Jamillah Bowman Williams (Georgetown Law)

The New Principle-Practice Gap: The Disconnect between Diversity Beliefs and Actions in the Workplace

Today, the main way organizations promote buy-in for DEI is to make the business case. Most companies typically position diversity to their managers and employees as a positive business driver, suggesting that a diverse workforce can lead to better outcomes and profit. In this seminar, Jamillah Bowman Williams, Professor of Law, Georgetown University & Visiting BiGS Racial Equity Fellow at Harvard Business School, will share why making the business case doesn’t work and can actually increase bias against Black employees. She will discuss this "Principle-Practice Gap," while also revealing the key social psychological mechanisms that answer questions about “why” and “how” the business case fails. She will also introduce early evidence of messaging that’s more effective at reducing organizational inequality. Hint: It is not a legal, moral, or fairness “case” for diversity.