OPINION
Expanding your peripheral vision OPENS UP NEW HORIZONS
‘We need to drastically improve our ability to see, and appreciate, what’s on the periphery and in the empty space. Not only because a just, equitable society demands it, but also because this is where truly innovative ideas come from,’ says the author of Flux , April Rinne
I n the wake of #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, and a broader reckoning of systemic injustices and inequalities, Harvard Business School Professor Laura Huang found herself reviewing recommended first-year MBA reading lists and curricula. What she found was not surprising, yet entirely disquieting: all of the lists were overwhelmingly dominated by white, male authors. Meanwhile, Todd Sattersten, co-author of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time , was in the midst of a personal reckoning. He considers himself progressive, yet wondered how many authors included on the list were people of colour. He’d tried to identify the most popular books but hadn’t paid attention to demographics. The answer was equally disturbing: zero. Mandates and calls for greater diversity in the business world and beyond are not new, yet the needle has barely budged. By and large, the voices of women and people from minority backgrounds are still difficult
(at times impossible) to find… or rather, to be seen. It’s not that they’re not out there. It’s that, for too long, they’ve been ignored, relegated to the side lines, written out of the script. And critically, there is a clear and resounding prerogative for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the new script. The real action is on the periphery Women and people of colour have been showing up for ages and doing the hard work. Unmistakably visible, yet unseen. Full-throated voices, muted. Some of the best and brightest idea generators, concealed in the light of day. Marginalised on the periphery. Occupying the empty spaces. When we look only front and centre – at today’s CEOs’ ‘climb-to-the-top-of-the- ladder’ power structures and ‘knowing-how- to-play-the-game’ metrics – not only are we seeing merely a fraction of the picture, what we’re looking at is pretty stale. This is the old script at work. Yet in reality, on the periphery
April Rinne is a graduate of Harvard Law School. Her work draws on her history as a futurist, advisor, global development executive, microfinance lawyer, investor, mental health advocate, certified yoga teacher, globetrotter (100-plus countries), and insatiable handstander. This is an edited excerpt from Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change by April Rinne (Berrett-Koehler, 2021).
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