Lack of Diversity Is Because Of Too Much BS - According To Scientists

When I was the head of current affairs programme at BBC Scotland I used to regularly travel down to London to pitch programmes to different commissioning editors. Despite being successful a lot of the time and despite doing it for eight years I was always very nervous before a pitch meeting.

I would make copious notes ahead of any meetings and I would frequently ensure the producer or reporter where available on the phone back in Glasgow just in case the commissioning editor asked me a question I didn’t have the answer to.

In contrast I would watch the pitch meetings of other colleagues (all white and disproportionately from rich backgrounds) who just seemed to breeze through them without a care in the world.

They seemed to have so much confidence while I definitely seemed to suffer a confidence deficit – and I would wonder if this lack of confidence was actually holding me back, not just in the pitch meetings, but in my career more generally.

THE CONFIDENCE GAP

So is a confidence gap holding back people like me, women, BAME (Black Asian Minority Ethnic) people and working class people? 

The theory is that people in positions of privilege in society – men, privately educated, white people, etc - have a sense of confidence that propels them to success throughout the rest of their lives.

The theory shows up in various shapes and forms and was heavily popularized in bestselling books like “Lean In” and “Confidence Code” which were aimed at the “confidence gap” suffered by women and how to overcome it

The idea is that we just need to give people who didn’t go to private school, BAMEs and women more confidence and they will excel in life.

But the more pitch meetings I went to and the more I observed my colleagues the more sceptical I have become of this theory – and finally I have the three scientific studies to back up my hunch.

STUDY NUMBER ONE BOYS AND WEALTHY KIDS “BULLSHIT” MORE

One scientific study was published by the IZA Institute of Labor Economics and it showed that boys and people from wealthier families are more likely to be “bullshitters.” It defines “bullshitters” as “individuals who claim knowledge or expertise in an area where they actually have little experience at all.”

They were able to come to this conclusion by conducting a simple experiment.

The asked 40,000 15-year-old students how well they understood 16 mathematical concepts, but there was a catch: three of the concepts were made up.

And yes you have guessed it; boys in general, and both boys and girls from wealthier families, said they had a firm grasp of mathematical theories that didn’t even exist.

The research was conducted across 9 different English speaking countries and rich kids in the UK were seen to have the biggest bullshit difference over their poorer counterparts.

One of the study’s authors, assistant professor Nikki Shure, theorized that “bullshitters” may have an advantage when it comes to getting ahead and exacerbate issues around diversity; “They clearly have very high opinions of themselves. And that could be associated with becoming leaders in the future.”

At first glance this seems to back-up the theory that some people have more confidence and therefore we just need to increase the confidence / ability to “bullshit” of under-represented groups to level the playing field.

But a second study proves that is a big mistake.

BLACK TEENAGERS SCORE HIGH ON SELF-ESTEEM TESTS.

In an study published in the journal Psychological Bulletin, Bernadette Gray-Little, a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina showed that whatever the effects of racism on black people, poor self-esteem is not one of them.   

She collected every piece of research available on black self-esteem, 261 studies in all, and found that before the age of 10, whites slightly surpass blacks in self-esteem. But after ten, blacks not only caught up with their white counterparts they narrowly but consistently surpass them.

Therefore whatever is holding back young black people in the US confidence didn’t seem to be one of them. Similar research has also shown that women are just as confident in their leadership skills as men.

But I do believe a third and final study shows that “bullshit” is holding back progress when it comes to increasing diversity but not in the way most people think.

EMPLOYERS ONLY QUESTION THE BULLSHIT OF SOME GROUPS

The key to getting ahead is not whether you have high self-esteem, or whether you are confident enough to “bullshit”. The important factor is whether people in power will pick up on your “bullshit”.

The third and final study I will mention today was published in the National Bureau of Economic Research by Costas Cavounidis and Kevin Lang, of Boston University. The study showed that black workers receive extra scrutiny from bosses compared to their white counterparts. Any errors that black people make, big or small, are more likely to be picked up by their bosses and they receive harsher treatment when their mistakes are exposed.

BEING ABLE TO “BULLSHIT” IS IMPORTANT – UNFORTUNATELY GETTING AWAY WITH IT IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

Anyone who has ever sat in a business meeting, attended a university seminar or, dare I say it, pitched a programme idea to a commissioning editor, will know the importance of bullshit.

We might not like to admit it but a certain degree of bullshit is a valuable tool in any persons skillset in getting ahead at work. And unfortunately all too often I’ve seen firsthand how it is often key in TV execs securing commissions.

I believe the three studies taken together show that BAME people, working class people and women bullshit less, not because they suffer from low self-esteem, but because they know they are more likely to be unfairly scrutinized and punished for it.

Giving white men greater ability to bullshit not only gives them an unfair advantage it also means that worse programmes are made and bad business decisions are passed without proper scrutiny.

If we want more diversity we must stop blaming people from under-represented groups for their lack of confidence. And we need to start calling out “bullshit” wherever it is coming from.

We might even get a fewer better programmes. .