This comic essay is a real mix of science and art. We hope you enjoy it!

Why this comic essay? And why now?

Today, diversity is sometimes viewed as as a problem, not just in the job market. But the data and research say something else. In our aging and increasingly diverse societies, we need people from all backgrounds to do the work that needs to be done, find solutions, and generate fresh ideas for our challenges ahead. We need everyone—yourself included—to do this work well. Ideally, you’ll be enthusiastic and supported. But the thing is: building, working in and managing diverse teams can be tricky when you don’t have experience with it. We all have our own stereotypes, fears, and sometimes we’re just a bit nervous.

That’s why, in this comic essay, we’ll show you some strategies, tools, recipes… that actually work—like blind auditions, mentoring, and hiring based on skills. To level the playing field and unblock talent. (Talent we actually need, did we mention that?).

These aren’t just nice ideas. They’ve been proven to work—straight from some brilliant economic journals that almost no one actually reads. (Okay, so two of us do, but we also studied voluntarily economics, so… yeah.) For those of you who want more info, the studies are in the appendix.

All wrapped up in sharp lines and pencil-drawn storytelling. Also, these aren’t all the tools out there—we just couldn’t fit everything in here, which is good.

This comic is also a homage to solid, evidence-based research—and a response to the misleading claims of right-wing populism, backed by actual data. Because just repeating something over and over again without evidence doesn’t make it true.