Olivia: Companies spend billions on diversity programs every year. Yet, fewer than 1% of Fortune 500 CEOs are Black. And get this: a major study found that Black and Latino job applicants with no criminal record fared no better than white applicants who were just released from prison. Jackson: Wow. That is a staggering reality check. It feels like it confirms what so many people suspect—that a lot of corporate diversity initiatives are just for show. The posters look nice, but the system underneath is completely unchanged. Olivia: And that's exactly the problem Dr. Stefanie K. Johnson tackles in her book, Inclusify: How to Ignite Meaningful Connection and Drive More Innovation. What's fascinating is that Dr. Johnson isn't just an academic; she's a top consultant who has seen this failure firsthand inside Fortune 100 companies, which gives her insights a really sharp, practical edge. Jackson: Okay, I'm hooked. So where does it all go wrong? Why is there this massive gap between what companies say they're doing and what those statistics show is actually happening?

Olivia: The book opens with the perfect story to illustrate this. Dr. Johnson is interviewing an executive, let's call him Jim. And Jim is the picture of a modern, enlightened leader. He tells her, "I empower my team," "I encourage new ideas," "I value everyone's input." He sounds fantastic on paper. Jackson: Right, he’s saying all the right things. He’s probably been to all the leadership seminars. Olivia: Exactly. But then, she interviews Tawny, a woman on his team. And Tawny’s reality is completely different. She says, "I’m asked for my opinion, but in the end my opinion never matters." She says Jim encourages new ideas, but if they fail, there are consequences. She feels lost, unsupported, and unrecognized. Jackson: That’s a huge disconnect. But it gets worse, doesn't it? Olivia: It does. Tawny delivers this killer line. She says, "There is no team, just a bunch of people trying to outperform each other to please Jim. But we’re all on our own. It feels like The Hunger Games." Jackson: The Hunger Games! That is brutal. And Jim probably has no idea. He likely goes home at night thinking he's this great, empowering boss, while his team member feels like she's fighting for her life in a dystopian death match. That’s the scary part. Olivia: That is the entire point. It's what Johnson calls the "Great Disconnect." It’s not usually about malicious leaders. It's about this chasm between leadership perception and employee reality. She even saw it in the company cafeteria. Jackson: What do you mean? Olivia: She observed the lunch tables at this same Fortune 100 company. And despite a very diverse workforce, the tables were completely segregated. You had the table of young white women, the table of Asian Americans, the table of older white men. And she asks this brilliant question: if we're segregated at the lunch table, what do you think is happening at the meeting table where the real decisions are made? Jackson: That’s a chilling thought. The same invisible lines are being drawn. It’s a social dead zone. People are present, but they’re not actually connecting or collaborating. Olivia: Precisely. And that's why just hiring for diversity fails. You can have all the different ingredients in the kitchen, but if they never get mixed into the same pot, you're not actually making a new dish. You just have a bunch of separate ingredients. Jackson: Okay, so the disconnect is the problem. It's clear, it's pervasive. What's the solution? What does 'Inclusify' actually mean?

Olivia: This is the core idea of the book, and it's so elegantly simple. Johnson argues that true inclusion is the synergy of two fundamental, and sometimes competing, human needs: the need to be unique and the need to belong. Jackson: Uniqueness and belonging. Let's break that down. Belonging, I get. We're social creatures. We want to be part of the tribe. Olivia: Right. And the book points out that social exclusion lights up the same regions of the brain as physical pain. Being left out literally hurts. It's why we talk about "culture fit"—companies want people who will feel like they belong, so they don't leave. Jackson: But what about uniqueness? That feels like the opposite impulse. Olivia: It is! We also have a deep need to be seen for who we truly are—our individual talents, our background, our personality. We want to be our authentic selves. If you have to suppress your identity just to fit in, it's exhausting and demoralizing. Jackson: So it’s like wanting to be a valued member of the band, but also getting to play your own solo. You need both. If you only belong, you're just a cog. If you're only unique, you're an outcast. Olivia: That's a perfect analogy. And an "Inclusifyer" is a leader who masterfully creates an environment where both can happen at the same time. The book has this powerful personal story from Dr. Johnson herself that makes this so clear. Jackson: Oh, I'm ready. Hit me. Olivia: She's a Latina professor, and she's running late for a faculty meeting after a chaotic morning of "mommy duties." She rushes in, a little disheveled, and as she goes to sit down, a male colleague, the meeting organizer, stops her. He tells her she can't be in the meeting. Jackson: Oh, that feeling is the worst. The public rejection. What happened? Olivia: She was so embarrassed she just left the room. Later, he apologized. He had mistaken her for an instructor, who is teaching faculty, not a tenure-track research professor. He saw her, and his unconscious prototype of a "professor" didn't match. He put her in a lower-status box. Jackson: And in that one moment, she was told, "You don't belong here." Her uniqueness—a Latina woman, a mother, a professor—was erased and replaced with a label that said 'outsider.' Olivia: Exactly. And the book is filled with stories like this. The Black asset manager mistaken for hotel staff. The data showing that over half of women of color in law have been mistaken for non-lawyers, compared to just 7% of white men. These aren't just awkward moments; they are constant, painful reminders that you don't fully belong. Jackson: But this is where some of the book's critics push back, right? They argue that by focusing so much on group identities—Latina professor, Black asset manager—you're actually reinforcing the very labels you're trying to overcome. How does the book square that with the idea of individual 'uniqueness'? Olivia: That's a fantastic question, and the book addresses it head-on. The argument isn't to ignore these identities. In fact, the book argues that the "color-blind" approach is harmful because it denies a person's reality and their unique experiences, including experiences with bias. The goal isn't to pretend differences don't exist; it's to see them, value them, and ensure they don't become a barrier to belonging. Jackson: So it’s not about being blind to the differences, but about not being blinded by them. Olivia: Perfectly put. And to do that, you have to get to the root of why we make these snap judgments in the first place. You have to admit you have biases.

Olivia: That's a great point, and it leads directly to the 'how.' Because to value uniqueness without stereotyping, you first have to admit the biases we all have. The book offers a brilliant little thought experiment to prove this. Jackson: I love these. Lay it on me. Olivia: Okay, picture this sentence: "The rock star was unhappy with the amount of alcohol at the party." What do you see in your mind's eye? Jackson: Easy. I see a long-haired, leather-clad guy, probably backstage, complaining to a roadie that his rider wasn't fulfilled. He needs more Jack Daniel's. Olivia: Okay. Now, picture this sentence: "The nun was unhappy with the amount of alcohol at theparty." What do you see now? Jackson: Totally different. I see an elderly woman in a habit, looking disapprovingly at a table of beer bottles at a church picnic. She thinks there's too much. Olivia: Exactly! The sentence is identical. The only thing that changed was the subject. But your brain instantly filled in the blanks based on your unconscious prototype of a "rock star" versus a "nun." That's unconscious bias in action. It's an automatic, associative shortcut. Jackson: Huh. That's a powerful demonstration. It’s not that I’m a bad person, it’s that my brain is a pattern-matching machine, and sometimes the patterns it has stored are stereotypes. Olivia: Precisely. And that's the first step in the book's framework: the ABCs of Breaking Bias. 'A' is for Admit it. We all have biases. It's a feature of being human, not a moral failing. The problem isn't having them; it's acting on them unknowingly. Jackson: Okay, so you admit it. What's 'B'? Olivia: 'B' is for Block it. This is about changing the system so your bias can't influence your decision. And the most powerful example of this is the story of American orchestras. In the 1970s, top orchestras were about 95% male. Jackson: I can picture that. A sea of tuxedos. Olivia: But then they started implementing blind auditions. Musicians would play behind a screen, so the judges couldn't see their gender, race, or anything else. Some even had them take their shoes off so the click of high heels wouldn't give them away. Jackson: No way. And what happened? Olivia: The number of women who made it past the preliminary rounds instantly increased by 50%. Today, women make up over a third of musicians in top orchestras. They didn't lower the bar; they removed the bias. They blocked it. Jackson: That is incredible. This is happening with resumes now, too, right? Taking names off. It seems so simple, but the impact is huge. So what's 'C'? Olivia: 'C' is for Count it. What gets measured gets done. You have to set actual goals for diversity and track your progress. You can't just be an "Optimist," which is one of the leadership follies the book describes—someone who believes in diversity but does nothing to actively create it, assuming it will just happen. Jackson: The well-intentioned but inactive leader. I think we all know a few of those. Olivia: We all might be one of those at times. The book argues that you have to be intentional. You have to fly in front of the radar, set goals, and hold people accountable.

Jackson: So we start with this huge, frustrating disconnect between what leaders say and what employees feel. We realize it's rooted in this deep, very human tug-of-war between our need to be unique and our need to belong. And then, we discover there are actual, practical ways to short-circuit our own biases to build better, more innovative teams. Olivia: Exactly. And the book's ultimate message is that 'Inclusifying' isn't about painful, politically correct checklists. It's about making work more human. It’s not just a moral imperative, though it is that. The data is overwhelming: it's a massive competitive advantage. Companies with highly engaged workforces, which inclusion fosters, outperform their peers by 147%. Jackson: One hundred and forty-seven percent. That's not a rounding error. That's a fundamental shift in performance. Olivia: It's a game-changer. And it comes from leaders who stop being Meritocracy Managers, who think only one type of person can be 'the best,' or Culture Crusaders, who only hire people like themselves. It comes from leaders who actively, intentionally, and continuously work to make every single person feel seen and valued. Jackson: It makes you wonder, what's the one 'blind spot' in your own team or workplace? Where is someone feeling like they're in the Hunger Games, and you don't even see it? Olivia: That's the question everyone should be asking. Jackson: A powerful and necessary read, it sounds like. Olivia: Absolutely. It's a roadmap for moving from intention to impact. Olivia: This is Aibrary, signing off.