Resources
Research
Why Diversity Matters
July 23, 2013 by Catalyst View info
A compilation of research from various sources that outlines the business case for diversity and inclusion.
Innovation, Diversity, and Market Growth
September 1, 2013 by Center For Talent Innovation View article
Research from the Center For Talent Innovation explores and quantifies the link between diversity, innovation and market growth.
Women Matter 2013, Gender Diversity in Top Management
November 2013 by McKinsey View info
McKinsey’s “Women Matter series” analyzes the state of gender diversity in top management positions. Their research shows that companies with a critical mass of women in top management positions outperform organizations with no women in these positions. The 2013 report focuses on how corporate culture impacts women’s advancement and careers.
Articles
How Diversity Can Drive Innovation
December 2013 by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Melinda Marshall and Laura Sherbin View article
This article discusses research linking diversity with innovation. Researchers examined two kinds of diversity: inherent and acquired. Inherent diversity involves traits you are born with, such as gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Acquired diversity involves traits you gain from experience. The authors find that companies that have these two types of diversity “2-D diversity” out-innovate and outperform others.
Books
The Inclusion Dividend, Why Investing in Diversity & Inclusion Pays Off
May 2013 by Marc Kaplan and Mason Donovan View info
The authors assert that while most leaders have the intent to be inclusive there are several challenges that get in the way of creating inclusive workplaces. The Inclusion Dividend provides a framework for how leaders can utilize an inclusive culture to improve the bottom line.
Research
The State of the Science, Implicit Bias Review
2013-2015 by Kirwan Institute View info
A comprehensive compilation of research by the Kirwan Institute discussing how unconscious biases are activated and how they manifest across different contexts. The report also provides research-based strategies for reducing bias.
Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal
September 2004 by Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan View info
Researchers distributed two identical resumes to employers but changed the names on some of the resumes. Some resumes had an Anglo sounding name and other resumes had an African American sounding name. Researchers found that resumes with an Anglo sounding name received 50% more callbacks than the resumes with an African American sounding name.
Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of “Blind” Auditions on Female Musicians
January 1997 by Claudia Goldin and Cecilia Rouse View info
Researchers wanted to understand why there were so few female musicians in orchestra symphonies. They conducted blind auditions by putting up a curtain so that the judges wouldn’t know the gender of who was auditioning. Women were still not being selected for the orchestras. When they took an additional step to conceal the gender of those auditioning – placing carpet on the floor – they found that more women musicians were selected.
Articles
How (Un)ethical Are You?
December 2003 by Mahzarin R. Banaji, Max H. Bazerman, and Dolly Clugh View article
The authors of this classic HBR article challenge the widely held belief that our decisions are based on objective criteria. They assert that “even the most well-intentioned person unwittingly allows unconscious thoughts and feelings to influence apparently objective decisions.” The article explores how biases – implicit prejudice, in-group favoritism and overclaiming credit – can derail our decisions and also outlines actions we can take to counteract these biases.
Books
BlindSpot, Hidden Biases of Good People
February 2013 by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony Greenwald View info
In Blindspot, Banaji and Greenwald present research on how we are all susceptible to hidden biases and offers individuals tools to overcome these hardwired biases.
Thinking, Fast And Slow, Daniel Kahneman
April 2, 2013 by Daniel Kahneman View info
Princeton Psychologist Daniel Kahneman discusses the dual systems the brain uses to process information – System I and System II. He describes System I as fast, automatic and unconscious, while System II is slow, deliberate and rational. Kahneman examines how System I thinking can lead to cognitive biases and provides suggestions on how we can better access System II thinking to avoid decision-making errors.
Research
Who Takes the Floor and Why, Gender, Power, and Volubility in Organizations
December 2011 by Victoria Brescoll View info
Yale psychologist, Victoria Brescoll found that senior male senators spoke more on the Senate floor than their junior colleagues. For female senators, however, power didn’t translate into more speaking time. Brescoll surmised that women spoke up less because they were concerned about the potential backlash stemming from appearing to talk too much.
The Double Bind for Women in Leadership, Damned If You Do, Doomed If You Don’t
July 2007 by Catalyst View info
The study demonstrated that in a culture where women’s leadership is measured against the traditional male leadership style, if “women act in ways that are consistent with gender stereotypes, they are viewed as less competent leaders.” However, if women act in ways that are consistent with stereotypes of competent leaders they are viewed as less “likeable”.
Women “Take Care,” Men “Take Charge,” Stereotyping of U.S. Business Leaders Exposed
October 19, 2015 by Catalyst View info
The study examined how gender-based stereotyping may hinder women’s advancement in the workplace. Researchers found that women leaders are expected to be more effective at “taking-care” behaviors while men are expected to be more effective at “taking-charge” behaviors.
Articles
Speaking While Female
January 2015 by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant, New York Times View article
In this piece authors discuss the phenomenon of women not speaking up in the workplace. The authors say that “when a woman speaks in a professional setting, she walks a tightrope. Either she’s barely heard or she’s judged as too aggressive. As a result, women often decide that saying less is more.”
Women Rising, The Unseen Barriers
September 2013 by Herminia Ibarra, Robin J. Ely and Deborah Kolb View article
The authors find that women have limited access to leadership positions primarily due to “second-generation bias” – “a powerful but subtle and often invisible barriers for women that arise from cultural assumptions and organizational structures, practices, and patterns of interaction that inadvertently benefit men while putting women at a disadvantage.” They outline three actions organizations can take to support women’s access to leadership positions..
Books
What Works For Women At Work
January 2014 by Joan Williams and Rachel Dempsey View info
Williams and Dempsey describe how four patterns – “Prove it Again”, “ The Tightrope”, “The Maternal Wall” and “The Tug of War” serve as obstacles to women’s success in the workplace and outline how women can combat these patterns.
The Confidence Code
April 2014 by Katty Kay & Claire Shipman View info
The authors assert that women’s lack of confidence lead them to engage in behaviors that undermine their effectiveness and success. Men often overestimate their abilities and performance, while women underestimate both and women tend to attribute failure to a lack of inherent ability.
Forget A Mentor, Find A Sponsor
September 2013 by Sylvia Ann Hewlett View info
Sylvia Ann Hewlett distinguishes sponsorship from mentorship and discusses why sponsors rather than mentors are the key to the success and advancement of high-performing women in the workplace. She also offers women a roadmap to finding sponsors and how to build sponsorship relationships.
Articles
Cultural Intelligence
October 2004 by P. Christopher Earley and Elaine Mosakowski View article
In this HBR classic, the authors explore the link between cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence and explains that cultural intelligence picks up where emotional intelligence leaves off. They also provide a tool to help you create your cultural intelligence profile and share tips on how you can cultivate cultural intelligence.
Books
Flex: The New Playbook for Managing Across Differences
March 25, 2015 by Jane Hyun View info
In today’s workplaces, managers and leaders must learn to effectively manage and lead employees who are different than them. Hyun offers strategies to navigate and leverage diversity in increasingly global workplaces.
The Culture Map, Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business
May 2014 by Erin Meyer View info
Meyer provides a tool for decoding cultural differences and influences that impact how individuals from different cultures work together. This “culture map” tool positions helps readers anticipate behaviors and preferences of individuals from different countries.