Thread by @Patticus

On this week's episode of Protect the Hustle we dive deep on the topic of diversity, because last week Patty McCord kick my butt on how we could try harder on this front.

It's an uncomfortable topic, but absolutely necessary. Here's the full episode: profitwell.com/blog/diversity…

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As @dcancel put it "diversity is important because it's reality. It's our world". It's not a number. Too many of us get caught up in the numbers, which tokenizes people - in reality we're shooting for diversity of perspective and diversity of thought - which reflects our world 2/

Diversity is great for business because it creates the right uncomfortable environment to discover new ideas and approaches. @randfish taught me this (referencing a McKinsey study that supported this w/ data). He also taught me there's a moral reason for focusing on diversity 3/

We're bad at creating diverse teams, because as @austinfish taught me "we're afraid...and it's really effing hard". We get too much short-term pressure, which causes us to hire the people around us quickly, because they're in our network. We need to hold the line. 4/

We inject a lot of bias into the recruiting process, which we supported with a research study we conducted. In technical roles, women and PoC get +9-20% response rates, christians and republicans get -20% response rates. In non-technical roles those gains/losses are wiped out. 5/

We also overthink our environments. In another study we ran on work/job preferences, men and women tend to have the same preferences. Of course individuals will have different preferences, but we all want stability, to work on cool stuff, and to be treated well. 6/

So what should you do? The biggest piece is to commit to this being important inside your company. Not an "initiative", but actual commitment. Apply some rigor to this being a focus and make it a common conversation. 7/

Remove as much bias from your recruiting process. We implemented a basic scoring system and are reducing our job descriptions to streamline getting people on the phone. @hodges also gave a huge tip in recruiting from places you don't normally recruit from. 8/

Do NOT lower your quality bar. This isn't fair to you, your team, or the person you're recruiting. The goal is focusing on this as an asset and improving your pipeline. Folks are out there, it's on you to attract. 9/

Finally, when it comes to environment, the secret comes down to protecting psychological safety and equality in an environment that is uncomfortable. Because the deeper we research into diversity, the more we will discover how different we all are on any axis. 10/

We mustn’t deny that those differences exist, we need to reject that those differences are a liability. They’re an asset. We must rage against the dying of debate and encourage an environment where friction is protected and cherished because it breeds the best result. 11/

I'm still early on going deeper and deeper into this topic and obviously being a "white dude" comes with it's biases and lack of understanding. Please join the conversation, because it'll help all of us do better. 12/

We couldn't have put this together without the help of @randfish @dcancel @hodges @austinfish @pattymccord1 @meg_e_colon and @LilianYMitchell. We'll be dropping the full research from the episode in the next couple of weeks. Sign up to get it at protectthehustle.com. 13/

Oh, and if you want the full episode with all the interviews and research, here you go. :)

Podcast: share.transistor.fm/s/06c5e0f7

Video: profitwell.com/blog/diversity… 14/