Future Here Now: Inclusion isn’t just nice. When you don’t, you lose. Really lose.
Signals
In this issue:
You’re chasing off the people who see differently. How very dumb of you.
Racing up to the child care cliff
Hire people with autism.
Your bottom line needs those international students.
This is
So. Damn. Stupid.
We live in a world and an era where diversity has more concrete, quantifiable value than ever. We have over a decade’s worth of research that demonstrates that diverse teams create more innovative solutions. We have example upon example of entrepreneurs creating something new and incredibly valuable because their life experience had showed them something different from the norm. And we have extensive evidence that people who have immigrated to the United States from elsewhere are more likely to start new businesses – and start new businesses that grow and employ people and generate wealth – than people who are native born.
Diversity, equity and inclusion aren't signs of weakness, but they’re also not just moral goods, or Something Nice People Do.
They are the raw materials of the future of our economy. A future that we already see unfolding.
A diverse workforce is literally the most reliable way to find that elusive something that will set you apart from your competitors, because they’re bringing a whole new perspective.
Sales stagnating? Competitors outclassing you?
Feeling stuck? Wanna get unstuck?
Diversify your workforce, your suppliers, your network. People who have different experiences from you will spot things that you have missed, because your own assumptions may have blinded you to an opportunity you never even considered.
But diverse populations don’t always meet this potential. Ignore them, discredit them, forget what they can do, reject them intentionally, or unintentionally, and they will protect themselves.
They will keep their heads down, keep their light under the bushel.
That’s why the Equity and Inclusion parts have to be front and center as well. If we don’t create the conditions for that diversity to bring its full capability to the table, we won’t get those benefits. And, since it’s also near impossible to keep a secret, doing the Equity and Inclusion parts badly will sooner or later come back to bite you, as we have seen with Target.
So don’t be an idiot. We don’t just want DEI. We need it. And we need it done very well.
Production Note: the links to the original articles are in the headlines of each article.
You’re chasing off the people who see differently. How very dumb of you.
This article didn’t bury the lede, but for some reason it buried the point of headline way down in the article.
From a strictly economic angle, discrimination against anyone is stupider today than it has ever been. You want your business to have innovation and creativity?
People who realize that our gender constructs are exactly that – constructs – are PRECISELY the kind of people we all need to help us find groundbreaking solutions that bust through our blind spots. In any field, on any issue.
We need exactly this kind of perspective, this kind of innovative spirit, more than we ever have before.
In Iowa, and everywhere else.
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Racing up to the child care cliff
A workforce without parents won’t work.
Not only because too many people will get left out of the workforce – the economic growth of the last quarter of the 20th century, after all, was largely driven by the expanded capacity that came about when women entered the workforce – but because we need the perspectives of people who are also caring for small people, just as we need the perspective of people who are caring for seniors, pets, themselves, or anything else.
When only non-caretaker men were designing baby products, or mobility assistance devices, or anything else that you can think of that someone other than non-caretaker men use, we got lousy products. Under-researched products based on untested and unchallenged assumptions. Often, dangerous products that only became less so after someone died and someone was sued.
This report dates from 2023, but the facts hold. Consider these strictly economic impacts from the report:
The loss in tax and business revenue will likely cost states $10.6 billion in economic activity per year.
In addition, we project that millions of parents will be impacted, with many leaving the workforce or reducing their hours, costing families $9 billion each year in lost earnings.
That $10.6 billion is about 3% of Missouri’s GDP, and about 10% of Mississippi’s. We freak out when GDP changes by less than 2%. And that $9 billion in lost earnings represents over 136,000 full time jobs at the average national income (of course the people who get hurt by loss of child care will be mostly well below that amount).
That’s not just someone else’s problem. That’s an economic cliff. One that we’d be stupid not to swerve from.
Hire people with autism. They can do great.
Few groups of people lumped under one label demonstrate such amazing diversity as people on the autistic spectrum.
One person might be unable to speak, while another person carries on multiple conversations every day. One person experiences hypersensitivity to light, while another needs intense physical pressure to help them regulate their visceral responses. And while the Rain Man savant that we’ve seen in movies isn’t a regular experience, many autistic people can bring intense focus to their tasks, giving them a huge leg up for certain badly needed jobs, like security management.
But incorporating people with those unique skills requires changing how we work, and that starts with the job interview. This article gives a powerful insight into the ways in which conventional hiring strategies not only disadvantage people on the autistic spectrum, but also cost businesses the opportunity to benefit from the real advantages that they might bring to the table.
Cutting our international students hurts our budgets, too
The U.S.A’s 10th highest export: higher education.
Scaring away international students could cost U.S. communities $44 billion.
And international students are the life blood of many of our small colleges, making up larger and larger proportions of enrollment.
And most of the time, they pay full price.
Remember that the next time someone squalls about them.