Ethnic diversity is usually touted as an objective virtue for teams, organizations and nations. But economists know that diversity can be a double-edged sword: research has shown that high levels of so-called “ethnic fractionalization” are associated with a decline in gross domestic product. “It’s a well established finding,” says Nicholas Pearce, a clinical assistant professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School of Management. “Assembling a diverse group of individuals is easy; integrating them into an inclusive whole is hard.”
But instead of taking this correlation as a given, Susan Perkins, an assistant professor of management and organizations at the Kellogg School of Management, along with Pearce and Katherine Phillips of Columbia University wondered “if there was some way to leverage diversity instead of having it be a threat to progress, and what kind of leader might be able to do that.”
