“Too many companies don’t know how to walk the walk of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Getting to Diversity shows them how.”
—Lori George Billingsley, former Global Chief DEI Officer, Coca-Cola Company

In an authoritative, data-driven account, two of the world’s leading management experts challenge dominant approaches to increasing workplace diversity and provide a comprehensive account of what really works.

Every year America becomes more diverse, but change in the makeup of the management ranks has stalled. The problem has become an urgent matter of national debate. How do we fix it? Bestselling books preach moral reformation. Employers, however well intentioned, follow guesswork and whatever their peers happen to be doing. Arguing that it’s time to focus on changing systems rather than individuals, two of the world’s leading experts on workplace diversity show us a better way in the first comprehensive, data-driven analysis of what succeeds and what fails. The surprising results will change how America works.

Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev draw on more than thirty years of data from eight hundred companies as well as in-depth interviews with managers. The research shows just how little companies gain from standard practice: sending managers to diversity training to reveal their biases, then following up with hiring and promotion rules, and sanctions, to shape their behavior. Almost nothing changes. It’s time, Dobbin and Kalev argue, to focus on changing the management systems that make it hard for women and people of color to succeed. They show us how the best firms are pioneering new recruitment, mentoring, and skill training systems, and implementing strategies for mixing segregated work groups to increase diversity. They explain what a difference ambitious work–life programs make. And they argue that as firms adopt new systems, the key to making them work is to make them accessible to all—not just the favored few.

Powerful, authoritative, and driven by a commitment to change, Getting to Diversity is the book we need now to address constructively one of the most fraught challenges in American life.

"A sweeping study of diversity efforts in the United States… a must-read for organizational leaders, especially those who are involved in putting in place policies and procedures meant to increase manager diversity." - American Journal of Sociology

"This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn which practices can actually improve managerial diversity in organizations." - Science

"A book that is tailored for anyone who is craving actionable, evidence-based advice about how to create effective programs." - Behavioral Scientist

"Drawing on more than 30 years of data from 800 companies as well as in-depth interviews with managers, two leading management experts set out to explain why, despite increasing diversity in American society, change in makeup of the management rank has stalled, and how to do things better." - Human Givens Journal

"The great strength of the book is its consequentialist orientation: diversity programs are evaluated solely on the basis of their impact on gender and racial inequalities in organizations, looking away from intentions and discourses…Rich and stimulating." - La Vie des Idées

"These influential sociologists have spent their careers studying why diversity initiatives fail and what it takes to fix them. Their data-driven book doesn’t just spotlight the problems—it’s packed with solutions." - Adam Grant Thinks Again newsletter