7 ms·

I would actually blame the corrective action for it. Companies are not personal, they are purely about managing business and risks. When you hire a person, you

I would actually blame the corrective action for it. Companies are not personal, they are purely about managing business and risks. When you hire a person, you care for 2 things: 1. How likely will they perform their duties in a way that is profitable to the company? 2. How much will it cost to the company to fire them, if they turn out to generate loss. Some people may have a stereotype that people of certain backgrounds would perform worse than people of other backgrounds, so that would affect heir judgement at point 1. However, if we make special rules that make it harder to fire underperformers from certain backgrounds, it greatly increases the costs at point 2, making them actually much less favorable candidates. So in the current political climate, companies at the same time are forced to: 1. Claim that they will prefer diverse candidates and have diversity policies. 2. Actually avoid diverse candidates, because in case they underperform, laying them off would be considerably more expensive due to PR issues. The study very much confirms this behavior, and I bet that making more special rules will only make it worse.

mullingitover 6y ago
> Companies are not personal, they are purely about managing business and risks. Let's completely refute this notion: "Companies with more culturally and ethnically diverse executive teams were 33% more likely to see better-than-average profits. In McKinsey’s previous study—conducted with 2014 numbers—that increase had been 35%. At the board of directors level, more ethnically and cultural diverse companies were 43% more likely to see above-average profits, showing a significant correlation between diversity and performance." https://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2018/01/25/more-evidence-that-company-diversity-leads-to-better-profits/#203436fc1bc7 https://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2018/01/25/more-...
- john_moscow 6y ago
  I would dare say the causality is reversed here. Once your company reaches a certain size, NOT having a diverse executive team will very quickly get you labeled as racist and will cost you dearly. Nobody cares about a mom and pop bakery, but imagine the outrage in the media, if Apple or Google did not pick their executive teams based on the diversity constraints.
  - malandrew 6y ago
    Not only that, for the time period when this study was done, the most successful businesses will be in cities where there is statistically a more diverse pool to draw from. Is the cause the diversity or is it that cities are generally hyper-competitive places that draw the most competitive people in society and filter out those that can't hack it. Your reason and my reason are just two possibilities of reversed causality. I'm sure there are many others. The conclusion of that study is basically a wet streets cause rain conclusion. One only needs to look at foreign firms like those in China that are crushing it to see that many non-diverse businesses are doing very well. I'm sure those businesses weren't included because it wouldn't support the conclusion the researcher wanted to arrive at.
    - Avicebron 6y ago
      China is a great example, very mono-cultural (relative to the US, I know there is different great diversity in China) and (personal experience) a bit racist or dismissive of Non-Chinese. Yet they absolute crush it with almost everything they do? How do we square that circle and say well..if everyone just looked different we would be better off. Minus the white people, they shouldn't be around anymore.
      - lawnchair_larry 6y ago
        Not to mention, anyone with half a brain that they are willing to use should already know that it’s absurd to think that 2 people with a different skin pigment have an advantage over 2 people with the same skin pigment. The willful delusion and mental gymnastics to justify reverse racism are a wonder to behold.
      - mullingitover 6y ago
        It's pretty easy to pick this apart. China is actually quite diverse culturally, but communism has long had a focus on equality. They're demonstrating that equality is a competitive advantage.
        6y ago
- lawnchair_larry 6y ago
  You might want to read the actual study. It’s horribly mischaracterized everywhere.

mullingitover 6y ago

> Companies are not personal, they are purely about managing business and risks. Let's completely refute this notion: "Companies with more culturally and ethnically diverse executive teams were 33% more likely to see better-than-average profits. In McKinsey’s previous study—conducted with 2014 numbers—that increase had been 35%. At the board of directors level, more ethnically and cultural diverse companies were 43% more likely to see above-average profits, showing a significant correlation between diversity and performance." https://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2018/01/25/more-evidence-that-company-diversity-leads-to-better-profits/#203436fc1bc7 https://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2018/01/25/more-...

john_moscow 6y ago
I would dare say the causality is reversed here. Once your company reaches a certain size, NOT having a diverse executive team will very quickly get you labeled as racist and will cost you dearly. Nobody cares about a mom and pop bakery, but imagine the outrage in the media, if Apple or Google did not pick their executive teams based on the diversity constraints.
- malandrew 6y ago
  Not only that, for the time period when this study was done, the most successful businesses will be in cities where there is statistically a more diverse pool to draw from. Is the cause the diversity or is it that cities are generally hyper-competitive places that draw the most competitive people in society and filter out those that can't hack it. Your reason and my reason are just two possibilities of reversed causality. I'm sure there are many others. The conclusion of that study is basically a wet streets cause rain conclusion. One only needs to look at foreign firms like those in China that are crushing it to see that many non-diverse businesses are doing very well. I'm sure those businesses weren't included because it wouldn't support the conclusion the researcher wanted to arrive at.
  - Avicebron 6y ago
    China is a great example, very mono-cultural (relative to the US, I know there is different great diversity in China) and (personal experience) a bit racist or dismissive of Non-Chinese. Yet they absolute crush it with almost everything they do? How do we square that circle and say well..if everyone just looked different we would be better off. Minus the white people, they shouldn't be around anymore.
    - lawnchair_larry 6y ago
      Not to mention, anyone with half a brain that they are willing to use should already know that it’s absurd to think that 2 people with a different skin pigment have an advantage over 2 people with the same skin pigment. The willful delusion and mental gymnastics to justify reverse racism are a wonder to behold.
    - mullingitover 6y ago
      It's pretty easy to pick this apart. China is actually quite diverse culturally, but communism has long had a focus on equality. They're demonstrating that equality is a competitive advantage.
      - 6y ago
lawnchair_larry 6y ago
You might want to read the actual study. It’s horribly mischaracterized everywhere.