The Elephant and the Mouse E-Book

Laura A. Liswood

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 219

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Explore diversity, equity, and inclusion that goes beyond unconscious bias and explores the ideas and tools needed to achieve these goals In The Elephant and the Mouse, award-winning speaker and diversity and inclusion expert Laura Liswood delivers a thought-provoking and insightful new business guide that explores workplace diversity and offers new ideas for gaining the real benefits from your diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The Elephant and the Mouse refers to the dynamic in organizations that are roadblocks to consciously inclusive success. The Elephant, often dominant group leadership, knows little about the experiences of the Mouse, the non-dominant groups, while the Mouse knows so much more about the Elephant. In diverse workplaces, these two groups live in different worlds. Success will come only if everyone works in a true meritocracy. You learn what may be easy for some to do in their career is much harder for others to do. In this book, which builds upon Liswood's groundbreaking book, The Loudest Duck, you'll explore the powerful case for diversity, equity, and inclusion and the often-overlooked risks posed by a homogeneous workforce. You will learn the hard truths about why many DE&I efforts fail, millions of dollars are wasted, and why organizations confuse efforts with outcomes. You'll consider new ways of leading others, with a strong emphasis on tactics and strategies employed by successful Elephant and Mouse leaders, including women leaders. The book also includes: * Realistic explanations for the slow progress in diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice in society and organizations * Examinations of the concept and myths of meritocracy and how to conduct a Meritocracy Stress Test on your firm * How organizations often have an illusion of inclusion but find their efforts not creating the inclusive, equitable teams they say they want * How safety efforts can provide a roadmap for diversity missions * An exploration of both the human interventions and non-human roles of technology in DE&I initiatives, including the use of people analytics to de-bias organizations * What tools are needed to go beyond awareness of unconscious bias to de-bias processes and what traits the new Elephant and Mouse leader has An indispensable resource for managers, executives, and other business leaders who seek to recreate truly diverse, inclusive, and equitable organizations, The Elephant and the Mouse is also a must-read for human resources professionals, individuals who want successful careers in diverse teams, and anyone involved in the hiring, retaining, and promoting processes. This book offers a way to move beyond traditional diversity efforts towards more modern practices that embrace--and profit from--the differences between people.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Introduction

THE DIVERSITY OF DIVERSITY

NOTES

Chapter 1: Hard Truths

WHAT ARE THE HARD TRUTHS ABOUT DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION?

BUILDING AWARENESS

FEELINGS OF TAKE AWAY

WHY GIVING WOMEN A SEAT AT THE TABLE PAYS OFF

THE “GLASS CLIFF” PHENOMENON

THE NOT SO GOOD

THE MODEL T VERSUS THE TESLA

NOTES

Chapter 2: The Elephant and the Mouse

MEN AND WOMEN: LIVING IN TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS?

OUR WINDOWS TO THE WORLD

NOTES

Chapter 3: Beyond the Business Case for Diversity: Rewards and Risks

REWARDS

RISKS

NOTES

Chapter 4: Our Illusions, Myths, and Mindsets

THE MYTH OF MERITOCRACY

THE TEST RESULTS

THE ILLUSION OF INCLUSION

MISTAKE EFFORT FOR OUTCOME

WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS IT? THE SEED AND THE SOIL

THE SEED AND THE SOIL: IT TAKES BOTH

NOTES

Chapter 5: What You Can Do Easily

IT IS NOT THE NORM

ASKING FOR A PROMOTION VERSUS LOOKING AGGRESSIVE

NOTES

Chapter 6: We Are All Human, with Help from Nonhumans

THE WINGMAN OR WING WOMAN

THE ALLY

THE INDEPENDENT INTERLOCUTOR/SCRIBE

ACTIVE BYSTANDER

NONHUMAN HELP

NOTES

Chapter 7: The Elephant and Mouse Inclusive Leader

NOTES

Bibliography

About the Author

Index

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Begin Reading

Bibliography

About the Author

Index

End User License Agreement

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Praise for The Elephant And The Mouse

“Addressing diversity and inclusion is a global, societal, and moral issue of utmost importance. At Mercer, we take an evidence‐based approach to solving diversity, equity, and inclusion challenges. As a people business, having colleagues with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, experiences, and cultures brings a richness of ideas that, in turn, helps us make brighter futures for everyone. Leaders need to be the north stars for their people, and they need to enable other leaders to support employees and execute DEI strategy through everyday actions. Companies are a large part of society with both the ability and the obligation to create progress across diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Laura Liswood's expertise in the fields and diversity of leadership is exceptional. We are fortunate to have her voice and her knowledge, as so eloquently shared in The Elephant and the Mouse. The Elephant and the Mouse outlines how we can understand both our conscious and unconscious biases and the ways they affect our perspectives and our decisions–both personally and professionally–across all facets of our lives. The Elephant and the Mouse shows the ways in which diversity alone is not enough and how we can all work together to help close the gaps between us.

Achieving true diversity, equity, and inclusion is an ongoing journey and educating ourselves is an important step. The insights in this book were revelatory to me as a friend, as a colleague, and as a leader but most importantly, as a human being. No matter who you are or where you are starting from, The Elephant and the Mouse contains lessons for everyone. It asks you to question yourself and provides a framework you can apply to your own life to actively shape change and transform the communities you are a part of. The Elephant and the Mouse illuminates the path forward to real and lasting change and I recommend it for everyone.”

—Martine Ferland, President and CEO, Mercer

“If Laura Liswood ran the world, it would be a fairer, more inclusive place. In this wise book, she highlights that many of our problems with diversity stem not from differences in demography but from differences in power. Her analysis of dominant and non‐dominant groups offers valuable tools to have more productive conversations and drive more meaningful progress.”

—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

“The Elephant and Mouse is a must‐read for anyone committed to making their workplace or their community truly inclusive. The Loudest Duck synthesized all the diversity research and gave us a framework for how to understand our challenges to diversity and inclusion and was a game changer in our thinking. The Elephant and Mouse takes that to the next level in such an amazing way … to elevate our thinking in the way that only Laura can! Laura gives us a powerfully new framework to break through traditional approaches to social inclusion so that we can take our diversity efforts to the next level. Laura has that one‐of‐a‐kind mind that shows us where we are—why we might be stuck—and gives us a practical framework to turn our good intentions into meaningful change and real impact.”

—Beth Brooke, former Vice‐Chair, EY

“Laura has done it again!

As the former Deputy Director for Diversity and Inclusion during the Obama Administration, we used Laura to train the entirety of Senior Executive Service leaders throughout the federal workspace based on her groundbreaking and hugely successful book, The Loudest Duck: Moving Beyond Diversity While Embracing Differences to Achieve Success at Work.

In The Loudest Duck, Laura gave senior leaders within the federal government practical tips and tools to harness cognitive diversity. Her senior leader sessions were nothing short of fantastic and received much acclaim. I loved The Loudest Duck so much I constantly use phrases I picked up from Laura like “Noah's Ark diversity” while speaking to various audiences. I never imagined that Laura could author a follow‐on book that could rival the simple truths and penetrating insight of The Loudest Duck, but she has!

The Elephant and the Mouse is so good that I’m mad I didn’t think of it.

In The Elephant and the Mouse, Laura provides a deep and transformative analysis of an issue at the heart of DEI. And that is the differing perceptions of dominant and non‐dominant groups of organizational and societal lived experiences. Laura makes the brilliant point that dominant group members must work to understand, appreciate, and acknowledge the lived experiences of non‐dominant group members such as women and people of color. In Laura's new book, you will learn hard truths about diversity and inclusion, why meritocracy as is currently understood is a myth, understand the real difference between the Model T and the Tesla, why we need to move beyond simple unconscious bias training, and so much more.

This book is simply one of the most important books on DEI I have read in recent years.”

—Bruce J. Stewart, CEO, The Small World Group

“The Elephant and the Mouse tells us how ignorant we can be of each other, how group thinking can limit our horizon, and how we can so much improve by exploring, understanding, and sharing with the other tribe, if only because as La Fontaine reminds us in The Lion and the Rat: We need each other. There is a long way to go, and this book is a great start on the journey.”

—Christine Lagarde, President, European Central Bank

The Elephant and the Mouse

Moving Beyond the Illusion of Inclusion to Create a Truly Diverse and Equitable Workplace

Laura Liswood

Author of The Loudest Duck

Copyright © 2022 by Laura Liswood. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data

Names: Liswood, Laura A., 1950‐ author. | John Wiley & Sons, publisher.

Title: The elephant and the mouse : Moving Beyond the Illusion of Inclusion to Create a Truly Diverse and Equitable Workplace / Laura Liswood.

Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2022] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021052112 (print) | LCCN 2021052113 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119836254 (hardback) | ISBN 9781119836278 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119836261 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Diversity in the workplace. | Organizational change—Management.

Classification: LCC HF5549.5.M5 L568 2022 (print) | LCC HF5549.5.M5 (ebook) | DDC 658.3008—dc23/eng/20211208

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021052112

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021052113

COVER DESIGN: PAUL MCCARTHY

COVER ART: (ELEPHANT) © GETTY IMAGES | ABSODELS

(MOUSE) © SHUTTERSTOCK | CHOST BEAR

To my sister Jan, who will always be my north star.

Acknowledgments

My friend, dynamic businesswoman, and wonderful supporter Adrienne Arsht will say to me as we end a phone call or after a delightful dinner, “To be continued.” This is how I feel about the journey that I have been on for diversity, equity, inclusion, and women's empowerment. The arc of my career always returns to these personal and professional passions.

It has been 10 years since I wrote The Loudest Duck, and to rephrase a French saying, the more things change, the more they stay the same. I celebrate the great progress that has been made in our diverse world. The fact that there is more call for wanting real change is heartening. When I was in college, I could not even think to be considered for a Rhodes scholarship or be admitted into a military academy. I probably would not have attained either of those goals, but the choice was not mine to seek. Today, young, talented, ambitious women can do so, and they know the contributions they can make.

However, the fact that less change has been made than many of us hoped falls into the “to be continued” category. In the book, I quote from the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report. The gap continues and the date of its demise stretches further and further away. I want to acknowledge Saadia Zahidi, a managing director of the Forum, for her tireless work on gender and for making a global meeting place like Davos much more reflective of the achievements of women and others not automatically included. She ensures that women have a seat at the table and she continues to expand our knowledge of what equality looks like for all.

I like to write, but my writing often sounds the way I speak, with run‐on sentences and looping bits of logic, full of less than succinct opinion. I must thank my editor Bridget Samburg, who worked with me on The Loudest Duck and now The Elephant and the Mouse. If these books are readable and of value, Bridget is one of the main reasons they are so.

I reread the acknowledgment pages of The Loudest Duck and I am grateful and relieved that many of the people I acknowledged then are the ones I feel the same way about now. The joy is that there are people who have entered my life and helped support my efforts on this journey and who have brought new thinking and impact to the diversity, equity, and inclusion world.

Scholars and practitioners whom I admire in this field, whom I have learned greatly from and quote here, have been continual supporters of mine. They include Herminia Ibarra, professor at the London Business School; Iris Bohnet from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government; Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan of the Dagoba Group; Kathleen McQuiggan from Artemis Financial Advisors; Kendall Wright, CEO of Entelechy; Steven Frost of Included; Beth Brooke, former vice chair of EY; Marques Benton, chief diversity officer of Loomis Sayles; Adam Grant, professor at Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania; Joerg Schmitz at Thomas Leland. Rafael Polanco's and Brogiin Keeton's observations as practitioners help keep me grounded. This list is by no means exhaustive as I continually learn from those who embrace a passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

I especially admire the thousands of people who speak out, protest, and rightly demand a fair and respectful world.

In 2014 I retired from the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department as a reserve sergeant. I was proud to serve with my fellow officers, who strive to act to the highest standards that everyone deserves. I am disheartened by policing actions experienced by some communities and appreciative of those who see the need for systemic reform and who give voice to that need.

The cliché that no man (woman) is an island is true, at least in my lived experience. I have had unconditional support from many. It is unconditional in that my friends and family want to be present for me and also keep me from going too far down any rabbit holes I am inclined to fall into. This extended family that I was both born into and choose include my “sister” cousin Judy Liswood Stokes and her husband, a noted leader in health care, Chuck Stokes. They and Josh, Joel, Neil and Sherry, David, Lidia, Ellen, Ken, Debby, and Dori are dear family to me. Adrienne, one of the most powerful and impactful women leaders I know has supported me in so many ways. Melody and Candace have been part of my chosen family for decades, along with Linda, Caitlin, Lew, Luke and Robert, Jim and Kathy, Natalie and Jim, Amy, Lily, Nik and Melissa, Mel S., the Hill family, and so many more family and friends.

Professionally, I am surrounded by an extraordinary team who always goes above and beyond in their efforts. The Council of Women World Leaders is a vibrant organization because of a dedicated group, including Patricia Deyton, Sarah Wildi, Caroline Wachtell, Claudia Boscan Medina, and Rachel Berman. Sarah gave a keen eye to the writing and Rachel was my research associate for this book.

John Wiley & Sons provided me a platform and a welcome that any author would want. Thank you to Deborah Schindler, Sally Baker, Shannon Vargo, John Skinner, and the design team, who were enthusiastic and embraced the value of diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Adobe continues to sit on my keyboard and Mao prefers his own company.

All errors, omissions, and mistakes are mine alone.

Introduction

Ten years ago, I wrote The Loudest Duck: Moving Beyond Diversity While Embracing Differences to Achieve Success at Work (Wiley & Sons). My work with organizations prompted me to write that initial book on diversity because I observed those same organizations struggling with how to both make a case for diversity and implement efforts to achieve what they said their goals were.

Ten years on, I do observe progress, particularly in the recognition that it isn't just about diversity, but must also encompass equity and inclusion. I called the initial focus on diversity the “Noah's Ark” phase. That's when you just get two of each in the ark and say you have accomplished the mission. Many groups are still in that stage, with representation of differing people the be‐all and end‐all of the efforts, mainly concentrating on recruitment of diverse individuals.

While recruiting was and is important, it is a partial view. It is the “intake” view, but it does not recognize the “upgrade” view or the inclusion and equity view. That is, people are coming in the door but have not been as successful at thriving and rising in organizations. It also did not take into account what is now clearly seen: that a new type of leadership is required, one that prizes inclusivity as an essential element of what leaders must do.

In The Loudest Duck, my purpose was to create clear and practical ways to ensure that people were treated equitably and that the value of diversity would be attained. The book started with a look at the case for diversity, particularly cognitive diversity and getting the differing perspectives that each of us brings to the workplace to enhance creativity and innovation. There are many other reasons for why diversity should be pursued, but at many points in the book I refer back to this fundamental reason. I ask the reader if they are getting the cognitive diversity they purport to want.

The next step was to explore what we unconsciously bring to the workplace, beyond unconscious bias that makes us respond to people who are like us differently than people who are not like us. I wanted to move beyond thinking only of unconscious bias to thinking of all the other types of unconscious ways of existing. We have unconscious beliefs, attitudes, perspectives, preferences, roles, associations, and archetypes.

I then focused on the Elephant and the Mouse, which is the concept that dominant groups know little about nondominant groups, but the latter knows a great deal about the former. This causes continual issues and problems within organizations because it means that some people have almost no awareness of how actions, processes, decisions, and comments can disproportionately impact diverse individuals.

Dominant groups still don't know the fully lived lives of nondominant groups. I have come to see that this dynamic is perhaps one of the most powerful ones that haunt societies, particularly as more and more diverse groups correctly express their desire to be fully accepted and treated equitably. The Elephant and Mouse metaphor has resonated well with those who read my book and those to whom I've spoken. In fact, it was so popular that one group decided to name its company The Mouse and the Elephant and base its framework on my work!

As the world continues to become increasingly interconnected, it is crucial to know about others, particularly how others experience life and are impacted by conscious and unconscious beliefs about who they are. That is why this book is titled The Elephant and the Mouse. To me, this is a core tenet of the effort to reach full diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. It now must be a core tenet of how leaders behave and how they are measured. Diversity, equity, and inclusion can no longer be seen as “nice to have” but are essential to high‐functioning, successful organizations. A parallel example, given to me by Mason Donovan and Mark Kaplan of the Dagoba Group, might be when a company realizes that “safety first” requires a full reorientation of how it operates and how everyone is responsible for that safety goal.

The Elephant and the Mouse is a callout to all of us to acknowledge that the concepts and realities of diversity, inclusion, and equity are becoming fully embedded in our lives and structures. This requires far more from each of us with concomitant effort and reward.

THE DIVERSITY OF DIVERSITY

The Loudest Duck also outlined the many diversities we find in the workplace, not simply the legally covered or generally assumed ones such as gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or age. Diversity is about like to like and like to not like. We discover that there are many ways we separate ourselves from others. In that separation comes a propensity to bond and take seriously those who are like us and to distance ourselves or find reasons to dismiss others who are unlike us, as well as their ideas and even their essential personhood.

There are the smokers and the nonsmokers, introverts and extroverts, tall and short people, folks who are standard weight and those who are nonstandard weight. Introverts think that extroverts talk too much and extroverts think that introverts have nothing to say. There are the Manchester United football fans and the Arsenal fans, both equally passionate and, in their own minds, quite discerning. Parents and non‐parents often live in different worlds from each other, and so too do those who have varying speaking styles.

Different nationalities can create troublesome beliefs and give permission to one group to dismiss the thinking and creativity of the other, thereby defeating what was the original stated rationale for diversity. In his book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell explains that 16% of men in the United States are 6 feet or taller, but 57% of Fortune 500 male CEOs are 6 feet or taller, which is four times the cohort!1 I have yet to see research that correlates leadership ability and skeletal structure.

The military has a convenient phrase: “Large and in charge.” We have an image of what a leader looks like. If you fit that image, you have a lot of tailwinds going for you. People will assume you are competent until you prove you are not. If you are shorter than 6 feet tall, you are not going to get that easy advantage. You might be assumed to be incompetent until you prove you are competent. Tall people are more likely to be pushing an open door. Short people find themselves having to demonstrate their abilities more often and more consistently with a different measuring stick.

Without more tools to use to ensure inclusion and equity, the very diversity we say we want can actually cause more problems than homogeneity, which is less compelling but easier to maneuver. For example, many held beliefs—and continue to hold them—about what roles are acceptable and proper for women to play and what roles men should play. The bulk of caregiving and housework globally falls to women and, while that is changing somewhat, men play a much less equal role in care and housework. Some countries have strict laws and cultural norms about these gendered roles. Equality Now, an organization that tracks laws that discriminate against women, found in 2020, for example, that “in 59 countries there are no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, and in 18 countries husbands are legally allowed to prevent their wives from working. Meanwhile, 104 countries have laws that prevent women from working in specific jobs, according to U.N. Women.”2

How and where we form beliefs about other people was also explored in The Loudest Duck