Top 50 Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Articles of 2019

This year did not disappoint as we continued the global dialogue around Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace and in our communities. From race and gender to sexual orientation and gender identity, there was no shortage of content in 2019 on Inclusion facts, figures, and data to move our conversations forward.

The following made the cut as the most memorable articles in 2019 focused on Diversity and Inclusion and Belonging.

It should be noted that with over 230,000 views on LinkedIn, over 4,100 reactions, and over 170 comments, the first article represents my most viewed shared post of 2019 on the social media platform.

Which are your favorites? What others would you include?

1? George W. Bush 'Appreciated' Ellen DeGeneres Going to Bat for Friendship After Backlash

"Here’s the thing...I’m friends with George Bush. In fact, I’m friends with a lot of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I have. We’re all different and I think that we've forgotten that that’s OK." DeGeneres continued: "When I say 'be kind to one another,' I don’t mean only the people that think the same way that you do. I mean be kind to everyone. Doesn’t matter."

2? 5 Must Read Books for Today’s Inclusive Leader

"By the numbers, it remains clear that America's changing demographics are here to stay and puts an exclamation point on the importance for organizations to proactively prioritize dismantling the barriers to inclusion within their organizations to unleash the true power of Diversity."

3? 4 Important (and Sometimes Difficult) Steps Leaders Must Take to Create a More Diverse and Inclusive Team

"This is hard work," Uzo Akotaobi says. "If you don’t want any of that, please don’t say you want diversity, and truly don’t say you want inclusion. Because you can’t have diversity and inclusion without dynamic leaders who know how to understand the human beings that work for them."

4? Employees are Tired of Their Companies Paying Lip Service to Diversity. They Want Real Change

Part of the problem, Rod Githens says, comes from a lack of transparency. Employees may see their organization "talking the talk," so to speak, by organizing diversity events and increasing awareness of its importance. But until leaders are "walking the walk" and making systemic changes, employees may not feel inspired to do the same.

5? How the Best Bosses Interrupt Bias on Their Team

Although bias itself is devilishly hard to eliminate, it is not as difficult to interrupt. In the decades we’ve spent researching and advising people on how to build and manage diverse work groups, we’ve identified ways that managers can counter bias without spending a lot of time—or political capital.

6? How to Become a Less Biased Version of Yourself

The good news is that while eliminating bias and prejudice is impossible, there are degrees of bias and prejudice, partly as the product of experience. So it’s safe to assume that if you’re reading this, you are likely better at keeping a lid on your biases than most people. This is because you are both aware of your biases, and probably more curious and open to experiences.

7? How to Confront Bias Without Alienating People

We might live in an age of moral outrage and virtue signaling, but plenty of research shows that calling someone racist, homophobic, sexist, or any other label does nothing to change people’s beliefs. This is because naming, shaming, or blaming people will “automatically put them in the defensive,” says Alexis McGill Johnson, the cofounder and executive director of Perception Institute–an institution that aims to turn research on race, gender, ethnic, and other identities to solutions that reduce bias and discrimination. “It creates the fight-or-flight mode.” In any situation, confronting bias requires you to start from a place “where most people are fair,” Johnson tells Fast Company, but that they haven’t been taught how to approach things in an inclusive way.

8? Why Most Performance Evaluations Are Biased, and How to Fix Them

As many studies have shown, without structure, people are more likely to rely on gender, race, and other stereotypes when making decisions – instead of thoughtfully constructing assessments using agreed-upon processes and criteria that are consistently applied across all employees.

9? ‘Checkbox Diversity’ Must Be Left Behind for DEI Efforts to Succeed

Good intentions to increase the diversity of organizations have led to “checkbox” approaches that don't account for hegemony, marginalization, and the creation of sustainable shifts in power. Without a closer examination of these practices, we may wake up in a few years wondering what went wrong.

10? Why the Diversity Landscape is Still Slanted Towards Inequality

A recent study highlights nearly 98% of companies have a diversity program. But only a quarter of workers in diverse groups – women, people of color and people who identify as LGBTQ – confirm they receive any benefits from these programs. In addition, some have analyzed the data and concluded Chief Diversity Officers have been set up for failure.

11? Chief Diversity Officers Are Set Up To Fail

While the now robust business case for diversity has persuaded executive teams to install more diversity leaders and inclusion systems, there are real reasons to believe that their work will not have the impact their bosses and boards expect. A Leader’s Guide: Finding and Keeping Your Next Diversity Officer surveyed 234 top diversity executives from the S&P 500 cohort, to better determine who they are and what they need. Bottom line, who they are is tired, and what they need is more money, power, and respect.

12? Does Diversity Training Work the Way It’s Supposed To?

Virtually all Fortune 500 companies offer diversity training to their employees. Yet surprisingly few of them have measured its impact. That’s unfortunate, considering evidence has shown that diversity training can backfire, eliciting defensiveness from the very people who might benefit most. And even when the training is beneficial, the effects may not last after the program ends.

13? How Leaders Around the World Build Trust Across Cultures

Many managerial positions require frequent communication with employees from around the world, but building trust across cultures can be difficult. Still, it is vitally important; when individuals trust one another, they can work together effectively regardless of cultural differences. But how do you build this cross-cultural trust? In focus group interviews with over 400 managers and executives in America, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle Eastern, we’ve distilled three things that top executives do to build trusting relationships: they start with the right mindset, they learn about their colleagues’ backgrounds, and they understand the importance of results and character in building trust.

14? How to Foster Workplace Belonging Through Successful Employee Resource Groups

For companies today, diversity and inclusion are often listed as top organizational priorities. It is great that more companies are investing in diversity and inclusion efforts, however many have yet to grasp the complexity and scale of the practices that should guide this focus. Efforts sometimes end up looking more like diversity hiring programs, without enough emphasis on equity and belonging once employees are in the door. When companies focus exclusively on bringing employees in, without creating a space where they feel safe and empowered to bring their best selves to the table, we risk lowered productivity and heightened churn rates. This can make overall progress in this space slow. For a company to successfully scale, it must maintain a culture of empowerment and community.

15? Meritocracy Doesn’t Exist, and Believing it Does is Bad for You

Although widely held, the belief that merit rather than luck determines success or failure in the world is demonstrably false. This is not least because merit itself is, in large part, the result of luck. Talent and the capacity for determined effort, sometimes called “grit,” depend a great deal on one’s genetic endowments and upbringing.

16? Must-Watch TED Talks That Tackle Diversity and Inclusion

The power of a visual story is unmatched, especially when it's providing a glimpse into someone else's life experience or a window into a different culture. That's why TED Talks serve as an invaluable tool that D&I practitioners, ERG leaders and leaders in general can utilize to foster courageous conversations, shift perspectives, connect with others or simply inform themselves and their team.

17? 12 Things You Can Do Today to Improve Race Relations Across America

We all hold influence over ourselves, our families, our friends, our work environments, our churches and our communities. And while there are multiple sides to our debate, we must all be on the side of the children, the women, and the men who were injured or lost their lives in 2019 because of the color of their skin. Here is just a beginner's guide to the small steps you can take everyday that have a huge impact.

18? Prince Harry Warns about Dangers of 'Unconscious Racism' in Candid Interview for Duchess of Sussex's Vogue

The Duke of Sussex has spoken candidly about the effects of “unconscious bias” on racism, warning people must understand how their upbringing and environment causes them to be prejudiced without realizing it.

19? Privileged

I believe that what’s happening to people of color in this country — right now, in 2019 — is wrong. The fact that black Americans are more than five times as likely to be incarcerated as white Americans is wrong. The fact that black Americans are more than twice as likely to live in poverty as white Americans is wrong. The fact that black unemployment rates nationally are double that of overall unemployment rates is wrong. The fact that black imprisonment rates for drug charges are almost six times higher nationally than white imprisonment rates for drug charges is wrong. The fact that black Americans own approximately one-tenth of the wealth that white Americans own is wrong. The fact that inequality is built so deeply into so many of our most trusted institutions is wrong. And I believe it’s the responsibility of anyone on the privileged end of those inequalities to help make things right.

20? Women are Finally Considered to be as Competent as Men - But They're Still Thought of as More Emotional and Sensitive

Women are as seen as at least—if not more—competent than men, according to a study looking at gender stereotypes over the past seven decades. But the notion that women are more emotional and sensitive has strengthened over time.

21? Privilege. Through the Eyes of White People with Chelsea Handler

While Chelsea's film isn't loaded with data and resources like Jose Antonio Vargas' White People Documentary released in 2015, it is a good opportunity to understand the types of conversations white people are - or are not - having as it relates to race in America.

22? Advancing Black Leaders

Harvard Business Review delivers on 5 key topics in their series on Advancing Black Leaders. Those topics include Toward a Racially Just Workplace, The Cost of Code-Switching, The Day-To-Day Work of Diversity and Inclusion, Why So Many Organizations Stay White, and Success Comes from Affirming Your Potential.

23? 4 Ways to Improve Your Company’s Disability-Inclusion Practices

Despite articles on the advantages that people with disabilities can offer employers, too many companies hold themselves back when it comes to hiring people with disabilities. They see hiring (some) persons with disabilities as being “the right thing to do” but do not see it as part of a talent strategy that will benefit the company and outweigh what they see as the potential expenses and risk. In fact, a recent study by the National Organization on Disability indicates that only 13% of companies in the U.S. have reached the Department of Labor’s target of having 7% disability representation in their workforce.

24? A Changing World: Global Views on Diversity, Gender Equality, Family Life and the Importance of Religion

Is diversity on the rise? Has gender equality increased? Does religion play a more or less important role than in the past? And are family ties stronger or weaker than they used to be? Pew Research Center posed these questions to 30,133 people in 27 countries and here are the results.

25? Smart People Are As Racist As Less-Smart People – But Smart Enough To Hide It

If you’re white and live in America, the smarter you are, the less likely you are to say you agree with racist stereotypes or principles. But you’re not more likely than your dumber counterparts to actually want to do anything about racial inequality.

26? Women of Color Get Less Support at Work. Here’s How Managers Can Change That

Despite representing about 18% of the U.S. population, women of color represented only 4% of C-Level positions in 2018, falling far below white men (68%) and white women (19%). Even graduating from a prestigious business or law school doesn’t help much. Of the 532 African-American women who earned their MBAs at Harvard Business School between 1977 and 2015, only 67 (13%) have achieved the highest-ranking executive positions, compared to 161 (19%) of African-American men and 40% of a matched sample of 150 non-African-American HBS alumni.

27? Managers Pick Mini-Me Proteges Of Same Race, Gender

For those worried that the #MeToo movement has discouraged men from nurturing women’s ambitions at work, the Center for Talent Innovation has some news: There wasn’t a lot of progress to roll back in the first place.

28? The 4 Factors Keeping Women from the Top in Corporate America: a Working Mother Report

Much has been said in recent years about the lack of women at the top of corporate America. Despite programs and initiatives to move women up, CEO and C-suite numbers—and in the pipeline—are stagnant and are even worse for multicultural women. This research examines the experiences of women—and men—at all levels to ascertain what keeps them out of the highest ranks and to offer solutions to close the gap.

29? These are the False Beliefs We Still Hold about Introverts and Extroverts

You don’t have to be solidly one or the other. On this episode of Secrets of the Most Productive People, we learn the real ways introverts and extroverts operate in the workplace.

30? 17,000 Data Points from 50 Top Brands Prove that Diversity in Ads is Good for Their Bottom Lines

A new study from Deloitte agency Heat found that representation in ads correlated with an increase in both stock price and public perception.

31? 3 Ways to Improve Your Cultural Fluency

Cultural fluency in leadership is critical for building trust, and is a competency that has been repeatedly linked to financial performance. Building long term cross-cultural relationships leads to increased creativity and out-of-the box thinking. It is an essential ingredient for driving productivity and innovation while also staving off the kind of uniformity that can lead to “groupthink” (which can limit a company’s ability to reach a global customer base).

32? What Makes You “Multicultural”

You’ve heard about multicultural societies and groups, but have you thought about multicultural individuals and what they bring to organizations? Multicultural individuals — such as Chinese-Canadians, Turkish-Germans, or Arab-Americans — commonly think, perceive, behave, and respond to global workplace issues in more complex ways than monocultural individuals. Some multicultural individuals translate these differences into career success. After reading 183 articles in fields ranging from sociology, anthropology, and psychology — as well as management and marketing — we define multiculturalism within individuals as the degree to which they know, identify with, and internalize more than one culture.

33? 7 Maps that Tell the Incredible Story of Aging in America

We’re all getting older. It’s the one thing that every single person alive right now has in common. But we’re also getting older as a population, with Americans both living longer and having fewer children. Census projections show a major demographic shift already underway and accelerating in the years to come.

34? Ageism is Thriving, So What are Companies Doing About It?

From not even getting past the first interview to being segregated into niche roles, older workers are still facing discrimination. Some companies are trying to fix that.

35? Do Lawsuits Improve Gender and Racial Equality at Work?

In an analysis of 171 high-profile lawsuits filed against private companies from 1997 to 2008, we examined how the verdicts and settlements affected subsequent levels of gender and racial diversity in management. Specifically, we wanted to know whether lawsuits led to measurable gains in managerial diversity. Using statistical models, we isolated the effect of lawsuits on the percentages of white women, black women, and black men in management, by comparing the numbers in the year before a lawsuit with the three years following it. We focused on white women, black women, and black men in management because, unfortunately but perhaps not surprisingly, the numbers for Hispanic and Asian American women and men in management were too small to get accurate results. Our analysis controlled for all other sources of year-to-year shifts in managerial diversity in each company and its local economy.

36? Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the Experiences of Women of Color

In a previous job, Minda Harts corrected her manager who was celebrating the company for “having the most diverse leadership across the country in our industry.” When Harts, now an assistant adjunct professor at New York University, pointed out that their organization shouldn’t be celebrating their diversity numbers just yet — all their leaders were white men and white women — her manager was visibly annoyed. Harts recalls that her manager made her feel like she was wrong for even bringing it up. “Many senior leaders are not comfortable talking about race and they are doing their talent a disservice by ignoring racial equity in the workplace,” says Harts, author of The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table.

37? Five Ways an Anti-Racist White Caucus Supports Diversity and Inclusion

From engaging the White people sitting next to me on the plane (lucky them!), to consulting with White organization leaders, to facilitating workshops with diverse audiences, I see this topic as critical to equity work.

38? For the First Time, Most New Working-age Hires in the U.S. are People of Color

The surge of minority women getting jobs has helped push the U.S. workforce across a historic threshold. For the first time, most new hires of prime working age (25 to 54) are people of color, according to a Washington Post analysis of data the Labor Department began collecting in the 1970s. Minority hires overtook white hires last year.

39? Those She/Her/Hers at the End of Email Messages are More Than a Passing Trend

It has taken eons for western mainstream culture to recognize that gender is not binary, and not everyone’s gender conforms to the sex they were assigned at birth, or to either gender, or one static gender. And not everyone is on board with the concept yet. Nevertheless, companies are forging ahead. Though data is scarce, the anecdotal evidence that progressive workplaces are finally shedding outdated binary pronoun norms—in the same way several colleges already have—is fast accumulating.

40? Latino Community Largely Ignored in Hollywood Films, New Study Finds

Only 3% of the top 100 grossing films from 2007 to 2018 featured Latino actors in lead or co-lead roles, according to a new study conducted by USC Annenberg’s Inclusion Initiative in partnership with the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP). What’s more, only 4.5% of all speaking characters across all films were Latino, despite the demographic representing the largest ethnic group in America. Latinos make up 18.3% of the U.S. population, and according to the study, 77% of the 50 U.S. states and 2 territories have populations with a higher percentage of Latinos than what is currently seen in Hollywood films.

41? Media Melting Pot: Diverse Consumers Are Driving Usage On Handheld Platforms

With newer generations coming into the consumer fold, the U.S.’ mosaic of buyers grows more diverse. As such, measuring these audiences has become increasingly pertinent—not only because of the value of representation, but because these audiences are helping to shape the future of how we consume and communicate. Women and multicultural consumers have become a driving force in tech and media, particularly when it comes to handheld devices. Mobile devices’ avenues for content and their wide availability are giving power to these diverse groups.

42? Muhammad Makes List of Top 10 Baby Names in the US for the First Time

Muhammad ranks at No. 10, up four spots from last year. The name has been climbing steadily on BabyCenter's rankings over the years and first entered the top 100 in 2013. "Muslim families often choose Muhammad for firstborn sons to honor the prophet and bring blessings to the child," Linda Murray, BabyCenter's global editor in chief, said in a news release. "The name also has multiple spellings, and that helps a name get into the top 10."

43? Mind the 100 Year Gap

None of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and nor likely will many of our children. That’s the sobering finding of the Global Gender Gap Report 2020, which reveals that gender parity will not be attained for 99.5 years (or 151 years if you're in North America). The index’s rankings offer an effective means to benchmark progress. They are designed to create global awareness of the challenges that gender gaps pose, as well as the opportunities that emerge when action is taken to reduce them.

44? Addressing the Biases Plaguing Algorithms

Executives lured by the siren-song of AI need to understand both the possibilities and risks endemic in AI and data. Even at the dawn of humans interacting with AI through mediums like voice and chat, there are many documented failures of AI attempting to speak and understand human language. Here, we’ll highlight three recent, high-profile examples from Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, and show how AI leaders can learn from these mistakes to implement programs that safeguard their AI initiatives.

45? Are Politically Diverse Teams More Effective?

Political polarization in the United States and around the world is on the rise. Voting patterns, surveys, and discussions on Twitter all indicate that we now agree on fewer and fewer issues and like each other less and less. A 2015 study revealed that Americans were more comfortable having children marry into a family of another race than another political party. Moreover, U.S. politicians from the political right and left have become more polarized in how they vote and how they talk on the floor of Congress, resulting in fewer compromises and more insurmountable conflicts. Political ideology has thus become a growing faultline across teams and organizations with which today’s managers must contend and yet, research findings suggests that we tend to not handle these divisions well.

46? Why Some White Liberals Will Probably Vote For Donald Trump

A subset of liberals, not conservatives, could be the group “most responsive to the implicit ― and sometimes explicit ― racial appeals of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign,” Rachel Wetts and Robb Willer wrote in their paper, which appears in Socius, a scholarly journal published by the American Sociological Association. Wetts is an assistant sociology professor at Brown University and Willer is a sociology professor at Stanford. A previous paper they co-authored examined the way white attitudes toward welfare soured after survey participants were told white Americans would someday lose their majority status.

47? Rising Death Rates Among White Americans Linked to Perceived Threat to Their Dominant Social Status, Study Shows

A new public health study released by University of Toronto researchers found that rising mortality in white Americans is partly due to perceptions that they are losing social status. The paper, titled "Growing sense of social status threat and concomitant deaths of despair among whites," highlights this population health phenomenon that has been unfolding for the past two decades. Mortality rates seldom rise unless a society is subjected to something disastrous, like a major economic crisis, an infectious disease epidemic or war. But there has been an increase in working-age mortality rates for just one group in the United States since 1999, and that's non-Hispanic whites.

48? How to Show White Men That Diversity and Inclusion Efforts Need Them

Most leaders of big corporations outwardly support diversity and inclusion efforts. But in my work as a Diversity & Inclusion consultant, I frequently get a behind-the-scenes look at how leaders truly feel and a surprising number of people — from line managers to C-Suite executives — express notedly less enthusiastic opinions in private. “It seems like I’m not wanted in the room when D&I conversations start happening,” one person told me. “It feels like I’m part of the problem,” another said in frustration. And a third, in a rare admission of a common sentiment said: “It seems like everyone is out to get the white guys.”

49? Pinterest Releases Gender Transition Guide to Help Other Organizations Facilitate Change

Pinterest has this week published its internal guidelines for assisting employees who are going through a gender transition, an increasingly common, and important consideration in the modern workplace. The document covers Pinterest's process for assisting its own staff, and Pinterest is publishing the guide "to help other workplaces looking to support their trans employees".

50? The Electoral College’s Racist Origins

More than two centuries after it was designed to empower southern white voters, the system continues to do just that.

Ta-Nehisi Coates: The Cancellation of Colin Kaepernick

This isn’t a fight for employment at any cost. It is a fight for a world where we are not shot, or shunned, because the masters of capital, or their agents, do not like our comportment, our attire or what we have to say.