DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) transformation must be an explicit, consistent priority driven from the top-down by an accountable executive team.Leaders need to regularly invest time, attention and resources to DEI for it to become woven into the organization's DNA.It cannot be sidelined or delegated.

Ensuring Commitment from Leadership 

Rather than one-off training interventions, systematically build inclusive practices into key organizational systems and processes that engage everyone.Review each system - like hiring, promotion, compensation - through a DEI lens. Fix biases.

Building Inclusive Systems and Processes

Proactively create and support employee-led resource groups that empower underrepresented groups, build community, provide mentoring, and foster leadership.Ensure they have funding, executive access and impact.

Supporting Employee Resource Groups

<ul><li>Avoid superficial, performative diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that are done for optics rather than real change.</li><li>Take substantial, measurable steps to cultivate inclusion and retain diverse talent, especially in leadership roles.</li><li>Move beyond statements to progress people can see and feel.</li></ul>

Moving from Performative Efforts to Substantive Change

Move beyond aspirations to take concrete actions to diversify leadership pipelines at all levels through equitable hiring, developing high-potential programs, succession planning, promotions and sponsoring underrepresented leaders.

Actively Diversifying Leadership Pipelines

Proactively analyze and address biases and barriers in performance reviews, compensation, promotions, high-potential programs, assignments and day-to-day language.Remove unfair obstacles throttling diversity.

Promoting Equitable Career Progress

<ul><li>Broaden product design cycles to intentionally gather input from and co-create with users from diverse backgrounds.</li><li>Listen, understand unmet needs, and act on feedback to build more universally inclusive products.</li><li>See through other lenses.</li></ul>

Including Diverse User Perspectives

You cannot simply mandate inclusion. You have to cultivate it through a thoughtful process.

Redesign meetings and collaboration to intentionally include diverse voices and perspectives. This enables better innovation and decisions.<ul><li>Teach facilitation for inclusion.</li><li>Listen first, then integrate.</li></ul>

Making Meetings and Decisions Inclusive 

The book Building for Everyone by Annie Jean-Baptiste provides strategies for making diversity, equity and inclusion a core part of company culture and products. It offers insights on avoiding performative efforts.

Diversity and Inclusion to build better products from the front lines at Google Establishing diverse and inclusive organizations is an economic imperative for every industry. Any business that isn’t reaching a diverse market is missing out on enormous revenue potential and the opportunity to build products that suit their users' core needs. The economic “why” has been firmly established, but what about the “how?” How can business leaders adapt to our ever-more-diverse world by capturing market share AND building more inclusive products for people of color, women and other underrepresented groups? The Product Inclusion Team at Google has developed strategies to do just that and Building For Everyone is the practical guide to following in their footsteps. This book makes publicly available for the first time the same inclusive design process used at Google to create user-centric award-winning and profitable products. Author and Head of Product Inclusion Annie Jean-Baptiste outlines what those practices look like in industries beyond tech with fascinating case studies. Readers will learn the key strategies and step-by-step processes for inclusive product design that limits risk and increases profitability. <ul> <li>Discover the questions you should be asking about diversity and inclusion in your products for marketers, user researchers, product managers and more.</li> <li>Understand the research the Product Inclusion team drove to back up their practices</li> <li>Learn the “ABCs of Product Inclusion” to build inclusion into your organization’s culture</li> <li>Leverage the product inclusion suite of tools to get your organization building more inclusively and identifying new opportunities.</li> <li>Read case studies to see how product inclusion works across industries and learn what doesn't work.</li> </ul> Building For Everyone will show you how to infuse your business processes with inclusive design. You’ll learn best practices for inclusion in product design, marketing, management, leadership and beyond, straight from the innovative Google Product Inclusion team.