The concept of “reverse diversity” came to me during this chaotic RIF and ReOrg. Apart from architects and data scientists, it is the third problem Fidelity must fix.
If you have a team with 100% African Americans in tech, it’ll be odd. 100% African Americans in an NBA team, not odd. 100% whites in a tech team? Not diversified but also not odd. How do you rationalize the oddness of team diversity?
- Merit. If a team is not diversified because the only talents is from one origin, it’s not odd.
- Population. If a team composition (roughly) mirrors that of the population, it’s not odd. That’s why a 100% white team is not that odd in a white dominant society.
With this understanding, now think about the 100% Indians teams? (Of course I'm exaggerating to make a point but not far from reality). 100% Indian teams is such a commonplace in Fidelity tech that it’s not odd at all. There lies the problem.
- Are all the Indians on the team “talents”? Certainly not! Most are average or below average hired by fellow Indians.
- Are Indians the dominant ethnicity in America? Certainly not! A population minority dominates Fidelity tech.
Hence what we need is reverse diversity. Those 100% Indian teams need to be diluted to make them roughly mirror the population outside of Fidelity tech.