5 lessons from Include 2021—and how we’re taking it forward to accelerate diversity & inclusion

Sometimes we must take risks to have a meaningful impact. That’s why, just a few weeks ago, Microsoft did something unlike anything it’s done before: We invited people around the world to join us for a series of challenging conversations about global diversity and inclusion.

Include 2021 was a free, digital event with an open invitation for all to learn with us from international experts in academia, social change, law, behavioral science, and diversity and inclusion. If you couldn’t attend Include 2021 live or want to revisit any of the discussions, most sessions are available on demand.

Throughout the day I found myself taking notes, finding new synergies, and asking my own questions. On many occasions, I was reminded of the urgency of now, and the important role organizations can play in accelerating meaningful progress and enabling intentional learning and action.  

There was much to reflect on as I continue my own allyship journey—so I wanted to share with you five of the lessons I’ll take into my work ahead.  

#1: Require more of ourselves—and one another.  

This idea of leveraging our privilege in support of others—especially when it feels difficult or puts us in a place of vulnerability—came home during a session on allyship with Prof. Dolly Chugh, NYU Stern School of Business, who encouraged us to go beyond performance and instead engage in meaningful action with a simple, useful strategy: Instead of being satisfied that we’ve done enough or feeling like there is a finish line, apply a “10 percent rule,” which encourages us to do 10 percent more than we were before.

As I listened to Dolly, I couldn’t help but ask myself, what would 30 percent more or 50 percent more feel like? Is it possible that we can move too fast—especially when it feels like our collective societies have been moving too slow for too long?

I will continue to ask myself to do more, even more than 10 percent—because diversity and inclusion work should never be about settling for “good enough.” It should always be about innovating and learning, in the same way we do in the spaces of product and market development. It’s about time we expected more of ourselves and one another in this work.

#2: Embrace complexity for deeper, and necessary, understanding.

Identity is complex. None of us fit into a singular box, and challenging assumptions about identity are essential to driving forward true inclusion. This is why it’s so important to understand the concept of intersectionality—coined by UCLA and Columbia Law School Professor Prof. Kimberlé Crenshaw 30 years ago—which unpacks how our “identity is not in a vacuum.” As Prof. Crenshaw explains:

“Diversity is an outcome of having an intersectional lens, but it is not the same as an intersectional lens. An intersectional lens asks us to think about how compounded inequalities, how compounded forms of exclusion actually play out. […] Unless you pay attention to what it means to be queer and Indigenous, or what it means to be Black and a woman, or poor and trans—unless you pay attention to that, you're going to miss a lot.”

Intersectionality allows us to see how we can experience both privilege and bias at different points in our lives, and it gives us a framework to understand how someone may experience “compound discrimination.”

Despite decades of scholarship and learning around intersectionality, we haven’t made 30 years of progress on this! It’s a reminder of how much more work we need to do and how important it is to use a shared language—when we see a problem, we need to be able to name it. Once we understand what it is we’re trying to address, we can move into more meaningful, intentional action.

#3: Diversity and inclusion work is inherently imperfect—embrace a growth mindset.

Even when we strive for perfect in the details, we can miss the mark: Accessibility was integrated throughout Include 2021, but it wasn’t perfect. We recognized the historic stewards of the land, and while important, the land acknowledgments were incomplete. We covered some topics and identities, but there were still many others we were unable to address.

Sometimes, as part of committing to doing this work, we must confront the difference between our intention and our impact. A growth mindset, so important to our culture at Microsoft, helps us do that.

There were many moments during Include 2021 where people modeled what it looks like to acknowledge and address a gap in understanding. During a live Q&A, Prof. Kenji Yoshino, Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law and Director of the Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, was asked a question for which he didn’t have an answer. In response, he owned that he had some learning to do and asked the individual to follow up with him after the session.

At another point, one of the event hosts corrected himself after accidentally using ableist language. It was a mistake many of us have made, but rather than shying away from that moment of learning, he embraced it.

With empathy and humility, we can remove the shame of not knowing, make it safe to embrace new perspectives, spark a desire for ongoing learning and relearning, and create the space to grow together. 

#4: Check and re-check assumptions.

When it comes to embracing a growth mindset, we must be willing to have our opinions and assumptions challenged or changed.

I thought a lot about this when listening to Prof. Yoshino’s talk on covering, which happens when we hide certain aspects of our identities to fit into the mainstream. We may assume all covering is bad, but some may choose to cover intentionally—which is why Prof. Yoshino cautioned against companies asserting how or if an employee uncovers. Instead, companies need to make their values clear, and generate the systemic support and psychological safety that make it possible for employees to uncover and be their authentic selves.

Many of us also make assumptions around gender. Chase Strangio, deputy director for Transgender Justice with the LGBT & HIV Project at the ACLU, encouraged us to challenge our assumptions, because when we do, everyone benefits:

“Gender is not easily defined, it's systemic. There are systems of gender and they are aligned with and oriented towards power. When you think about breaking down the assumptions and stereotypes that are harming trans people, you are going to improve the conditions for all people and particularly people who have experienced gender oppression, which includes pretty much anyone who's not a cisgender, white, straight man.”

By showing up in allyship for one group, we are strengthening diversity and inclusion practices that benefit all groups. This goes beyond gender to issues of race and ethnicity, privilege, covering, disability, age, faith, and so much more.

New research and innovations frequently challenge us to reconsider what we thought we knew, and even change our minds. Include 2021 emphasized that welcoming new ideas and perspectives—the habit of nurturing flexibility in our thinking—primes and positions us to practice inclusion daily.

#5: When we understand the diversity within diversity and inclusion, we start to open the conversation. 

One impactful session at Include 2021 explored race, ethnicity, and caste through a global lens with Prof. Michael Eric Dyson, professor of African American Studies, Diaspora Studies, and Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University; Prof. Adrienne Keene, assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University; and Prof. Balmurli Natrajan, professor of anthropology at William Paterson University. Many moments stuck with me, but I was especially encouraged by Dr. Keene’s call for more intentional and explicit inclusion of global Indigenous communities in conversations about race and ethnicity:

“Land acknowledgments have become a thing that a lot of organizations, events, folks are participating in. That is important work, going through finding out whose land you occupy, thinking about how to word those statements, but it also isn't a stand-in for the work. While that's been an important change and growth in these conversations, building that from just the acknowledgment into an actual relationship with Indigenous communities, one that is reciprocal and really meaningful is the actual work.”

It was a reminder that while opening the aperture for more people to participate in these conversations with nuance and intention, we also need to be actively building meaningful relationships—taking me back to Dolly’s message of always pushing for at least “10 percent more.”

This is just a snapshot of the many moments and topics that made an impact throughout Include 2021. While we don’t believe meaningful change will happen in a single day, we hope that people left ready to do the real work that real change requires.

Did you attend Include 2021? If so, please share your learnings and takeaways in the comments. If you weren’t able to attend Include 2021 or want to revisit any of the discussions, you can access video content on demand here.