HBR IdeaCast If DEI Programs Aren’t Effective, What Is?
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Feb 11, 2025 
Iris Bohnet and Siri Chilazi, both from the Harvard Kennedy School and co-authors of "Make Work Fair," dive into the complex landscape of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. They discuss the tension between these initiatives and meritocracy, advocating for fairness as a universal principle. Their research reveals how biases impact advancement and importance of data-driven solutions. The duo emphasizes strategic goal-setting to enhance organizational fairness and highlights the need for open dialogue to foster genuine inclusivity.
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Data-Driven Fairness
- Use data to measure fairness in your organization, just as you analyze core business operations.
- Analyze data on promotions, hiring, and other processes for systematic differences between groups.
Diversity Training
- Traditional diversity training programs often lack long-term impact on behavior change.
- A targeted, timely, and authority-led diversity training intervention at a large firm showed positive changes in hiring practices.
ERG Effectiveness
- Employee resource groups (ERGs) often focus on mitigating symptoms of underrepresentation without addressing root causes.
- Measure the impact of ERGs on actual outcomes like promotions and representation in leadership programs.
