Diversity speakers and the nerds etc.

A couple outside diversity consultants spoke to us at work last week, and I got the chance to talk with them a little after their session. I wanted to share an observation: the “diversity industry” seems to be populated mostly with “Harvard MBA” personalities (I was sucking up a little) — ambitious, warm social butterflies — because they’re the kinds of people who become consultants and paid speakers. Accordingly, they are blind to an important kind of diversity among people: diversity of personality type and cognitive style. When two socially fluent people from different racial or ethnic backgrounds engage and hit it off, that’s great — but what about the kind of people who just don’t relate to others that way, no matter their background? What about the nerds?

Part of the discussion touched on the kinds of excuses and defenses people use to protect their unconscious biases: “I only care about ability, not background,” etc. These can indeed be excuses, wholly or partially. But sometimes they are also the sincere and true plea of someone who just sees the social universe differently.

This is not a fully formed idea, and when I was talking to the diversity folks I often found myself not sure what I was saying. But I feel like socially super-fluent people are so overrepresented in the “diversity” stakes that it must have distorting effects.

I passed on my recommendation of Cowen’s Create Your Own Economy.