How to go from talking diversity to diversity

Inequality and related topics like privilege, bias and discrimination have grabbed attention in recent times, and rightly so. What is often less covered is that underpinning inequalities and the associated social ills is the wrong but insidiously embedded belief that capacity and potential are somehow genetically acquired, or allotted by place of birth,?or exclusively available to certain types of individuals or groups that hold dominant power.?This is the fallacy sustaining all types of inequalities and socio-economic injustices.

The underground well

Katagiri Roshi, the Zen master in Natalie Goldberg's book "Writing down the bones" said that "capacity is like a water table below the surface of the earth". And on that, Goldberg herself added that "no one owns it, but anyone can tap it. Capacity is not a genetic trait and certainly not the birth right of a select group. It's developed subject to availability of opportunities.

Think about your first job. It doesn't matter if your first job was when you were 16 or as a PhD. What skills did you take into that role? More often than not, your employer actually took a leap of faith because your capacity was unknown and largely dormant at the time. They simply gave you the benefit of the doubt and that activated a lot of your innate potentials.

In your first job, you probably had something but not exactly what the employer needed. They had to invest a bit to give you an opportunity to tap the well of potential and develop the capacity to produce.

It's just like mineral exploration. There may be some black gold underneath the earth. But someone has to invest on machinery and manpower to explore and tap into those valuable deposits.

When it comes to diversity and inclusion, the required investment may not always be financial but simply having faith in what the individual can become or produce over time.

When wells are not made equal

The problem is when this concept of "benefit of the doubt" is out of reach for some groups within the society. The society dysfunctions when it can only place faith on human potentials in a selective manner based on demographically influenced stereotypes.

This is where many fail to walk the talk on diversity. Due to unconscious bias and stereotypes, they just can't see prospects in a diverse pool. They can't stand the rigours of prospecting further afield. They always reach out for the familiar - similar backgrounds, culture, education, and all the factors that do nothing but produce homogeneity and a dangerously skewed allocation of resources in society.

Unequal allocation of investment opportunities results in wasted potentials, untapped raw materials, and under-valuation of assets.

The paradox of the gardener

This also plays to the analogy of the gardener.?The gardener keeps some flowerpots malnourished and water-deprived because they believe those species of flowers don't do well. But the gardener is surprised that the flowerpots that received daily watering, nutrients and care are flourishing better than the unloved ones, in the same environment. The gardener's attitude plays out a self-fulfilling prophecy facilitated by their own prejudices. At the same time, the gardener fails to recognize the role they played or failed to play in creating the outcomes.

Hypocrisy is the name of the game where talk fails to match actions or where public body language is incongruous with actual intent. The internet is awash with diversity allies and initiatives, but the playing field is still as uneven as ever.

The Pygmalion effect: reaping what you sow

It's all about value and value drives investment and growth. When you don't expect someone or a group to progress, you may not invest in their growth. Their lack of progress becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy aided by the lack of investment, support, and erosion of confidence.

This is the Pygmalion effect. If you ever wondered why there are so few ethnic minorities in senior leadership positions, now you know - the gardener probably has the Pygmalion syndrome.

The power of fair allocation

No man or woman is created an underachiever or a failure. Many are limited by the chronic lack of opportunities to develop. Failure and poverty are not genetic but mostly perpetuated by a system, society and a world that is lopsided in allocation of growth and development opportunities.

This the reason there's a wide gap between the intent behind the thousands of pages of diversity policies out there and the reality on ground. The system is short-circuited when people clamp into their comfort zones and only step out to reproduce after their kind and then close up again. It is questionable if all the smart and successful people all look the same, speak the same, sound the same or come from the same zip code.

Gatekeepers and mining rights

Every human being is potentially successful. But potentials can fail if not carefully harnessed - irrespective of skin colour, gender or background. Capacity remains redundant unless activated.

Give someone outside your league the benefit of the doubt and watch them blossom. Potential, like crude oil, gold or other minerals are naturally available. But opportunity is the mining rights controlled by gatekeepers who regulate access and determine who can explore what, where and when.

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If you are a gatekeeper or 'regulator' of opportunities, you need to act with utmost sense of responsibility to humanity. The world could be a better place. It's all in your hands.

Opinions expressed are solely mine and do not represent the views or opinions of any organisation or association.