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In this episode, Jake and Chris explore parallels between an Ebony Magazine’s 1950’s marketing campaign ‘‘The Secret of Selling the Negro” and current Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts. Estimated to become a $15.4 Billion dollar market by 2026, but showing few positive results as a result of current approaches, Jake and Chris wonder whether this industry is the latest attempt by those who identify as ‘White’ to monetize the Black community. 

Is DEI a good or bad thing? And if it is progressive and helpful, how different is what we are doing now from what Ebony Magazine was encouraging white salesmen to do in the 1950’s? 

Corrections in episode: 

Mark Kramer co-founded FSG with Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter in 1999. During the show, Chris mistakenly referred to this consulting firm as EFG.

For more information:
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Follow Disorienting Dilemma on Twitter:
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Resources/materials:

Wikipedia entry “The Secret of Selling the Negro” 

Video posted by Reel America: ‘The Secret of Selling the Negro’ 

“This film commissioned by the Chicago-based publisher of Negro Digest, Ebony, and Jet magazines encourages businesses to open their minds to the growing black middle class of the 1950s. The U.S. Commerce secretary uses statistics to make an appeal, and scenes of African Americans shopping and at home are accompanied by a narrator who argues against racial stereotypes.” 

The (Not So) Secret Story Behind “The Secret of Selling the Negro” 

An analysis of the marketing campaign ‘The Secret of Selling the Negro’ by Eric Easter, a producer and media executive, and the former head of digital and entertainment for Johnson Publishing. “Whether The Secret of Selling the Negro, was an advertising innovation or some Pandora’s Box that opened the door to black community debt and materialism is up for debate.” 

Real Talk with Percy Brown: The Secret to Selling the Negro : Video Blog by Percy Brown 

In 2016, Madison365 recognized Percy Brown, Jr. as one of the most influential African- Americans in the state of Wisconsin. Madison365 describes Percy as “one of the great leaders to arise from the south side of Madison.” In 2014 and 2015 respectively, Percy was awarded the Educator of the Year award by the 100 Black Men chapter of Madison, WI. and was the recipient of the Urban League of Greater Madison President’s Rising Star award. 

Global Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Market Report 2021: Market is Estimated at $7.5 Billion in 2020, and is Projected to Reach $15.4 Billion by 2026, Growing at a CAGR of 12.6%. 

The Diversity and Inclusion Industry Has Lost Its Way 

Movements are about reallocating power, but DEI preoccupies itself with reorganizing people. In this article, Kim Tran explores how the industry is at a crossroads and if it could find its roots again. Harper’s Magazine 

Diversity Has Become a Booming Business. So Where Are the Results? 

People of color–who make up nearly 40% of the U.S. population–remain acutely underrepresented in most influential fields. From 2009 to 2018 the percentage of black law partners inched up from 1.7% to 1.8%. From 1985 to 2016, the proportion of black men in management at U.S. companies with 100 or more employees barely budged–from 3% to 3.2%. People of color held about 16% of Fortune 500 board seats in 2018. A 2018 survey of the 15 largest public fashion and apparel companies found that nonwhites held only 11% of board seats and that nearly three-quarters of company CEOs were white men. And in the top 200 film releases of 2017, minorities accounted for 7.8% of writers, 12.6% of directors and 19.8% of lead roles. Time Magazine 

Diversity and Inclusion: A collection of articles 

The business case for gender equality, diversity, and inclusion is strong and growing stronger. This collection examines the barriers that prevent companies from addressing gender and racial equality and identifies solutions for building a stronger, more inclusive workforce. McKinsey & Company 

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Even in the most difficult and trying situations, human beings tend to ‘other’ people who may be experiencing the same trauma and difficulties, because ‘they’ are not ‘us’. We see this playing out in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As of March 18th, an estimated 6.5 million Ukrainians have been displaced, alongside an additional 4 million people who are fleeing neighbouring countries. Yet among those people fleeing Ukraine, people of color are experiencing racism that puts their life at risk. According to a VOX report in March, “Many refugees of colour who’ve succeeded in crossing the border say they did so only after multiple attempts, and after being deprioritized in favor of white Ukrainians. ‘It was just a blanket bias against foreigners to favor Ukrainians and allow them to cross the border and access help first,’  Asya, a Kenyan national who was studying medicine in Ukraine, told Vox.” 

Why do human beings do this to each other? Why, when everyone’s life is at risk, do we still empathize with and prioritize other people who we probably don’t know, but somehow they seem like ‘us’? 

Are we susceptible to this well-researched bias? And if so, what can we do to ensure that we do not succumb to these tendencies in our own lives, whether at work or play?

For more information:
https://www.rw.institute/

Follow Disorienting Dilemma on Twitter:
@podcastdilemma

Episode Resources:

• The Brain with David Eagleman - Ep 5: Why Do I Need You? THE BRAIN with David Eagleman “Why Do I Need You?” – Episode 5. Series in which Dr David Eagleman takes viewers on an extraordinary journey that explores how the brain, locked in silence and darkness without direct access to the world, conjures up the rich and beautiful world we all take for granted. 
• How many Ukrainians have fled their homes and where have they gone?
• Black Ukraine refugees allege discrimination while trying to escape Russian invasion 
• Why it’s more difficult to flee Ukraine if you’re not from Ukraine: Non-Ukrainian refugees are trapped between racism and Cold War geopolitics. 
• Ingroup Favoritism and Prejudice 
• Social Identity Theory:The central hypothesis of social identity theory is that group members of an in-group will seek to find negative aspects of an out-group, thus enhancing their self-image. 
• Biases in Attribution: When we tend to overestimate the role of person factors and overlook the impact of situations, we are making a mistake that social psychologists have termed the fundamental attribution error. This error is very closely related to another attributional tendency, the correspondence bias, which occurs when we attribute behaviors to people’s internal characteristics, even in heavily constrained situations. 
• Their pain gives us pleasure: How intergroup dynamics shape empathic failures and counter-empathic responses: Despite its early origins and adaptive functions, empathy is not inevitable; people routinely fail to empathize with others, especially members of different social or cultural groups. In five experiments, we systematically explore how social identity, functional relations between groups, competitive threat, and perceived entitativity contribute to intergroup empathy bias: the tendency not only to empathize less with out-group relative to in-group members, but also feel pleasure in response to their pain (and pain in response to their pleasure). 

Did this episode get you thinking, or did we miss the mark? Let us know by leaving us a message on SpeakPipe.

In this episode, Jake shares a personal story where doing the right thing left him feeling terrible for weeks. Together, we explore why doing the right thing sometimes makes us feel bad. Why do we have these bad feelings? What does it mean when we find ourselves in a similar situation. Should we do things differently to avoid feeling bad? Or is there something else happening that we should pay attention to?

For more information:
https://www.rw.institute/

Follow Disorienting Dilemma on Twitter:
@podcastdilemma

Episode Resources:

• Article - Neuroplasticity: Learning Physically Changes the Brain
• Article - How to Train Yourself to Think Differently and Permanently Rewire Your Brain, According to ScienceIt's not about thinking positively. It's about learning how to think realistically
• Video - Beautiful 3-D Brain Scans Show Every Synapse | National Geographic
• Article - A Short History of Empathy: The term’s only been around for about a century—but over the course of its existence, its meaning has continually changed.
• Article - Why Empathy Is Your Most Important Skill (and How to Practice It)
• Video - Your Brain is You: Learning and Memory (Part 5 of 6)
• Video - Experiences Build Brain Architecture
• Video - Neural pathway

Chris and Jake are excited to return for a second season to explore the disorienting dilemmas we face as we try to answer the question: How do I think, believe and act in an inclusive world?

Stay tuned!

Disorienting Dilemma on YouTube
https://www.rw.institute/the-disorienting-dilemma

No longer the 5th grader shoving you into a locker for your lunch money, the bully's tactics have changed, especially in the workplace. Jake and Chris discuss. 

Click here for more. 

Heart Politics by Fran Peavey

What does Bitcoin and Beanie Babies have in common? Not a lot, it turns out, but leave it up to Chris and Jake to connect those dots, which somehow leads to a highly engaging conversation on the importance of framing the volunteer experience.

Links and resources. 

In a strikingly personal episode, Chris opens up about his experience with Tourette's Syndrome, to which Jake has had a front row seat since its onset. Along the way they cover microaggressions, neurodiversity in and out of the workplace, and – this may be a new one for some of you – microinterventions. The only problem? When a Tourette's sufferer discusses the syndrome, it shows up in a big way. 

More info here. 

Giving back has a colonialism problem. However in the right place their heart is, the "helper" is often the gatekeeper, delegating resources from a position of power, and in effect othering the "lesser."

What if instead they wrote a really terrible Christmas song?

Read more on the episode here. 

Chris and Jake continue their conversation on restorative justice. 

David Eagleman - Livewired

A woman's dog is taken. Police respond and charges are pressed, but she still doesn't have her dog. What good is a justice system that benefits "the people," but not victims?