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Diverse teams are smarter and more creative

Study after study in fields like organizational science, psychology and education indicate that diversity offers significant benefits for teams focused on creativity and innovation. According to Scott E. Page, professor of complex systems, political science and economics at the University of Michigan: "Diverse groups of people bring to organizations more and different ways of seeing a problem and, thus, faster/better ways of solving it."

Diverse companies perform better

Given that diverse teams are smarter and more creative than homogeneous ones, it is unsurprising that a wealth of research shows a strong correlation between diverse organizations and positive financial outcomes. In a 2011 study of diversity in the top firms in Standard & Poor's Composite 1500 list, researchers found “female representation in top management leads to an increase of $42 million in firm value.”

And in a 2003 study looking at 177 banks across the U.S., researchers found that for banks focused on innovation, racial diversity was clearly tied to better financial performance. Research also links gender representation at the executive and board level with better company performance.

Failing to attract and hire employees from underrepresented backgrounds leads companies to miss out on incredible talent. In a recent blog post describing a partnership with Code2040, Slack Engineering Chief of Staff Nolan Caudill acknowledged: "Like almost every tech company, our own upbringings, biases and life experiences result in referral networks that are very homogeneous, and we know we are missing out on great candidates based on these shortcomings."