Diversity’s good, but it’s the wrong goal

Years ago, I was invited to a nonprofit fundraiser gala that was well-attended by people from all walks of life, from local officials to blue collars. They were black, brown, white, gay and female, from various socio-economic and religious backgrounds. After two hours of the typical welcome, dinner and keynote speech, it was finally time for the entertainment, which provided a chance to interact with many of the new faces across the room.

I paused when I heard unfamiliar tunes that resembled Dixie music, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt, because this was the first song, and proceeded to mingle with the board members and staff. That attempt was stymied by their obvious enthrallment with dignitaries and familiar acquaintances. I managed to squeeze in a half-hearted, brief “Hello, my name is” introduction to the CEO, and after 30 minutes, the music selection hadn’t changed. I noticed that the remaining crowd looked very different from the earlier crowd. Where did the diversity go?

Although I was intentionally invited to this gala, there was no real opportunity or environment for me to “dance.” The event recorded great marks for diversity, but the way the foundation used that diversity for the purposes of inclusion fell as flat as its music playlist.

Recently, we’ve seen a wave of companies go into PR mode with new diversity practices amidst concerns over internal harassment issues, in an attempt to mitigate negative perceptions that could lead to internal unrest and declining sales.

It’s true that you can’t have inclusion without diversity, but you can also have diversity and no inclusion. Instead of solely focusing on diversity, I believe we should instead focus on inclusion. It matters not if your company has a proverbial Noah’s Ark of employees if these individuals of different backgrounds and experiences are not being invited to the table to share their thoughts and ideas. Many companies have a pipeline of diverse talent but have yet to engage and develop them. Inclusion is the real test of how well organizations are embracing diversity.

It’s one thing to have all the ingredients to make a great cake, but if you don’t mix them, then all you have are the ingredients. Let’s begin to call for the outcome that really matters: inclusion.

This story was originally published April 1, 2017 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Diversity’s good, but it’s the wrong goal."