Can someone help me understand diversity? Is it all about how the team looks? Or their gender?

I don't think there's a right answer, but I will share my perspective. Lack of diversity is when I look around, I don't see any one that looks like me, when I look at higher ups, I don't see anyone I can relate to or I can aspire to. TA1 has a point, diversity is not just race and gender, but let's not be naive and think your race and gender don't impact your backgrounds and experiences and therefore how you relate to your white colleagues and white partners.

I mean it's pretty clear from an appearance perspective so I'm not sure what the question is there. So yes it of course includes females (points to self) / those who identify as female. Another factor that most people may not think of when it comes to D&I is that person's life experiences because that's not outwardly visible. I feel like a lot of young professionals in business grew up in a family whose parents also work in Corporate America, so safe to say they grew up in a financially well-off family. Myself and others, who don't fall in that bucket, have observed that most of those families are Caucasian, and people who grow up in higher income homes have more shared experiences. Keep in mind the average household income is what, like $50k? And as young working professionals, we earn about that and more right out of college. That's not to say we don't deserve it- we work hard, got the education, etc., but not everyone who goes through this process came from a privileged family. For instance, I had never been to a professional sports game until after college when I started working because my family could not afford it. Coming from a low income household, there are clear differences that people on the team may not realize or understand. For example, several people on my team were commenting on how shitty Macy's bed sheets are- when the only ones I've had are from Walmart. Bedsheets outside of Walmart have always been a luxury to me growing up that I have not / don't feel the need to get now. Anyway, it certainly keeps one humbled to remember where they came from to where they're going. I'm glad to have gone through it. Most people we work with don't understand because they haven't gone through what it's like to grow up with little money. Like my family took maybe 2 vacations when I was growing up. And surprise surprise, most of these lower income households are not Caucasian. So yeah, there's also that aspect. Not making blanket statements or faulting anyone for having grown up / not grown up in an affluent family, just an observation to keep in mind about D&I.

No, he is just trying to stir up shit.

In theory, “diversity” means having a range of different skills, abilities, experiences, knowledge, and backgrounds. Sadly, I think we focus on race and gender because it’s very easy to identify and also the most noticeable. But if you really want to blow your mind, look up the difference between diversity and inclusion.

Wrong on both m1 and m2. Not sure why we can't have an open conversation without it turning into an argument. Just trying to get some perspective on D&I

It was kind of like "Oh I have a shot!"

Ey op

It's race, religion, gender, but also about how inclusive people are for ppl from different walks of life.

So for example, diversity isn't there when

Ppl support the OP of a trending post which said that a 32 year old staff 2..dafaq

When someine asks a female if she'll continue to work after kids (If they're not close to her)

When someine asks military vets if they killed anyone or how they feel About wars

Or CEO sending emails whenever terror strikes European/US countries but chooses to ignore acts in other parts of world lets say Turkey which had airport and bus bombings before Belgium airport attack.

When immigration problem was labeled "concern for all of us" by multiple US CEOs but "concern for some of us" by Mark Weinberger

Or failure on assuring any group, white or non white, of protection when any major hate crime is committed

When a person graduating college at age of 45 doesn't have same chances of getting into big4 as a person graduating at 21

When someone looks for a mentor on leadership who they can see themselves as but they can't find any becausethey don't share any common roots

When we see that ppl of samecolor will hsbgiut togather and unintentionally or intentionally seclude or weed out people who don't look or talk to them like that

That's my point of view.

Even though it's certainly more than race. There is something to be said about going to work and the leadership looks like you. I'm a black female and I didn't care that much about d&i to be honest until I had clients that had different experiences and they bonded with people on my teams that also hailed from certain areas or also shared certain experiences and I always wanted to know that mix of people that would be the most effective but also the most included. However I remember I met a black kid from Georgetown and he was interviewing and when he came into the office and looked around the majority of people in the room d idnt look like him. I could tell he was nervous in general. But then he saw me and when I smiled at him I could tell that a great weight had been lifted. I actually was his interviewer and when he interviewed finally he talked about how he almost felt inadequate to be there because he felt so out of place. Now admittedly I did tell him not to assume that everyone was coming from the same place just from looks alone but I understood that feeling. There is no replacing that feeling when I met my first black female partner.

I love how people are writing essays on this topic. I didn’t read any of them.

This is a really touchy subject and I feel like I'm a little confused. People say that their office is too white or their partners are all male and it makes it sound like these things are not a reason to complain about a person.

This is really the things you ponder?

In my mind, diversity and inclusion is not being an ahole to anyone who is different from you because everyone has something of value to contribute to any team.

A+ troll job. Love a good ruffling of the feathers.

I have a peer who would respond with 'ew' when a former female teammate would talk about her ex-girlfriend. To her face.

PwC2: most people aren't aholes and not inclusive on purpose. More often than not they just don't realize they're not being inclusive...this is what is the most tricky about D&I. It takes a lot of efforts to acknowledge your unconscious biais and take actions against it.

You can't change the world, but you can be the change you want to see in the world. Wanting a partner that looks like you is great, but if you don't stick it out till partner because you don't have that, how many people after you are going to leave for the same reason.

Someone *

Mentor within leadership*

Hangout together *

Look or Talk like them*

Sorry for typos, it's 3am and I'm super sleepy.

First off I want to say kudos to everyone who has commented so far, this thread had potential to go very differently and it seems so far that everyone has been respectful. I agree with what has been said so far that diversity is theoretically about more than just age, gender, and race. The thought behind it is that we make a better team and deliver a better product if we have different perspectives and ideas flowing. As EY2 mentioned the things that lead to these differing perspectives are more than just what we see on the outside, however companies who want to project diversity as a marketing tool are limited in what they can "prove" or "show" people which means the outwardly apparent features are used. In reality however no two people are exactly alike, which means we always have diversity even with two white males. The true lesson of diversity and inclusion should be to listen to everyone's perspectives and not assume their position, aka to avoid groupthink.

That's exactly the problem. No one is saying that ppl at top should look like them, it's not only a racial or gender issue. It goes way beyond that and it's about ppl fitting in other people's shoes

PwC 1, Ey 1, and Ey 3 kinda hit this topic on the nose for me. D&I is not just about race/gender, it’s also about ppl’s personal experiences on how they got there as well. If a company/firm wants this then they’ll include it but it starts with moving those examples of D&I up the ladder and welcome their thoughts vs. proving a point that you are being “diverse.” It’s all about honesty really and if your org is not being honest about being progressive then you can read the health of their opinions as actions speak louder than words.