In the latest episode of the Decision Nerds podcast, Paul Richards and I explore one of the most important subjects in the asset management industry – diversity and inclusion – with Tom Gosling. Tom is a committed and thoughtful supporter of D&I. A practitioner turned academic who helps build bridges between researchers, policymakers and those at the coal face.

He has a thoughtful take on some important strategic and practical D&I issues. In the episode, we discuss:

– Why overstating the business case for diversity (improved profitability or alpha) may be more harmful than beneficial.

– Why the moral, social and economic arguments for diversity may be stronger but are not talked about enough.

– How to make genuine and substantive change around diversity and avoid a culture of box ticking.

– What more diverse teams mean for performance.

– How we can create decision making environments that make the most of the advantages of diverse teams.

This is a fascinating and important subject from both a macro (social justice / fairness) and micro (how do diverse groups function) perspective. The issue is far more complex than we could hope to do justice to in a single podcast episode, but we hope that it is a useful starting point for further debate and discussion.

You can listen here: Decision Nerds