I was at a conference recently where the keynote spoke about the numbers, in terms of diversity, as not being as important as inclusiveness. She said the numbers are but a tip of the iceberg. Diversity in an organization is just what we see, but inclusiveness is the rest, what we don’t see. She even broke it down to 10% of the focus for an organization should be on diversity and 90% should be on inclusiveness.

Yet, if you don’t even have the 10%, the tip of the iceberg, than you need to amp up your recruitment efforts. How can an organizational, let alone an industry wide cultural shift take place without a visible change? Who sits at the hiring table? These people who decide that a candidate who meets or even exceeds all the desired criteria, but isn’t a good “cultural fit”.

The numbers are important.