A summary of The Loudest Duck by Laura Liswood

Nicholas M. Synovic

- 22 minutes read - 4565 words

A summary of The Loudest Duck

Written by Laura Liswood

Table of Contents

Chapter Summaries

Chapter specific summaries

Acknowledgments

“No book is an island”. In other words, it takes many authors and contributors who, while not the primary author(s), deserve to be recognized for their contributions. However, all errors in the book are the primary author’s responsibility.

Introduction

The need for a diverse workforce has only grown as we as a species have become increasingly more interconnected. However, diversity efforts often look like Noah’s Ark: two of each kind of diversity. This only makes the problem look like its solved and yet it hasn’t.

Diversity often gets eye rolled as an annoyance. It also gets a bad rep as people think that diversity efforts favor some over others. However, diversity itself isn’t the problem. It is the unconscious biases that we bring into the workplace that are the problem.

Changes with respect to diversity start from the top of the organization and move downward. Leaders can’t expect diversity changes without recognizing and addressing their own unconscious biases.

Corporate power composition is changing. There are slowly more non-white male leaders entering and taking the lead at companies internationally. And for companies working within the global market, the workplace is now a bag of many individuals from different backgrounds.

True diversity requires changes to the unconscious bias. Dominant groups with respect to diversity refer to those who have traditionally held power. Non-dominant groups are those that have been typically under represented, feel less entitled to their position, and need to navigate the workplace differently than those in dominant groups.

Diversity is more than skin color. It is a reflection of someone’s upbringing. Two white men with the same views about everything but favor rival sports teams are a diverse group. This seemingly insignificant difference can result in an unconscious bias about the other between the two men. Because of issues like these, where skin color is not the issue but cultural, age, gender, and religious biases are, we must move beyond the concept of the Noah’s Ark of diversity.

Most people within the dominant group believe that the workplace is a meritocracy. Whereas the non-dominant group members differ and believe that because of their differences between them and the dominant group that they didn’t receive the same merits as often. They rather felt like poster children for diversity issues. As white men are typically the dominant group, they are often surprised to hear this. That is why moving beyond diversity 1.0 (Noah’s Ark) to diversity 2.0 is so important.

Unlike men, women often find that their lives often don’t have much control and that, “things happen”. Mary Catherine Bateson is anthropologist and resident of the Institute for Intercultural Studies [3] whose book, Composing a Life [1] talks about this topic.

Conscious leadership does matter. Psychologist and Harvard professor Howard Gardner’s book, Leading Minds [2] describes great leaders of having the following four traits:

1. A “True North” that serves as an internal compass of values
2. The willingness to challenge authority
3. The practical skills to communicate to others
4. The ability to travel outside their own worldview

This framework, as well as the additional qualities coupled from the Center for American Woman and Politics at Rutgers University [4] kick started the research for this book.

Women politicians operate differently than their male counterparts with respect to interacting with constituents, speaking in committee meetings, and bill proposals. If this is the case, what would a woman American president look like? With this in mind, interviews with each of the 15 (fifteen) women world leaders of the world were scheduled and whose discussions would be used to help compile this book. Through these meetings, the Liswood found out that women’s voice often rise at the end of sentences. Because of this small pattern change that men didn’t do, women are often treated differently then men. Margaret Thatcher actually went to a speech therapist to drop this speech pattern. However in doing so she lost a bit of her diverse self by conforming to what other’s expected out of her.

Diversity is not the problem. Dominant and non-dominant groups are not at fault for failing to make diversity work. Rather, it is the unconscious handling of diversity that is at fault and causes many of the issues that we experience with respect to diversity.

Chapter 1: Beware of Noah’s Ark

Too many leaders think that if you take two of each kind of diversity, that you have achieved diversity. This incentives creating a numbers game surrounding diversity, rather than incorporating diverse workers and leaders in the leadership, management, and execution stages of corporations.

A Noah’s Ark will result in clashes between diverse groups because of unconscious and conscious biases, and results in the problems that diversity gets a bad reputation for. Problems will continue to arise in the workplace until we understand our own biases about others. Only then can we reap the benefits of diversity.

The benefits of diversity include increased creativity, better ideas, and multiple perspectives. This was explained by journalist James Surowiecki in his book The Wisdom of Crowds [5]. Introducing a heterogeneous member to a homogeneous group will result in the group not bonding at first, however, the cognitive diversity and creative output will be much greater than the original homogeneous group’s once the full potential has been reached.

The Washington Post reported in it’s survey article, Most Diversity Training Ineffective, Study Finds [6] that compulsory diversity training resulted in diverse people leaving companies or leadership positions. Voluntary diversity training that furthered company goals resulted in better diversity practices. Changes to improve better diversity practices need to involve addressing the biases of others. These changes often start with the unthinkable, then the impossible, and eventually become inevitable. This is difficult though because diversity requires change. To kick off better diversity, it only takes a small few to start the inevitable.

Diversity 2.0 can only start once Noah’s Ark has been built. But what conflicting views can exist within the Ark? Views can include the opinions of the national origins of coworkers, age, culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic or class, marital status, family, language, positions, titles, seniority, work location within an organization, hobbies, and/or physical appearance.

National origins refer to what one nationality thinks of another. The stereotypes and ideas about who one based on where they are from by coworkers of different nationalities can cause rifts.

Age refers to the expectations that we place on people to accomplish a task based on the general skill level, trend, or ideas that a particular age group is stereotyped as having.

Culture refers to the cultural differences between coworkers. This could include formalities, dining, rituals, habits, and other differences based on where someone grew up. These can be best detected by thoughts along the line of, “That’s not what we do here”.

Religion is often polarizing. However, it also implicitly and explicitly affects how someone’s culture is defined. Furthermore, holidays are another factor that needs to be considered when working towards a truly diverse work place.

Socioeconomic or class refer to the financial status of individuals. Rich and poor people have different problems, goals, and management strategies with respect to their finances.

Marital status is often hand in hand with gender politics.

Family status is often difficult to handle. For managers, questions about when the individual is leaving, who to replace them with, and what the environment will be like while they are pregnant or planning a pregnancy are both reasonable, but bordering judgmental, questions. They also can be used against an employee, even if not meant to intentionally to cause harm.

Languages and language dialects can be used to classify individuals. Additionally, as English is the predominant language in the workplace, the more English that a non-English speaker knows, the “smarter” they appear to some. This is because they are finally able to communicate their already smart ideas in a different language.

Access to managers and leaders often disparages those who don’t have access to those individuals. Those that do often receive the promotion, insider information, or other merit. This is because the manager or leader has gotten a chance to become familiar and trust the individual, and thus feels comfortable handing this position to them.

There are other types of diversity in the Ark too that are not discussed in this book. Regardless, efforts must be made to identify and address the biases with respect to these diverse groups.

Sometimes we go looking for a trait in someone. For example, building a leader from nothing simply because they meet physical definition of a leader.

Confirmation bias is best characterized as, “I know what I know because I know it”. But organizations will not benefit from hiring for diversity as long as they continue to hire what they know is best.

Objections to Diversity

The following objections are common to hear from the dominant group when presented with diversity related decisions:

  • Reverse discrimination
  • Defies the meritocracy of the organization
  • Coddling the diverse individuals
  • Lack of evidence
  • Rocking the boat
  • It’s all about the law
  • Don’t blame me for the success that I’ve had

Chapter 2: The Elephant and the Mouse

In power structures their are elephants and mice. Elephants don’t need to know much about mice when they walk into the room. Mice need to know everything about elephants in order to make sure they aren’t crushed. Dominant groups are elephants; non-dominant groups are mice and build a skill set around being a successful mouse. Because of this, elephants think that the world operates the same way for everyone as it does for them.

However leaders need both the skills that elephants and mice have. Leaders need to learn just as much about their constituents and team as the team learns about them. Emotional intelligence is key for leaders to learn. Being able to perceive how they as well as others are feeling when they walk into the room is a characteristic mouse technique but is critical for leadership. Additionally, agile and adaptive skills are extremely useful. With respect to diversity, they need to understand that what they experience might not reflect what others are experiencing around them. However, it is still crucial for leaders to be confident, responsible, and able to move forward with tough decisions.

If an elephant abuses their position of power, the mice might revolt. Small players can easily take down a larger player by biding their time and using their emotional intelligence to know when to strike.

If there is an asymmetrical power dynamic, the power goes to those who are more independent. It is possible to look at the different diversity types from Chapter 1 and identify different elephant and mouse positions.

Combining Forces

Being a leader requires flexibility and the desire to learn new qualities to better lead. For example, if a leader can’t communicate, they can’t lead. It is important to relate to people, and to have others perceive leaders as one of their own.

Point of View

Someone’s point of view of their working style can be seen as the correct way and other’s as wrong because they don’t do this. Being able to step outside of yourself and identify that your point of view may not be the correct way or that others aren’t experiencing the world as you do is crucial for leadership. These biases towards a particular viewpoint need to be understood and addressed to achieve diversity 2.0.

Chapter 3: Tell Your Grandma to Go Home

Grandma refers to societies implicit and explicit teachings that leaders carry with them. Experiences, the media, myths and legends, as well as our belief system make up Grandma. Additionally, the lessons that we learned from family or mentors also makes up Grandma.

Grandma is different from nation to nation, or more broadly, culture to culture. In America the saying, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease,” means that speaking up and being assertive is the best. However in Japan the equally popular saying, “The nail that sticks out gets hit on the head,” means to be punished if assertive. Likewise, in China they have the saying, “The loudest duck gets shot”. Furthermore, women in America are taught that, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all,” which means to not be assertive if they don’t have an agreeing opinion.

So if a Wheel, Nail, Duck, and Nice were in a strategy meeting with their boss, the Wheel would dominate the conversation and potential receive a merit because of their outspoken-ess whereas everyone else could be subtly or overtly punished for their lack of contributions. However, that was only because the Nail, Duck, and Nice learned from their Grandma, “proper etiquette,” which was wrong in this case. This is an example of how diversity failed as the cognitive diversity that was initially desired.

Necessary but not Sufficient

Many corporations make strong business cases for diversity, such as the war for talent, higher profitability, the global nature of the firm, and/or the legal scrutiny and laws for diversity in many countries. They have additionally put the building blocks in place for diversity, such as diversity training, senior-level rhetoric, and diversity related communities. While these are foundational, they are not enough for true diversity as we still bring Grandma, and thus all of our conscious and unconscious biases to work.

Preconceived Notions Have Roots

Harvard social psychologist Mahzarin Banaji has been studying the irreplaceable notions that are ingrained in the human brain. She has found that there exists certain unconscious reactions that your brain gives off to different faces. Additionally, she found that this preference starts around the age of 6 (six), when we start to hang out with others who are more like us. As we age, different faces become naturally associated with positive and negative emotions.

Our Unconscious thinking comes from the following sources:

  • Our parents, as they lay out expectations and guide them to the best of their knowledge
  • Our experiences, as they tell us not only how the world works but also how it should work
  • Our peers, as they show us what to do to fit in
  • Myths, fairy tales, fables, and the media as they carry long standing archetypes throughout the generations

Chapter 4: What’s Easy for You Is Hard for Me and How to Navigate the Differences

Most manager’s would say that an underappreciated, hardworking employee gets left behind, that they should speak up. However, what if that employee is a diverse individual? Thus the better solution would be for the manager to become more perceptive to the employee and the employee overcoming some of the cultural norms. Thus leaders need to have a greater degree of awareness and set of tools than merely suggesting what the employee should or shouldn’t do.

Getting Noticed in Noah’s Ark

To be successful at work, employees must get their work noticed. However, as diverse individuals, they might believe that the opposite (being unseen, working hard, and not making a fuss) will lead to success. This could’ve been learned through Grandma.

Thus the problem with corporate diversity is that while everyone wants diversity, only the Wheels will be heard and the Nails, Ducks, and Nices will be forgotten or suffer. To address, this managers should ask for others ideas or inputs. Additionally, informing employees that ideas are looking to be shared at the meeting is another way of preparing employees for questions.

Management is responsible for getting the benefits of diversity out of their team.

Getting Out of Your Own Comfort Zone

Managers can’t take everything on themselves. To some degree, employees are expected to take it into their own hands to adjust to the company’s style, but not in a compliance-like manner. In other words, to adjust to the company’s style while maintaining their diversity.

Power issues arise regardless of gender. Men will typically dominate a mixed gender group, whereas women will be more quiet. However, in an all women group some women will be more assertive than others. This is not a gender issue then, it is a power issue.

There are clear power dynamics in for-profit companies. Larger offices at the top, cubicles at the bottom; fewer higher paying jobs at the top, more lower paying jobs at the bottom. The issue is not that there aren’t enough low-tier employees talking to their managers, its that in a diverse company not everyone is comfortable doing so. Thus when a merit comes about, the manager gives it to those that have kept them informed.

Gender roles are very devise in the office. More man assume that they can run for office than women. And when women do run for office, it is often for a smaller role that they feel ready for. Whereas men will run for larger roles that they may not be immediately qualified for. Additionally, women estimate fair pair 4% less than men early in their careers, and 23% less then men at the peak of their careers. Furthermore, in a study involving counting dots until participants felt like they could stop, women counted 22% longer than men and 32% more dots. Women also get labeled as bitchy and pushy when being assertive and that Grandma taught them to not be assertive. The takeaway here is that gender plays into the pursuit of merits. Overtime in a diverse culture, the lifetime earnings of diverse individuals will be less then men should they not follow the same path as men. That doesn’t mean to conform to how men operate, but that being assertive and getting out of your comfort zone does pay off, however it can be an uphill battle if your company doesn’t support diverse initiatives.

Critical Feedback

Managers need to give employees critical feedback, stretch assignments, and mentoring in order for the employees to prosper. Typically though, only those in the dominant group are given these benefits. In a study of employee performance between managers and the employees themselves, there was a large disparity of what managers thought the skill level of employees from the non-dominant group vs the employees themselves.

However, managers dealing with diverse employees worry about their critical feedback not being received positively. Common concerns involve being called racist, sexist, or subject to litigation. So managers scrape by by telling their employees that they are fine. Fine could very well mean, “Feelings Inside Not Expressed” though.

Positive allusion is a sociological trait that men have developed where they hear the positives about themselves first. Women have developed negative allusion which is the converse of the above statement. This causes men to give other men direct, critical feedback, and women to approach the same subject in an indirect relational fashion. The best way to clearly give feedback is to ask, “What did you hear me say?” as this then allows the two parties to make sure that they are on the same page.

Men typically are allowed to get angry in the workplace and express frustration. Whereas women are labeled as “bitchy” for the same behavior. However, if they don’t, their frustrations are never heard. Thus this double bind position that women are in (damned if they do, damned if they don’t) prevents women and other non-dominant groups from prospering.

Who Apologizes and Who Interrupts

Women and other non-dominant groups have been taught by Grandma to perform ritual apologies even if they did nothing wrong. Interrupting others is also viewed differently depending on what group you are from. Managers must be aware of these dynamics as well as to be able to support others when their voices get left out. However, employees must also be able to stand up for themselves and their voices when interrupted.

Mentoring

Some mentoring pitfalls include:

  • Negative stereotypes about the mentee based on race, gender, religion, etc..
  • Mirroring, or seeing themselves in a mentee will result in that mentee getting special treatment.
  • Getting close or potentially inappropriate relationships between mentors and mentees are highly discouraged. Furthermore, even the appearance of an inappropriate relationship is discouraged. For example, a male mentor taking a female mentee out to dinner.
  • Risk in the mentee failing and ruining both of their relationships and vice versa. This is especially true when mentoring someone in the non-dominant group.
  • Resentment by others when mentoring those who are different from you, particularly with gender roles.

Chapter 5: Unwritten Rules

Organizations and group have unwritten rules and customs that everyone is expected to follow, regardless of if everyone knows them. These rules can be cultural, implemented informally, or be how a boss wants others to act without explicitly saying so. If they are violated, it could cause an individual to be demerited for something that they may not be aware of. Thus having a mentor to guide mentees into understanding these unspoken rules is crucial.

Subtle Inequities

Subtle inequities are small, insignificant, and potentially undetectable inequities that build up over time that end up haunting the organization. Some subtle inequities involve:

  • Giving one employee a longer introduction than another
  • Leaders only talking to those that they personally know when first arriving at divisional offices
  • Thinking that when non-dominant groups ask questions, that they are perceived to be lacking knowledge or confidence
  • Expecting that one individual to speak for all individuals who are similar to them
  • Not pronouncing foreign names correctly
  • Seating your buddies next to you at meetings
  • Making eye contact with some people but not others
  • Apologizing to women if you swear
  • Giving certain people bigger and better projects than others
  • Always favorably commenting on the input of specific people, but not others

To reduce these, those in dominant groups or positions of power need to step outside of themselves, critically evaluate their actions, and implement changes to level the playing field for everyone. Additionally, making small changes to reduce these subtle inequities can go a long way in improving the working relationship and culture of an organization.

Chapter 6: We Hire for Difference and Fire Because They Are Not the Same

The Danger of Unconscious Thinking, Speaking, and Acting

Words are the best way to get yourself into and out of trouble quickly. Thus conscious, intentional, and mindful speaking is critical to thrive.

Verbal Judo is using words to get someone to comply with or complete an action or task. It is useful for diffusing difficult situations. Rather than order someone to do something during a tough situation, talk to them calmly and give them options. Instead of, “Stop that, it’s unsafe!”, a better option would be, “For your safety and mine, please stop doing that or [insert consequence]”.

Speaking consciously means that each sentence is intentional. To American, “How are you doing?” means basically nothing. However, to a foreigner, that is a meaningful question and when Americans don’t listen, we are perceived as rude.

Men and women communicate information differently. Men typically prefer shorter communication style. Hearing every single detail of a story is not as important to them as the key takeaways. Additionally, men engage in verbal banter in a one up/one down style where there is a winner or loser in a conversation. This sparring is uncomfortable for some women, but is common for many men.

Direct speaking (getting to the point in the most straightforward manner) is common for those in dominant groups. Whereas indirect speaking (telling a story to get to a point) is common for those in non-dominant groups. However, speaking types aren’t characteristic of the entire group. But a problem arises when a speaking type is expected of someone, but isn’t the case as this can demerit the speaker to the listener.

Chapter 7: The Tools in Your Toolbox

The more tools that we have to handle diversity, the better leaders we will be within diverse organizations.

Managers need to be aware of their playing fields, or spheres of influence. They need to be aware of who is in the dominant and non-dominant groups, whose quite and whose loud, and what the career goals and accomplishments of individuals are. They need to make sure everyone is heard, and that promotions are given out based on merit and not personal relationships.

Think About the People on Your Team

If you are a manager, make sure that the events that you plan are accessible to everyone.

If you are an employee with unequal access to the manager, find ways to get to know each other. This could involve suppressing your Grandma.

Learn to Recognize Other People’s “Grandmas”

If you are a manager, ask, listen, and be aware of who everyone is on your field. Try to understand the power dynamics between team members. Understand how you give feedback to others like and unlike yourself.

If you are an employee, find ways to make your voice and yourself heard to your manager. Staying silent is not always the best answer.

Fair and Equal With Access, Knowledge, and Feedback

If you are a manager, understand that spending time with some employees means that you don’t naturally spend time with other employees. Additionally, not everyone will appreciate, understand, or get used to your speaking style.

If you are an employee, understand the value and usefulness of having access to your managers.

Be Careful With Your Words, and How You Interpret the Words of Others

Understand your own unconscious biases and work towards reducing them when others speak to you or when you speak to to others.

The Silent Have Something to Say

If you are a manager, make sure everyone has the ability to speak to you during meetings or privately. An open-door policy works best for this.

If you are an employee, if you don’t speak, your ideas won’t be heard. Make sure that you either speak up when possible, or ask to speak.

Results Should be the Determinant

Make sure that rewards are given out based on the quality and (sometimes) quantity of the results of others, rather than on relationships.

Conclusion

Once you create a Noah’s Ark of diversity, then you can start reaping the rewards of diversity. But to do so, you must be conscious of your words and actions. Furthermore, the company’s culture must change as well to go beyond accepting, tolerating, including, and referencing diversity. Company’s must understand the power dynamics, subtle actions, unwritten rules, unconscious perceptions, and backgrounds of many different groups.

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