They then had to decide whether the defendant was guilty. The people were shown a video of a trial of a black defendant and white victims. In a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, scientists assigned 200 people to six-person mock jury panels whose members were either all white or included four white and two black participants. People from diverse backgrounds might actually alter the behavior of a group’s social majority in ways that lead to improved and more accurate group thinking.

Let’s dig into why diverse teams are smarter. Working with people who are different from you may challenge your brain to overcome its stale ways of thinking and sharpen its performance. In recent years a body of research has revealed another, more nuanced benefit of workplace diversity: nonhomogenous teams are simply smarter. In a global analysis of 2,400 companies conducted by Credit Suisse, organizations with at least one female board member yielded higher return on equity and higher net income growth than those that did not have any women on the board. A 2015 McKinsey report on 366 public companies found that those in the top quartile for ethnic and racial diversity in management were 35% more likely to have financial returns above their industry mean, and those in the top quartile for gender diversity were 15% more likely to have returns above the industry mean.

Striving to increase workplace diversity is not an empty slogan - it is a good business decision.

Team backgrounds