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“No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.”
- Mohandas K. Gandhi

he triad: ‘The fragile wants tranquillity, the anti-
fragile grows from disorder and the robust doesn’t
care too much.’ All systems can be categorized as
one of these three. Anti-fragile systems are those
Twhich improve or get stronger when unexpected
and volatile events happen.
Diversity and inclusion are key ingredients for anti-fragility.
Diversity, or the presence of many opinions, backgrounds, and
schools of thought, creates opportunities for rich, fruitful
collaboration and creativity, vis-à-vis strong collective
homogeneity. Companies with diverse teams can understand
and serve customer markets better while leveraging varied
experiences, perspectives, and approaches to solve new-age
business problems. Anti-fragile diversity and Inclusion is thus
all about promoting healthy friction and a balance of voices
while making sure these voices are heard and acted upon. At Mahindra, we believe that diversity means embracing
One of the most interesting aspects of anti-fragility is ‘anti- the uniqueness of every individual by respecting and nurturing
fragile balance’ – the idea of balancing two extremes while ideas, opinions, and experiences of everyone and enabling
keeping avoidance in the middle. This refers to playing it very them to Rise. We have traversed a journey, where today,
safe in high-risk areas while taking a lot of small risks in other diversity and Inclusion have become a key employee lever
areas. It’s akin to taking up a safe day job while indulging in a across the Mahindra Group with initiatives that are spread
risky passion project in your spare time. It could also refer to across sectors and thought leadership being provided by the
alternating between staying rational and acting impulsively sector and group level diversity councils. Culture building is an
during decision-making instances. The upside to this approach ongoing exercise and therefore, we must get comfortable with
is the elimination of the risk of ruin. This is critical for today’s being uncomfortable around a multiplicity of gender, age,
business organizations, given the fact that we live in a VUCA orientation, ethnic background, and socio-economic status,
world; and it necessitates that organizations embrace diverse among many other factors. This is especially important in our
environments that naturally support duality of thought, hyper-connected diverse world of customers, investors and
expression, and action. other stakeholders, wherein organizations must mirror the
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the author of ‘Anti-fragile: Things complex ecosystems they serve and exist within.
That Gain from Disorder’, speaks of how the wind extinguishes How can we make anti-fragility work for us? Organizations
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uncertainty and chaos – both representative of a unexpected, transforming into stronger and better entities. We
heterogeneous environment - to be prepared for an uncertain must, for a start, adopt a beginner’s mind-set in all our tasks
future in which change is the only constant. An anti-fragile and projects, while leading with curiosity and compassion.
approach to being future-forward involves actively positioning This means that we must not just accept, but actively
the organization’s activities such that the downside outcome encourage diversity of talent and perspectives.
RI DQ\ IXWXUH HYHQW KDV D SURWHFWLYH ͥRRU ,QGLYLGXDO GLIIHUHQFHV Anti-fragile diversity and inclusion is hard work in the real
challenge conventional wisdom within teams and provide the world. It involves vulnerability, awkwardness, and discomfort.
small shocks necessary to build anti-fragility. It is thus vital to 7KLV LV WKH VRLO ZKHUH LQQRYDWLRQ DQG FUHDWLYLW\ FDQ ͥRXULVK
create an inclusive culture; one which harnesses different enabling people and communities to Rise.
perspectives and encourages comfort with ambiguity.
Agility is sometimes confused with anti-fragility. However,
there exist both differences and similarities between the two. Sangeeta Prasad is the CEO of
While agility involves responding to change, anti-fragility Integrated Cities and Industrial Clusters,
involves gaining from disorder; and while agility emphasizes Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd. She
embracing change through inspecting and adapting, anti- is also a Member of the Group Executive
fragility emphasizes embracing chaos through adapting and Board, Mahindra Group and Co-
evolving! Both focus on adaptation; however, anti-fragility Chairperson, Group Diversity Council,
goes beyond to focus on evolution, while harnessing the power Mahindra Group
of multiplicity.

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