The Difference Between Diversity and Inclusion

 The Difference between Diversity and Inclusion

Okay boys and girls I need to tell you about something that is close to my heart and my head.

Yesterday, while at an event for one of the most diverse companies in the land, a PespiCo employee asked me about how she could assure that her company was more Inclusive.

She explained that the company valued Diversity and it showed, but she wondered how it could be more inclusive.

Many companies and associations are dealing with the same issue. The same thing is happening on college campuses and even in my own neighborhood, where you could stand on the corner and sing “We Are The World,” because we really are.

While diversity is about making sure everyone is at the table, inclusion is about making sure everyone at that table is respected, trusted and valued.

As a sociologist, I am responsible for saying things like macro and micro at least once a day, so here goes.

I have long believed that diversity is a responsibility on the part of the collective; the macro, but inclusion is a micro level responsibility.

You and I must do the work. I must make sure that I value, respect and trust the diversity in my world. If not, I will not evolve. We need diversity to be better, but we need to engage with it for the process to happen.

The more inclusive the work-place, the more engaged the employees.

If I don’t include others and my own self in the discussions of life, the collective we will not become it’s absolute best.

Join the march for inclusion today.

Be you, be well, be included.

Bertice Berry, PhD.