Maggie's Farm

I spent the summer of 1982 with a group of 7 other people, one who was my brother, the rest were his high school and college friends.  We had a 36 year get together not too long ago, and 2 of them had become lawyers.  As the weekend wound down, we were entertained as the two of them talked 'shop' and one asked the other a question - "Does your firm have a diversity officer?"  The reply, not surprisingly, was "Yes."  Thereupon they launched into a Q & A regarding "What exactly does a diversity officer do?"  The answer from both was "I don't really know."

I work at a major corporation and we have a diversity officer.  I'm not sure what that position does, besides pay well and provide a public face at industry events which address diversity.  The reality is the position isn't much more than virtue signaling.

I happen to support diversity as a concept, but not as a goal.  For one reason.  It can't be a goal because it can never be 'finished'.  My favorite moment at any HR event was many years ago when my firm was giving everyone an update on diversity and pointed out that our employee base mimicked the make-up of the US in terms of percentages for gender and race.  That, in itself, was considered an accomplishment.  But more needed to be done, of course.

My boss, a female, raised her hand and asked a simple question.  "When are we finished?"  HR was floored.  What did she mean?  My boss said, when you have a goal to achieve something, you are finished at some point.  She was curious what the goal of diversity was and when it would be met.

I've mentioned this story before.  It's important to revisit.  What's really at stake when corporations invoke 'diversity' isn't anything truly tangible.  I know there are almost no firms that value older employees.  They are expensive and their experience is no longer valued the way it once was, so the 'diversity' they offer isn't a valued diversity.  Older employees are often viewed to be technologically impaired, owning mindsets which are not as 'out of the box' or forward-thinking (I take issue with both these points).  Diversity for most firms isn't really diversity at all.  It's just virtue signaling to the public.  True diversity is recognizing that different personalities and viewpoints have value and welcoming them as part of the mix so the overall organization benefits.  It's not a goal, just something which should be done naturally.  Do you need an officer to tell you how that's done?