How would you describe the billion-dollar ‘diversity business’?
In writing the book (Diversity Inc.), I wanted to explore the tension between the constant rhetoric about diversity and the billions of dollars that are spent annually on consultants and anti-bias training — and the fact that most of these organizations barely move the needle when it comes to hiring people of colour. Whether it’s creative fields like fashion and Hollywood, academia, law or business, people of colour remain radically under-represented in every influential field. They make up close to 40 per cent of the U.S. population, but they are in the single digits in most influential fields.
Why are some of the fields that should be the most progressive not making any headway?
That was actually one of the surprises of my research. The creative and cultural fields — museums, Hollywood, fashion — that position themselves as being the most socially progressive are among the least diverse. Corporate America has made far greater strides than any of these fields. It still has
