Summary
The world is evolving. By 2044 the U.S. will be a majority-minority population. Africa and India are projected to fuel the world’s population growth over the next 30 years. With demographics shifting under our feet, how will we generate accurate and relevant insight if the interpreters are not cultural natives to the new demographic mix. This presentation will explore strategies to create pipelines for the next, most diverse generation to have open pathways and onramps to the next chapter of research, insights, and innovation.
Key Insights
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A global marketing failure costing $150,000 stemmed from interpreting research through a limited Western lens.
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Diversity concentrated only in lower levels of research teams fails to surface critical cultural insights.
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Consumers in highly religious or post-communist markets respond better to messaging around choice rather than power.
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Successful global brands like Fenty Beauty illustrate the commercial value of diversity-led innovation.
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Research teams lacking diversity at decision-making levels risk misreading data despite rich information.
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"On ramps" and the "broken rung" phenomena block advancement for women and people of color in research careers.
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Organizational earnings improve significantly as diversity among senior team members increases.
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Diversity of thought depends on having genuinely diverse voices with agency, not token presence.
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Creating environments that validate diverse cultural communication styles reduces burden on marginalized voices.
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Wider organizational diversity better equips teams to identify and adapt to diversity dimensions relevant to each project.
Notable Quotes
"We had all the right information but lacked the right people in the room to interpret it culturally."
"Our Western view of power worked in the US and Europe, but failed in Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe."
"Before Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty with 40 shades, you could only find 16 to 20 in any major cosmetic line."
"Diversity sitting only at the bottom levels narrows all the work we do from the top down."
"For every 10 men promoted from entry to middle management, only 7.2 women get promoted."
"We need to create environments where everyone's voice has a place and value—not put the burden on marginalized individuals to navigate."
"Without diverse perspectives at senior levels, we have a myopic view and limit the potential of our insights."
"The reason why diverse companies typically outperform is because they remove blind spots and bias."
"When organizations have diverse voices driving agendas at the top, earnings increase by 8% for every 10% increase in gender diversity."
"Often diverse candidates say they have to keep their heads down just to fit in and move up."
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