In a Vanguard Dialogue earlier this month, our founder, Ken Banta, spoke with David Rock about how demands for racial equity are playing out in the minds and actions of business leaders.

David is a world authority on the psychology of leadership — he co-founded and leads the NeuroLeadership Institute, which applies findings from brain science to leadership development — and he’s helped huge numbers of companies and leaders reinvent themselves.

One of his observations in the Dialogue hit home for me, as someone who’s done a fair amount of hiring:

If you say to managers, “Hey, interview everyone but hire the person who feels right,” they’re going to hire people similar to them — because that feels right. We actually feel better working with people who are similar to us, and we feel more anxious working with people who are different. But working with people who are different to us actually improves the thinking overall.
Diverse teams feel less comfortable — that’s WHY they perform better.

It was a fascinating conversation, and you can hear and see more in the short digest video below.

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