Welcome to the Reconstructing Inclusion Podcast!
In a landscape where DEI initiatives consume billions of dollars yet yield questionable results, Fred Falker offers a paradigm-shifting perspective that challenges the very foundations of how we think about inclusion. His journey from reluctant participant to innovative thought leader provides crucial insights for anyone questioning why traditional DEI approaches aren't creating the change we need.
"I declared that I didn't want to do any kind of diversity training ever in life," Falker shares, reflecting on his early career. His initial resistance stemmed from witnessing the limitations of conventional approaches, particularly the confrontational methods popular in academic settings during the civil rights era. Yet this skepticism eventually led him to develop a fundamentally different approach to inclusion—one that challenges our basic assumptions about what divides us.
The Illusion of Lines: Questioning Our Basic Assumptions
At the heart of Falker's philosophy lies a profound insight: we are not divided by our differences; we are separated by distance. Using the famous nine-dot puzzle as a metaphor, he illustrates how our perceived limitations often exist only in our minds.
"Nature does not draw lines. Nature didn't do it. And if nature didn't do it, then it might suggest to some people that there is some other issue that causes the very real problems that we have." [00:19:00]
This observation challenges the foundational premise of most DEI work—that our differences inherently divide us. Instead, Falker argues that we create these divisions through the lines we draw, then forget that we drew them ourselves.
The Shotgun Marriage of Social Justice and DEI
As someone who has witnessed multiple iterations of DEI work, Fred's observation about the "shotgun marriage" between social justice and DEI struck a particularly resonant chord. This merger, while well-intentioned, has often muddied the waters of organizational transformation.
"In this particular marriage, we get George Floyd in the States and now we get lots of people recognizing what they should have recognized a long time ago... But activism gets a foothold and I hear you talking oftentimes about, yeah, we've gotten this foothold and now look, what are we doing?" [00:27:00]
This insight made me reflect deeply on how we've sometimes confused different types of change work, potentially diluting the effectiveness of both social justice activism and organizational development.
The Problem with Current DEI Approaches
One of the most compelling aspects of Falker's critique is his analysis of how current DEI practices often reinforce the very divisions they aim to eliminate.
"In the DEI world... you need to understand African American men of a certain age. That's insane. There's no part of me that you would know by knowing African American men of a certain age. If you want to get to know me, there's only one way to do it." [00:34:00]
This observation cuts to the heart of why many DEI initiatives fail to create meaningful change. By focusing on categories and groups rather than individual human connections, we perpetuate the distance between people.
Moving Beyond Categories to Connection
Falker's alternative approach focuses on reducing the distance between people rather than managing differences. This shift in perspective has profound implications for how we approach inclusion in organizations.
"We are separated by the distance that we place between ourselves and other human beings. Notice that it's not there until we place it there. We're born connecting... Our parents by drawing lines say, well, you can close the distance with mom, dad or grandma... but you can't close the distance with… people like that." [00:37:00]
The Limitations of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
One of the most thought-provoking moments in our conversation came when discussing Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). As someone who has managed these initiatives, I've long wrestled with their unintended consequences.
"There are people who believe paradigms don't shift until the people who hold on to them are all dead. And so, in some ways, I have always approached my work as some people will shift and some people won't. When Tesla first came out, some people said, you got to be kidding me. Some people went to it pretty quickly." [00:41:00]
Fred's perspective on this reinforced my concerns about how we might be inadvertently reinforcing the very divisions we're trying to overcome.
Measuring What Matters
Perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of Fred's critique is his observation about our field's lack of focus on outcomes.
"We don't talk about outcomes. We talk about activities. We talk about the dogma. We talk about what we've decided must be the case." [00:49:00]
This critique hits home for many of us in the field. How often do we measure activities rather than actual change? How frequently do we confuse motion with progress?
The Challenge of Language and Labels
"I don't use the word ‘diversity’ because you stay stuck in the world of us being divided by differences... The language that we have is the language of the struggle, the language of war." [00:54:00]
This observation about language resonates deeply with my own experience in the field. How often do we unconsciously perpetuate division through our choice of words? It's made me increasingly mindful of the terminology we use and its impact on our ability to create genuine connection.
Key Takeaways
The fundamental paradigm underlying traditional DEI work—that we are divided by our differences—may be what's holding us back from achieving real progress.
Our focus on categories and group identities often prevents us from seeing and connecting with individuals as complete human beings.
The solution lies not in better understanding differences, but in closing the distance we create between ourselves and others.
Real change requires abandoning comfortable but ineffective paradigms and embracing new ways of thinking about human connection.
The language we use in DEI work can either perpetuate division or foster genuine connection—we must choose carefully.
Measuring outcomes rather than activities is crucial for meaningful progress.
About the Guest:
Fred Falker is the President of Falker Consulting Group, Inc., an organizational development consulting and training firm, and former Director of Workforce Development for the Saint Louis Zoo.
Over the past twenty-five years, Fred has developed and introduced a fundamentally new and better approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This approach goes beyond today's anti-racism and unconscious/implicit bias training. Instead of focusing on the differences between people, Fred focuses on the distance between them and the behaviors that drive connection, inclusion, and belonging.
In the past, Fred has partnered with Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute to develop a program called “Include” to bring distance paradigm thinking and behavioral change into organizations. Fred is also working on a book detailing this transformative way of thinking about inclusion titled Seeing the Box: From Difference to Distance.
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