[Please Read these excerpts from an article "Why the 'business case' for diversity isn't working" from Fast Company (Cohen, 2-12-20), and then please craft a response to this author using points in assigned readings as to how companies can avoid failures of DEl efforts and specify correlated organizational benefits.]

What's puzzling about everyone's obsession with the business case logic is that it's not working. The "2020 Global Gender Gap" report by the World Economic Forum shows that at the current rate of progress, Europe won't reach gender parity for 50 years, and it will take 100-150 years in North America. We are even further behind on achieving racial equality. ..But, what people fail to recognize is that the current system is actually an affirmative action program for those already in positions of privilege (read: straight white men). Take the recent study of Harvard undergraduates, which showed just that: 43% of white students were admitted because of legacy or donations, but only 26% of them would have made the cut based on grades or other indicators of merit. On the other hand, research on quotas shows that such targets tend to increase quality by giving highly qualified women and people of color a chance and eliminating the unfair advantages that the less qualified straight white men have had. Yet, people are hellbent on making the business case for diversity. One of my concerns is that they make false promises. Take McKinsey & Co's claim that improving women's economic inclusion could add $12 trillion (or more!) to global GDP (full disclosure: I was once employed by McKinsey). That's a lot of money, and the impetus for making the calculation is to motivate more concrete progress. But, this claim is misleading and also potentially damaging to the cause. The result: we are highly unlikely to see these promised trillions. And, such failures may lead to disillusionment with diversity efforts."