way to fix it is through changing our behaviour, not our thinking (146). No use sitting around in a circle atoning for our ‘white fragility’ or beating ourselves up with the IAT and then putting out a vague, pompous public statement about “doing better”. Rather, get in the room and work with a broad range of people. Simon advocates for “contact theory” (143-145). Get men working with women, listening to them and taking their feedback on board. Get white and black people working together. “It can go wrong”, Simon points out, but nevertheless, “whatever the pitfall…the evidence is increasing that if people are given the chance to form meaningful relationships across divides…there is a good chance that they will open up to the differences in each other, begin to dissolve stereotypical views they have been harbouring and be able to have good conversations not despite their differences, but because of their differences.” (143) And that’s not just diversity of opinion. That can come from all sorts of diversity. There’s no need to even settle the difference. Just being aware of it and seeing each other’s humanity in a common cause is enough.
- (Yet this sounds deceptively easy. Simon makes it clear that it is not. You need to wean yourself off the addiction to comfort. (147))
- It’s not the best person, but the best team for the job (153). So each team needs to be made up of a recipe of diversity - what different qualities can each person bring? Some teams won’t benefit much from a diverse range of people (sometimes you just need the fastest runner!), but often diversity is more helpful than you would think (such as during heart surgery - 155, 159).
- There is no need for women or black people to bring ‘diverse opinions’ - in fact, often this is a gross assumption and generalisation (159). However, Katharine Phillips’s research has shown that the mere presence of difference is enough. Not because the different people will automatically be dissidents, but because the people in the room will expect dissidence when they see difference, and therefore more productive and open conversations will happen automatically. This bears out in group performance productivity (162-163).
- Above all - don’t impose contested belief systems onto people. Don’t demand that staff members use their pronouns (although they can if they wish to). Don’t stigmatise the majority group and/or make victims out of the minority group. (212) Rather, foster positive relationships recognising the differences both between and within each group.
There are lots of chapters about the barriers faced by women and black and Asian people in the workplace (31). It is a simple fact that the higher up you go, the fewer women and fewer people of colour there are. It’s not just because women have babies - otherwise, why aren’t there more childless female CEOs? (It’s often because women are encouraged to make more family time off than men, often in the name of ‘inclusion’ efforts.) (98-101)
It’s also not because all employers are inherently racist and sexist. It’s because they hire what they already like. They hire what they already value as a good leader. Often - they hire someone in whom they see themselves! Simon has a whole chapter on “designing out the bias” in recruitment processes. Recruitment processes should have diversity at their core: what do we already have? What do we need that’s different? In what kind of person will we find that? He has a whole chapter on recruitment process reform (178, 181).
(That’s ironically not from this book, but it summarises it well.)
This is an excellent, challenging and demanding book. It makes no bones about how difficult diversity is - it is where all the “muck and bullets” are (72). Yet it’s one of those where you know as you’re reading that you’re in the presence of an expert. This book emphasises how diversity is not a thing you do, but a way of doing things.
Here are some of the most interesting findings:
- Having a staff which ‘represents’ all of society statistically is as laudable as it is “arithmetically” impossible (39). What you can do, however, is have enough diversity that it signals to your client base that there will be a range of difference in the staff. This also signals that you are a welcoming employer, thus attracting more talent to your staff recruitment (33).
- What’s more important than “we need more women”, “we need x number of black people”, etc. is business-specific goals. Why do we need more women? What qualities should this woman bring that will provide difference to what we’ve already got? And how will she function in the team? “…avoid generalisations so your diversity statements are about specific business goals rather than personal passions.” (52)
- Equally, per business, different kinds of diversity will be needed for different reasons. It’s not just about box-ticking. Sometimes a business will need greater diversity of race, sex, sexuality, disability, opinion, whatever - whatever category is required to cultivate differences specific to that business. “…make diversity an approach to acquiring and promoting the talent you need to achieve [business] goals.” (52) - OR - “it’s not who you are; it’s what you bring through who you are.”
- At its core, the point of diversity is to have a broad of spectrum of voices in the organisation that will disagree with each other. Safe spaces are safe for disagreement, not from disagreement. Inclusion is about difference of opinion - not “I am too uncomfortable to talk to this person!” (53-85, 206) Avoid the idea that emotional hurt constitutes actual harm. We need resilience in disagreement. He cites a number of examples - HMV and the RBS, for instance - as times when a lack of disruption and dissidence within a company led to its downfall because it failed to foresee a disaster.
- You need disruption because, in the world of business, “the most damaging phrase in the language is ‘we’ve always done it this way’.” (206)
- A crucial form of diversity for a boss to be aware of is generational differences. “Keeping an eye on…emerging set[s] of generational values will help to manage your younger people better and with more insight.” (204) Introverts and extroverts are equally valid; they just work differently (210).
- Bias is very real and very damaging - the way to fix it is through changing our behaviour, not our thinking (146). No use sitting around in a circle atoning for our ‘white fragility’ or beating ourselves up with the IAT and then putting out a vague, pompous public statement about “doing better”. Rather, get in the room and work with a broad range of people. Simon advocates for “contact theory” (143-145). Get men working with women, listening to them and taking their feedback on board. Get white and black people working together. “It can go wrong”, Simon points out, but nevertheless, “whatever the pitfall…the evidence is increasing that if people are given the chance to form meaningful relationships across divides…there is a good chance that they will open up to the differences in each other, begin to dissolve stereotypical views they have been harbouring and be able to have good conversations not despite their differences, but because of their differences.” (143) And that’s not just diversity of opinion. That can come from all sorts of diversity. There’s no need to even settle the difference. Just being aware of it and seeing each other’s humanity in a common cause is enough.
- (Yet this sounds deceptively easy. Simon makes it clear that it is not. You need to wean yourself off the addiction to comfort. (147))
- It’s not the best person, but the best team for the job (153). So each team needs to be made up of a recipe of diversity - what different qualities can each person bring? Some teams won’t benefit much from a diverse range of people (sometimes you just need the fastest runner!), but often diversity is more helpful than you would think (such as during heart surgery - 155, 159).
- There is no need for women or black people to bring ‘diverse opinions’ - in fact, often this is a gross assumption and generalisation (159). However, Katharine Phillips’s research has shown that the mere presence of difference is enough. Not because the different people will automatically be dissidents, but because the people in the room will expect dissidence when they see difference, and therefore more productive and open conversations will happen automatically. This bears out in group performance productivity (162-163).
- Above all - don’t impose contested belief systems onto people. Don’t demand that staff members use their pronouns (although they can if they wish to). Don’t stigmatise the majority group and/or make victims out of the minority group. (212) Rather, foster positive relationships recognising the differences both between and within each group.
There are lots of chapters about the barriers faced by women and black and Asian people in the workplace (31). It is a simple fact that the higher up you go, the fewer women and fewer people of colour there are. It’s not just because women have babies - otherwise, why aren’t there more childless female CEOs? (It’s often because women are encouraged to make more family time off than men, often in the name of ‘inclusion’ efforts.) (98-101)
It’s also not because all employers are inherently racist and sexist. It’s because they hire what they already like. They hire what they already value as a good leader. Often - they hire someone in whom they see themselves! Simon has a whole chapter on “designing out the bias” in recruitment processes. Recruitment processes should have diversity at their core: what do we already have? What do we need that’s different? In what kind of person will we find that? He has a whole chapter on recruitment process reform (178, 181).
January 14, 2022
An interesting and useful book for anybody who works with other human beings - about the history of diversity in workplaces and diversity shouldn't just be a guideline but a key part of any businesses plans and strategies.
The writing is very dense and can be jargon-laden in places but overall readable for a general audience, not only those with HR/business backgrounds.
The writing is very dense and can be jargon-laden in places but overall readable for a general audience, not only those with HR/business backgrounds.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews