Diversity = Productivity

(1)
"New York City is the perfect example of diversity functioning well," Dr Page 在訪問中說. "It’s an exciting place that produces lots of innovation and creativity. It’s not a coincidence that New York has so much energy and also so much diversity."

NY Times訪問Michigan大學的教授Scott E Page. 他研究complex system, political science和economics. 他最近出了一本新書The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies, 用數學模型和case study帶出人員的多樣性可以增強組織的實力. 包括不同的人生經驗和背景.

(2)
Q. Give us an example of where diversity has improved an organization or profession?

A. I've seen it in my own field, economics. Before women got really involved in the 1970s, a lot of the actual labor of women wasn't included in calculations of the gross domestic product. It was as if you had Ma Ingalls sitting around the Little House on the Prairie, eating bonbons, and only Pa Ingalls's labor was counted in.

After you got women into the profession, they started saying: "What if Ma Ingalls opened up a business and charged for the cleaning, pie making, tending of the animals. Wouldn’t there be a lot of G.D.P. in there?"

When you only had men thinking about the economy, they were ignoring the productivity of half the population. By including the perspectives of females, the estimates got more accurate. This was important for looking at the American past and for understanding contemporary societies like those in Africa, where women are usually the farmers.