The applause is not the point. Neither is the photo for the company newsletter. The test that matters comes on Monday: what does the room do differently?
Too many sessions fail that test. The strongest research available says most diversity programmes do not increase diversity at all. Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev studied three decades of data from more than 800 American firms and published the results in Harvard Business Review. The most popular tools, mandatory diversity training, hiring tests and grievance systems, often made companies less diverse, not more. Five years after firms made training compulsory for managers, the share of Black women in management actually fell by 9% on average.
The reason is human, not statistical. Three-quarters of those programmes led with threats: discriminate, and the company pays. People do not change when they are cornered. A University of Toronto study showed it cleanly. When white readers felt pressured to agree with an anti-prejudice message, their bias grew. When they felt the choice was theirs, the same message reduced bias.
Here is the part worth remembering. Voluntary training, the kind people choose to attend, produced 9 to 13% increases in underrepresented groups in management five years on. Same topic. Different posture. Opposite result.
What worked, across all that data, was a short list: engaging managers in solving the problem instead of policing them, mentoring programmes, diversity task forces, more day-to-day contact across difference, and social accountability, the quiet desire to look fair-minded in front of colleagues. None of it starts with a lecture.
Now look at India’s numbers. In 2025, McKinsey published its first Women in the Workplace study covering India, drawing on 324 organisations and about 1.4 million employees across India, Nigeria and Kenya. Women are 48% of enrolled university students in India, but 33% of entry-level workers and 24% of managers. A man at the entry level is 2.4 times as likely as a woman beside him to be promoted into management.
A gap like that is not closed in an afternoon. But an afternoon can start closing it, if the session is built right.
So here is what a good diversity and inclusion speaker in India should do:
- Treat managers as problem-solvers, not suspects
- Leave the room with practices, not just perspective
- Know the company’s own numbers before speaking to its people
- Stay voluntary in spirit, even when attendance is compulsory
And here is what to ask before booking one. What will our managers do differently within 30 days? What happens after the session ends? Has this speaker read anything about us, or are we getting the same talk the last company got?
Sutapa Sanyal speaks to companies across India on diversity, equity and inclusion, drawing on 33 years in public service and her sessions for teams at Maersk, Ericsson, Hindalco and Taylor & Francis.
To invite her to speak, visit the diversity and inclusion speaker page.