Jackson: The American Dream is one of the most powerful stories we tell ourselves. But what if it's also one of the most misleading? What if success isn't just about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, but about the design of the boots themselves? Olivia: That is a fantastic way to put it, Jackson. It’s the central question that animates the book we’re diving into today: Equity: How to Design Organizations Where Everyone Thrives by Minal Bopaiah. And it challenges that bootstrap narrative from the very first page. Jackson: I’m already intrigued. Equity is a word we hear a lot, but I feel like it gets tangled up with diversity and inclusion, and I'm not sure most people, myself included, could give you a sharp definition. Olivia: Exactly. And Bopaiah is the perfect person to write this. She's not just a theorist; she's the founder of a strategy and design firm, Brevity & Wit, and has worked hands-on with organizations like NPR to redesign their systems for more equitable outcomes. She’s been in the trenches, and she argues that equity is the neglected "middle child" of DEI work—but it's the one that actually holds the key to systemic change. Jackson: The neglected middle child. I like that. So where does she start? How do you begin to unravel something as big as the American Dream? Olivia: She starts with a very personal story that, on the surface, looks like a perfect example of it: her own parents' journey to America.

Jackson: Okay, let's hear it. I'm a sucker for a good immigrant story. Olivia: It’s a great one. In 1976, her parents, both doctors from India, arrive in New York City with very little money. The city at the time is a mess—it’s on the verge of bankruptcy, crime is rampant. Her dad works in a chaotic ER, seeing gunshot wounds constantly. Her mom is pregnant and sleeping on the floor of their tiny apartment. They work incredibly long hours, face danger, and eventually, through sheer grit, they move to the suburbs, start a private practice, and achieve enormous success. Jackson: See, that’s the story! That’s the classic narrative. They came with nothing, worked their tails off, and made it. That’s pure determination. Olivia: It is. And Bopaiah is clear that their hard work was immense. But then she asks us to look closer, to see the invisible architecture that was supporting them. First, they were able to come to the US because of the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act, a policy change that specifically opened the doors for highly skilled workers, like doctors, to fill labor shortages. The system was designed to bring them in. Jackson: Huh. Okay, so it wasn't just random luck. There was a policy. Olivia: Precisely. And there’s another layer. Where did her parents get their medical degrees? In India. The US effectively benefited from a world-class education that was paid for by Indian taxpayers. We got the finished product without investing in the development. So their success wasn't just individual grit; it was propped up by an immigration policy designed for talent extraction and the socialized education of another country. Jackson: Wow. When you put it like that, the "bootstrap" story starts to look a lot more complicated. You don't see the scaffolding holding the person up. Olivia: That's the core idea. Bopaiah argues that inequity is almost always a design problem. She points to the US education system as another perfect example. In America, public schools are largely funded by local property taxes. Jackson: Right, which means wealthy neighborhoods with high property values get amazing, well-funded schools, and poor neighborhoods get the opposite. Olivia: Exactly. Bopaiah mentions a German friend who, upon hearing this, was horrified and said, "It just means the rich get richer and the poor get poorer." In Germany, schools are funded through general tax revenue, so resources are distributed more evenly. One system is designed for equality of opportunity; the other is designed to perpetuate existing wealth disparities. Jackson: But is it always intentional? I mean, that sounds so cynical, to say these systems are designed to be oppressive. Isn't it more like they just evolved that way, or they're broken? Olivia: This is a crucial point in the book. Bopaiah quotes a designer named Antionette Carroll, who says, "systems of oppression, inequalities, and inequities are by design. Therefore, only intentional design can dismantle them." The choices were made by people. They might not have been made with mustache-twirling villainy, but they were conscious choices that benefited one group over another. Recognizing that intentionality is the first step. Jackson: Okay, so if these systems are designed, whether with good or bad intentions, that implies they can be redesigned. It’s a huge, daunting thought, but it also feels a little hopeful. Where do you even start? Olivia: That's the entire second half of the book. It’s not enough to point out the problem. Bopaiah gives us a toolkit for the redesign. And it starts with a concept that many of us know from the tech world, but she applies it to humanity.

Jackson: Don't tell me the answer is an app. Olivia: (Laughs) No, not an app. The answer is a process: Human-Centered Design, or HCD. And she tells this incredible story that makes it so clear. It’s about a project to create a low-cost incubator for premature babies in developing countries. Jackson: A noble goal. What happened? Olivia: A group of Stanford design students were given this project. Their initial thought, like most of ours would be, was to just build a cheaper version of a Western incubator. A stripped-down, budget model. Jackson: Makes sense. Logical. Olivia: But instead of just building it, they went to India and started talking to people. They practiced what Bopaiah calls "perspective-gathering." Not "perspective-taking," where you imagine what it's like to be someone else, but actually asking and listening. They talked to mothers, nurses, doctors, even mothers-in-law. And what they discovered completely blew up their original idea. Jackson: What did they find out? Olivia: They found out that most premature babies weren't born in hospitals, but in rural homes. They found out that even when hospitals had donated incubators, they often sat unused because the electricity was too unreliable to run them. And most importantly, they discovered that mothers hated the idea of being separated from their newborns, which a big plastic box requires. A cheap incubator wouldn't solve any of the real problems. Jackson: Whoa. So their brilliant solution would have just gathered dust. Olivia: Exactly. So they went back to the drawing board, armed with this real human insight. And they created something totally different: the Embrace Infant Warmer. It looks like a tiny sleeping bag. Inside is a special wax pouch that you can heat up in boiling water—no electricity needed. It stays at a perfect 37 degrees Celsius for hours, swaddling the baby in warmth while allowing the mother to hold it, to bond with it. Jackson: That's... brilliant. That's actually brilliant. They didn't just build a cheaper version of what we have. They built something entirely new based on real human needs. Olivia: Yes! And that little sleeping bag has saved the lives of over 300,000 babies. That is the power of designing for equity. It’s not about assuming you know the answer. It’s about having the humility to ask, to listen, and to design a solution for the reality people are living in, not the one you imagine for them. Jackson: That story gives me chills. It connects everything. The failure would have been designing from a distance, from a place of privilege. The success came from getting proximate and gathering perspectives. Olivia: And that’s the model the book proposes for everything, from creating new products to redesigning a company's hiring process or its health insurance policies. Bopaiah tells another quick story about trying to add her brother to her health insurance plan. She found she could add a stranger she married instantly, but adding her own brother, who was going through a rough patch, was nearly impossible because the system is designed to center the nuclear family. It wasn't designed for her reality. Jackson: It’s everywhere once you start looking for it. The design is everywhere.

Olivia: It is. And that’s the big takeaway. We are all, in some way, designers of the systems we live in. We can either be complicit in designs that create inequitable outcomes, or we can be active participants in redesigning them. Jackson: So it all comes back to that invisible architecture. We can either unconsciously build systems that perpetuate unfairness, like funding schools with property taxes, or we can consciously design systems that create opportunity, like the Embrace warmer. The choice is about being intentional. Olivia: Exactly. And Bopaiah’s point, which I love, is that this isn't just for CEOs or politicians. It’s a mindset that anyone can adopt. On a team at work, it can be as simple as asking, "Whose perspective is missing from this conversation?" before making a decision. That one question is the first step in designing for equity. Jackson: That’s so practical. It’s not about having all the answers, but about asking the right questions. It makes you look at everything differently. Not just, "Is this fair?" but, "What was this system designed to do, and who was it designed for?" Olivia: And that is a profoundly more powerful question. It shifts us from being passive victims of a system to active architects of a better one. As Bopaiah so powerfully argues, equity isn't a destination we arrive at. It’s a practice. It’s a way of seeing the world and a commitment to rebuilding it, one intentional choice at a time. Jackson: I feel like my brain has been rewired a little bit. In a good way. Olivia: That’s the goal! We'd love to hear what systems you've noticed in your own life—at work, in your community—that seem designed for a specific outcome, for better or for worse. Share your thoughts with the Aibrary community. We’re always curious to hear your perspective. Jackson: This is Aibrary, signing off.