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With thanks to Dr Paolo Gaudiano.

Forget unconscious-bias bingo. In this episode, Dr Paolo Gaudiano—a former computational-neuroscientist and aerospace engineer who now leads DEI-analytics firm Aleria—explains why companies keep aiming at the wrong target. Diversity, he argues, is the thermostat reading, not the temperature; the real heat comes from the hidden processes that decide who gets promoted, heard or paid.

Paolo walks us through:

• how he utilise the computer-simulation tools he once used to model retinal neurons and rocket trajectories into frameworks that predict retention, revenue and morale;
• the industry-wide cybersecurity study that uncovered over 90 cases of technical skills being dismissed—91 of them aimed at women and just 2 at men;
• why “inclusion is what you do; diversity is what you get,” and how measuring day-to-day experiences (not feelings) cuts backlash while saving millions;
• practical fixes—from tracking who’s invited to meetings to cost-ing out the productivity drag of skipped performance reviews.

If you’ve ever wondered whether DEI can be both humane and data-driven, buckle up: the rocket scientist has run the numbers.

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