get that easy advantage. You might be assumed to be incompetent until you prove you are competent. Tall people are more likely to be pushing an open door. Short people find themselves having to demonstrate their abilities more often and more consistently with a different measuring stick.
Without more tools to use to ensure inclusion and equity, the very diversity we say we want can actually cause more problems than homogeneity, which is less compelling but easier to maneuver. For example, many held beliefs—and continue to hold them—about what roles are acceptable and proper for women to play and what roles men should play. The bulk of caregiving and housework globally falls to women and, while that is changing somewhat, men play a much less equal role in care and housework. Some countries have strict laws and cultural norms about these gendered roles. Equality Now, an organization that tracks laws that discriminate against women, found in 2020, for example, that “in 59 countries there are no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, and in 18 countries husbands are legally allowed to prevent their wives from working. Meanwhile, 104 countries have laws that prevent women from working in specific jobs, according to U.N. Women.”2
How and where we form beliefs about other people was also explored in The Loudest Duck. All of the ways we learn about people, I called Grandma (society). Thus, we are all diverse and we all unconsciously bring our Grandmas to work with us.
We learn in myriad ways. Our parents teach us, peers put pressure on us, our everyday experiences in life shape us, religion sends messages to us, and the media, TV, film, and social media are playing a bigger and bigger role in how we learn about others. And all those fairy tales, fables, and myths? Those are strong molders of the archetypes we have of others.
I reflected on the great myth of the hero's journey. It is about the young man who has to overcome great odds, slay the dragon, and defeat the evil empire. It looks like he is going to lose to the enemy, but he comes back stronger and overcomes the struggles. He returns to his kingdom, village, or tribe and gets his rewards, which are generally the keys to the kingdom, the pot of gold, and the hand of the fair maiden.
These myths find their way into movies and television. I once read a review of a forgotten, money‐losing 2005 movie called Sahara, directed by Breck Eisner and starring Matthew McConaughey as “an aquatic treasure hunter who halts a worldwide plague, defeats the evil dictator of Mali, locates a fortune in gold and rolls around a pristine beach in the arms of a scientist played by Penelope Cruz.” (At least the woman has a career!)
An equally strong mirror myth is the rescue or rescue me myth. The classic is Cinderella, who is rescued from the evil stepmother by the prince, or Sleeping Beauty who, after lying on a table for 100 years, is awakened by the prince with a (nonconsensual) kiss.
We learn about people unconsciously in so many ways. Movies, fairy tales, and myths depict various archetypes, including the mentor (think Yoda), the orphan (Harry Potter), and the jester or joker (kings often had one to humorously tell them bad news). Generally speaking, men are agents of change and women are waiting to be cared for. Lately, we are seeing more of a mixing in gender, such as Wonder Woman as the hero, but the overwhelming images and archetypes are based on gendered roles. Today, the diversity movement continues to advance, aided by those who understand the moral reasons for change, spurred on by continuing research into the value of diverse organizations, pushed by social justice movements, forced by legal dictates.
Much has changed and yet progress has not been as manifest in the diversity world as it should be, given all of the noise made and efforts that organizations have tried. Diversity has now expanded to diversity, equity, and inclusion, commonly referred to as DEI. It also embraces social justice in its broadened aperture. I have no doubt that 10 years from now there will be further expansion of our understanding and embrace of these concepts.
Unconscious bias training has been seen as an essential part of changing people's mindsets about what views they harbor about others who are different than they are. In my perspective, unconscious bias training has been a ground‐shifting exercise, but has not completed the effort. This training must be added onto with actual practical tools for behavior change, for means to de‐bias both thinking and processes. Awareness does not necessarily lead to shifts in our behaviors.
I remember why I first started thinking about diversity efforts. It began with my interest in women world leaders and a journey to meet and interview women presidents and prime ministers. These interviews were spurred on by the question of what it would take and what it would be like to have a woman president in the United States (as of 2021, still an unanswered question).
After this journey, having met all 15 of the women presidents and prime ministers of the time period between 1993 and 1996, I co‐founded the Council of Women World Leaders, which was originally located at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Every day on my way to the office I would walk by a park dedicated to JFK, where a memorial features a quote etched in stone from Kennedy's 1961 farewell speech to Massachusetts:
When at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment of each one of us, our success or failure in whatever office you hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions:
Were we truly men of courage…?
Were we truly men of dedication…?
Were we truly men of integrity…?
Were we truly men of judgment…?
I'd read that every day and think, “Such good questions to ask men.” But of course, they were good questions to ask women too. That was the start of an eye‐opening look at how men live in the world and how women go through life. It expanded into thinking about dominant groups and nondominant groups and how dynamics in organizations can cause real problems for those who are not in that dominant group.
The title of the book The Loudest Duck refers to how easy it is for some to be under‐heard and some to be over‐heard and how that can defeat the true essence of a diverse population. In some cultures, people are taught that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” Speak up and you get what you want. American men often exhibit this culturally learned behavior and it is acceptable for them to do this because Grandma has taught them it is okay. I call this the Wheel.
While doing sessions in Japan, I asked who knew what that squeaky wheel phrase meant. No one knew. They had been taught by Grandma that “the nail that sticks out gets hit on the head.” That's 180 degrees away from the squeaky wheel! I call this the Nail.
Another example: women in many cultures have heard the phrase “If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all,” mimicking the notion that women must above all else be nonconfrontational, nurturing, and unable or unwilling to exhibit anger. Again, 180 degrees opposite of the squeaky wheel. I call this Nice.
Finally, in China the societal norm is “the loudest duck gets shot.” Yet another 180 degrees opposite of the squeaky wheel. For example, in some societies' culture it is dangerous to share your political views if they are in opposition to those in power, so not speaking up can seem the smarter approach. In other places, it is considered bad form to ask questions in the classroom because that implies you are questioning the teacher's abilities rather than a simple request for information. I call this the Duck.
So, let's hypothesize that you are in a meeting and the team is diverse because you hired for diversity. It has a Wheel, Nail, Duck, and Nice. Who's likely doing most of the talking? The Wheel, because that is what they have been taught. But looking at it through the lens of cognitive ideas, the group is over‐hearing the Wheel and under‐hearing the Nail, Duck, and Nice. And the Wheel maybe gets more promotions or assignments or is seen as
