The Growing Importance of Diversity and Inclusion in the Hyperconnected Era
In our hyperconnected age, as everything becomes interconnected, change itself has become the defining characteristic of our times - so much so that we can say 'nothing remains unchanged.' Conversely, this means countless possibilities are being born, diversity is being embraced, and these become part of our daily lives. The key point is that how much we can embrace this diversity becomes the key to growth - not just for individuals, but for organizations and companies as well. Inclusion literally means 'the mindset of embracing and accepting different things' - it's about acknowledging and respecting different perspectives, positions, and individualities as they are.
Now, let me ask you: Are you an inclusive person?
Are you someone with strong preconceptions or not?
Are you someone who tries to view situations from various perspectives or not?
I'm inclusive, but others aren't!?
Research shows that interestingly, most people consider themselves to be 'objective and fair.' However, the same research reveals that when it comes to 'perception of others,' people often define others as 'having many prejudices and making biased judgments.' In other words, 'I'm an inclusive person, but the other person isn't.' If we think about this logically, we actually arrive at the conclusion that 'we are all biased.' The paradox is that because of our own biases, we judge ourselves as 'inclusive.'
Expanding Our Possibilities by Overcoming Bias
Diversity and inclusion are more important topics than we think. Our society is entangled with countless biases. Gender roles, educational background, generational differences, disabilities, communication and relationships - many aspects of our daily lives are filled with bias. The biases I hold become intertwined with others' biases, operating as collective organizational and social biases that create everyday pressures. Prejudice and bias can easily cause errors in organizational decisions about who to hire, who to promote to leadership positions, and who to choose as partners. They prevent us from properly recognizing someone's strengths, capabilities, and potential, ultimately blocking not only our own and our organization's best outcomes but also limiting society's possibilities - making this a significant issue.
The following video is a famous Volkswagen electric car commercial that carries the message 'If we learn to adapt to new things, we can achieve anything.' Shall we take a look at the video?
It contained many positive messages about human challenges, innovation, and tranquility.
However, this advertisement was 'banned from broadcast' in the UK because it was deemed to perpetuate gender role stereotypes.
Where? If you're wondering, watch it again. Men are subtly portrayed in images of challenging limits, while women are shown doing laundry, making sandwiches, caring for children, and reading. Of course, some might think this is an over-interpretation. However, some places consider it sensitive enough to impose a national ban. The sensitivity toward diversity and inclusion can show such significant differences that we might say it's on 'a different level.'
Diversity and Inclusion Specialized Experience Program <Find the Boss>
<Find the Boss!> is an ESG corporate education program aimed at improving gender bias awareness. It consists of a story where teams collaborate to collect information about bosses of global IT organizations, complete composite sketches, and share insights.
The game is a mission to find the boss of a multinational IT company hidden behind a veil. Participants become agents of an intelligence organization in pairs of two, conducting undercover investigations to discover who the boss is. One person from each pair searches for various informants hidden throughout the training space - such as janitors, butlers, children, drivers, etc. - conversing with them to collect clues, while the other person draws a composite sketch of the target based on the testimonies. The investigation incorporates Realworld's unique immersive technologies like QR codes, AR, and chatbots, not only generating interest but also enabling smooth gameplay for large groups. The interesting point is that the appearance of the people participants question, as well as their testimonies, are embedded with various points that can trigger gender bias!
For example, when hearing testimony like 'Our boss ties their hair back and has tattoos,' some people unconsciously start with the assumption that 'the boss must be male' and think 'ties their hair back? Then it must be a short ponytail. Tattoos? Hmm...' drawing the boss in a way that reinforces their bias. Especially when my bias combines with my partner's bias, we end up drawing an appearance in a completely unexpected direction. In other words, the boss's composite becomes a sum total of the team's biases! After the game ends, participants have time to objectively examine the informants' testimonies. Only then do participants realize how much objectively presented data can be distorted by their own biases, exclaiming 'Oh no! Wow!' as they reflect on themselves and become ready to seriously consider and discuss how to change the organizational culture formed by such collective biases. Isn't that wonderful?
Shall we take a look at the <Find the Boss!> experience in action?
The passion of people working hard to identify a global company boss!
They're diligently collecting information hidden throughout the space!
They're actively participating, occasionally asking for help along the way!
By obtaining clues on-site and solving missions within the Realworld app, participants naturally learned about 'gender bias.'
Using the clues they gathered about the boss, teams took time to draw composite sketches of the boss together.
Everyone is discussing their different perspectives while drawing the 'boss composite'!
Everyone is deeply focused on drawing the boss. What do you think the boss will look like?
By sharing the completed 'composites' together, we could see that despite receiving the same clues, each team drew the boss differently. This also means that our unconscious minds differ according to 'gender bias.'
We also took time to share the completed 'composites' together. Despite obtaining the same clues about the boss's appearance, personality, clothing, and hobbies during gameplay, we could see that each team drew the boss differently.
Some teams thought the boss was female, while others thought male. This shows unconscious 'gender bias' - assumptions like 'women would have this kind of appearance and personality' or 'men would have this kind of personality and dress this way.'
We could identify the unconscious tendency to think in binary terms like 'women naturally look like this' or 'men naturally should act like this.' Many participants were surprised when comparing their drawings and interpretations, because their belief that 'I am fair' was completely shattered.
As shown in the feedback, participants realized biases they didn't know they had, became aware of inclusivity, resolved to speak up, and contemplated how to apply this to their organizations and work. Indeed, experience is worth a thousand words - when experience is added, we can seek change!
The Future of AI? It's the Sum of Our Biases
We are truly in the age of AI. Led by ChatGPT, countless services incorporating AI algorithms are being introduced like a flood, and we're reaching a time when autonomous driving, web and video search engine services, and even AI recruitment are no longer unfamiliar. Unlike humans, AI is considered efficient technology that isn't subjective and makes decisions based solely on data... But the truth is different. The 'data' that serves as the basis for AI decisions already reflects countless human prejudices. In other words, the data itself contains added biases, and AI services based on this data become the same. This bias then spreads to billions of users through the so-called 'filter bubble' phenomenon. For instance, when Amazon used AI for recruitment, clear evidence of discrimination against women was found, but since no gender information was included in the data, they couldn't identify the cause. Similarly, with Apple Card credit card issuance, men received much higher credit limits despite women having higher credit scores. In other words, because our perceptions are biased, the premise that 'AI is fair' cannot hold true. You can feel this is a huge problem, right?
If You Want to Make Your Members and Organization Healthier and More Growth-Oriented, Experience D&I Directly
The Start of Change Comes from Experiencing Each Person's Preconceptions and Biases!
With prescriptive, one-way messages like 'we must change' and 'we must take action,' we can never break free from 'I am fair.' We must directly experience with our bodies so that our unconscious prejudices can be revealed, and we must be able to observe together how biases are reinforced when these prejudices combine. That's when we go 'Aha!' and attempt to change. Therefore, if you want to create experiences that address diversity and inclusion issues and seek change, I recommend looking into Realworld's <Find the Boss>!
Are you curious about Realworld's experiential education?