Aristotle and Equity
Perhaps the biggest stumbling block that currently exists for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) movement is that it has been tied, correctly or not, to Critical Race Theory (CRT), and efforts to separate the two are being made. (1,2) Critical Race Theory has been tied to its predecessor Critical Theory, and its origin, Marxism. (3) Interestingly, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter (BLM), Patrisse Cullors, stated in 2015 that she and Alicia Garza who put the BLM movement together are “trained Marxists.” (4)
Equality and equity are two different things. Even Aristotle explains that. Vice President Kamala Harris has made it clear that equity, to her, means that “we all end up in the same place.” (5) The idea of equality of outcome, especially from any centralized decision making body, and the doing away with merit is hard pill for Americans to swallow. Anyone with more than one child (who are not identical twins), knows that individuals are different and that individuals have different strengths and weaknesses. In the book Blueprint, by Dr. Robert Plomin (one of the world’s leading behavioral geneticists), he summarizes the genetic science about what we understand regarding individual differences, and how those differences can be validated through genetic assessments. In the U.S. with over 331 million Americans, there is a wide range of strengths and weaknesses. In the U.S., the land of opportunity, the idea is that no one is above the law and that justice is blind. The idea that “All men are created equal” is about the value that each person has in the eyes of our Creator, but that is not the same as saying that we all have equal God-given talents and abilities. People come to the U.S. because they believe that one’s natural gifts, combined with hard work, will determine their success, and that justice is served when people get what they deserve, for better or worse. Enter Aristotle.
For roughly 2400 years, Aristotle has been a cornerstone of philosophy and logic. Anyone who has taken a Western philosophy course has almost surely heard of Aristotle. The famous ideas of the “mean between the extremes”, and “we are what we repeatedly do; excellence then, is a habit, not an act” can be found in both academic and business literature. However, Aristotle is curiously absent from the topic of equity that has swept the Western world over the last 5-10 years. Readers may be surprised to learn that Aristotle talked about equity and explained its significance all those years ago. (6) Aristotle says that equity is similar to justice but better, because despite best efforts, not all justice (e.g., laws, rules, policies) is universal and timeless. Aristotle says that the equitable person, though he is backed by the strict letter of the law, does not apply the law strictly so that the other stakeholder(s) may benefit.
DEI, the Ivy League, and Student Admissions
Over the past 5-10 years, there have been ongoing legal battles in two of the nation’s top universities (Harvard and Yale). The lawsuits have centered on the claim that Asian students are being discriminated against for admissions. (7,8,9) Essentially, even with higher standardized test scores and GPAs on average, it is harder for Asian students to get into these elite colleges than Black or Hispanic students. Many universities have shifted from standardized test scores and GPAs to a whole-person approach for admissions processes. The reason is because universities know that on average, standardized test scores and GPAs are different across ethnic groups. Group averages says nothing about any one individual from any group (all groups have laggards and geniuses), but it means that if the university is intentionally trying to recruit a diverse body of students, they cannot accomplish that by strictly using test scores and GPAs. While Harvard and Yale are private institutions (although they still accept federal funding especially for research), their approach is something to consider for DEI efforts in the fire service.
Consider the following thought experiment. We live in an interconnected world where students go to colleges in different states, countries, and continents all the time, which is made easier with online schooling. On average, Asians score the highest on standardized tests with Whites being next, then Hispanics, then Blacks. (10) If test scores were the only, or even main metric, that determined college admission, and if no ability to manage a student body was in place, then China, with over 1.4 billion people, could potentially begin flooding U.S. colleges and universities and boxing out all Americans. (11)
It raises the question of whether college admissions and job opportunities should be treated like the Olympics and professional sports where those who have been born with natural gifts and talent, and who have developed those talents to be highly competitive, should earn the position solely on merit. Harvard and Yale are saying “no” especially regarding just mental abilities. They would prefer to recruit a diverse body of students even if it means not taking students in a rank-based order of purely standardized tests and GPAs. But that raises another question about how a school can objectively measure and compare the whole-person when there are no standardized whole-person metrics.
Equity Outcomes and Minimum Standards
Equity cannot guarantee equal outcomes for all. There are many instances where competitive opportunities exclude the possibility that everyone will “end up in the same place”. And unless all pay and reward systems were flattened so that all positions in life received the same rewards (i.e. communism), then ending up in the same place is not actually possible.
If purely flattened systems are eliminated from the possibilities, then essentially there are three possibilities left for competitive opportunities. Selections can be purely merit based, they can be based on a subjective choice from a pool of candidates that all met the minimum standards, or they can be based on a hybrid of the two.
A pure merit based system chooses individuals in the order that they rank based on objective performance measurements (e.g. 100m sprint times and SAT scores). A minimum standards approach would establish what the minimum qualification is to be considered for a position (e.g. 70% score on a test) and then equally consider all applicants who meet that minimum qualification, and the final choice(s) would be subjective. Intentionally choosing a diverse group of applicants who have all met the minimum qualifications would be justified under this approach if the organization has as one of its goals to be more diverse. The minimum standard approach should reflect that each profession has different minimum standards (e.g. the minimum standard for Harvard and Yale will be different from the minimum standard of a community college), and that each level within each profession has different minimum standards (e.g. the minimum standard to be a firefighter is different than the minimum standard to be a lieutenant or a chief). The hybrid approach would be to reward the top 10-20% of candidates merit-based spots, but then fill the next 80-90% of positions with an intentionally diverse group who all met the minimum standards.
The minimum standard approach acknowledges that individuals are all different, and also that individuals have different dimensions (body, mind, soul or bio-pyscho-social) and that perhaps an applicant might not be the top in one dimension, but scores high in another dimension. It is entirely possible that one person can score objectively higher in all three assessments of the whole-person triad than another person, but because both individuals met the minimum requirements, the person with lower scores in all three dimensions is chosen for subjective reasons.
Diversity in Leadership
Individuals have of a body, mind, and soul or bio-psycho-social triad that describes the different dimensions of a human. The body is used for carrying out physical activities, the mind is used for carrying out mental activities like learning and analyzing, and the soul or social dimension is used for connecting with others. If you accept that each individual has this triad, then it follows that each individual needs leaders that will help them develop in each area, and that different people may be better at helping others in each dimension. It’s possible to find someone who is good at 2 or even all 3 dimensions and can help others in any one of those growth areas, but that is not the case for everyone.
In the fire service, the expectation is that we will need to use our body (on the fireground or EMS call), and our soul (to connect with shiftmates and our patients), not just our minds. Even in workplaces that have historically prized workers for just their mind, many executives recognize that at the very least, workplace cohesion (soul/social) can enhance organizational productivity. With obesity on the rise, there is also a trend towards recognizing the benefits of physical health and its impacts on production.
From an executive standpoint, choosing people who are going to be put in charge of others, who are only one dimensional is not a long term solution to a successful organization. In the fire service, those who promote should not just be the best at fireground operations while being terrible thinkers and terrible at connecting with others. Similarly, they shouldn’t just be great at taking tests but terrible at fireground operations or connecting with others, or great at connecting with people but terrible thinkers and operators. In the fire service, a whole-person approach is necessary but it doesn’t mean that minimum standards have to be abandoned. It means that finding ways of evaluating an individual for a whole-person approach should be considered, which is especially relevant to the fire service.
The Use of Technology in Promotions
With the advent of ChatGPT and other AI applications, the issue about technology in promotions should be considered. Firefighters used to be drilled pretty hard on map books because before there were phones with GPS and computers with GPS in fire apparatus, map books were how firefighters got somewhere that they didn’t already remember how to get to. However, with GPS systems in fire apparatus and GPS systems on personal cell phones, navigating by map books have become a backup to the backup. Hardliners will argue that in the event of an emergency, map books will save lives. Yes, that is true. However, since we have GPS systems on apparatus and on phones, the ability to read map books in order to promote should be appropriately less important than what will be used 99.99% of the time.
Similarly, the use of technology and even AI should be considered in promotions. Take engine drivers for example. In the same way that map book reading has become a backup to a backup, pump calculations could easily be given to a computer or AI interface that would be quicker, more accurate, and more consistent. Such technology could be built directly into new pump panels or as a cellphone app. This would open up the opportunity for potential engine drivers who may not be the best or quickest at doing math calculations in their head or on their hands, but could otherwise do a great job.
Another example includes AI decision making assistants for administration and operations. Such technology can eventually be made available to engine and truck officers, and even for battalion chiefs. If that technology is trustworthy, we would likely treat it the same way as any other technology and begin assessing candidates based on their abilities to operate with the technology, as opposed to without it. This is not to say that I hope individuals are eventually not capable of creative or independent thinking, quite the opposite. I certainly think that one threat of AI is that it will have exactly that effect. But it can also be a great equalizer for things like math calculations, or recalling a specific policy, rule, or law, which is tested on currently. But those tests may not be helping executives to source the best people for promotion if the desire is to find those who can meet minimum requirements and also help develop others in body, mind, or soul/bio-psycho-social dimensions.
DEI in Promotional Pathways
The U.S. fire service is said to really be 30,000 “fire services” which relates to the departments that exist. Although there are some national guidelines, each department can, and often do, have different promotional pathways. The core idea of DEI, as I see it, is that for many things in life, there isn’t just one right way. Anyone who has debated fireground strategies and tactics understands this idea. However, when it comes to a pathway for promotion within the fire service, there seems to often be only one for any given promotion. The requirements are considered one-size-fits all. However, different promotional pathways should be considered for the fire service, and are not a new concept.
In the military, there are several different pathways of promotion. First of all, there are two sides to the military; the enlisted side and commissioned officer side. Both sides offer promotional opportunities. You can even jump from the enlisted side to become either a warrant officer or a commissioned officer. Even within the commissioned officer corps, you can go through a service academy, go through a Rerserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program at a university, or you can go through an Officer Candidate School (OCS) after having graduated from college without ROTC. You can even go through a direct commission process if you have specialized skills that the military desires and you meet other minimum requirements.
The federal government has for a long time provided a very large gateway for promotion that is based on an assessment of one’s experience and education. Those two factors can each provide for promotion on their own if the individual has only one and not the other, but usually an assessment of both factors are considered. The business world is usually very similar in looking at both experience and education.
The fire service carries on with one pathway, regardless of one’s experience or education. In some departments you have to have: some college, take state fire training courses, complete an OCS program, take a written exam, take a practical exam, and then participate in an interview process. It is true that many departments are getting better at offering courses online which helps to make mandatory courses for promotion more accessible. However, when a promotional process consists of a narrow and long gateway, it is more likely that the amount of qualified individuals will be smaller.
What if there were three different paths to be able to be assessed in a practical scenario and sit down for a promotional interview? A college degree could be one pathway. Instead of a college degree, taking and completing a minimum set of fire service classes from the state training authority could be a second pathway. For those who either don’t want to attend college, can’t afford college, or don’t have the time or desire to sit through classes in college or for state fire training courses, a third pathway can be to study for and pass a written exam. Each of these pathways could represent a minimally qualified individual within the mind/psycho dimension. The next step would be to assess practical skills which would have been either learned on the job or in training, and if a minimum qualification is met, then that opens the door for a promotional interview. The OCS option could fit in as a requirement for any one of those three pathways, or for after selection for promotion (which is the way the military does it – selection is done first and then OCS is completed which teaches the way for the newly selected officer).
DEI efforts should increase the ways in which promotion is possible, while still finding candidates that meet agreed upon minimal qualifications. Assessing minimally qualified candidates exists in the fire service especially at the upper echelons. Chief level jobs can be found that list minimum standards of qualification, but do not make the pathway exceedingly narrow – just the opposite. Executive searches, by their nature, are looking at a small group of available talent that have all met a minimum standard, and the organization is trying to pick one person that is the right fit. If the goal for an organization is to have a candidate group that is as diverse as possible, then allowing multiple pathways to meet a minimum standard will support that goal.
Aristotle and Finishing the Equation of Equity
Whether DEI is ideologically tied to Critical Race Theory, Critical Theory, or Marxism, equity as a concept is not. Aristotle taught about it in Nicomachean Ethics. However, there is a major difference in how equity should be applied when looking at current DEI policies compared to Aristotle. It is important to understand the difference, especially if inclusion is one of the main goals for DEI efforts.
What seems to tie DEI to Marxism is the idea that a small centralized group of individuals decides how to divide rare opportunities, in ways that are not always transparent, and that are not based on pure merit. DEI efforts can improve buy-in by explaining minimum-qualified-whole-person standards, and by being transparent with what those minimum qualifications and standards are. However, even if the majority buys into the argument that pure merit based (e.g. test scores) will not lend to the type of organization that is desired, there is still another issue that needs to be address, and Aristotle explains it.
According to Aristotle, equity occurs between individuals, not from a centralized group, and the distinction is not trivial. As Aristotle explains, equity is the action that one individual does to another individual, in order to bring about something better than what pure justice (based on the accepted rules) would have brought about. As an example, if a Fire Chief and a firefighter have lunch at a restaurant and each order the same exact meal, pure justice would suggest that the two individuals split the check evenly. However, the Fire Chief, knowing that there is a huge difference in salary, might opt to cover the check. That is an example of equity. Aristotle explains that what is actually going on during acts of equity is an exchange of goods (money or even a title/promotion for example) for honor. The individual that could have went purely off of the rule of law or expected standard, but chose to ignore it in order to benefit another stakeholder, receives honor in doing that action and thus the exchange is in fact equalized (goods for honor).
In modern day DEI efforts, the distribution of equity in the form of admissions or promotions is not an exchange between individuals that know each other personally where honor is exchanged as well. The distribution of equity happens from a centralized location, usually removed from the relationship of those that are competing for the rare goods, and only one side of the equation is completed, namely that of the distribution of goods, not honor. Even if the centralized location was necessary, as organizational DEI offices are not likely to disappear, a completion of the equation should be considered. Bestowing honor on individuals that would have otherwise earned the goods in a pure meritocracy, whether it is in the form of organizational recognition, one time monetary rewards, or points towards a future promotion, would more completely fill out the “inclusion” part of DEI inasmuch as it would complete the equation of equity that was set out by Aristotle.
In a completely decentralized, Aristotelian approach to equity, individuals who earned a position or promotion based on pure merit would be able to give up that opportunity to someone else they deemed should have the chance and thus the exchange of goods and honor would be organic and between individuals (if the organization is a stakeholder then the organization would also bestow honor in some form by publicly recognizing and honoring the act of equity). It is likely that a bond, perhaps for a lifetime, would be created between those individuals, and some status of honor would exist with that individual for the rest of their career in that organization. Organizations and DEI offices can consider ways in which they recognize and bestow honor on those who are being passed over for opportunities, especially if they would have been selected on purely meritocratic grounds. If Aristotle is right and honor can be exchanged for goods, money, titles, promotions, etc., then organizations that master the art of distributing honor while also centrally distributing equity, will likely see more harmony, connection, and mutual respect in the workplace, which will increase productivity.
Final Thoughts
As fire departments move forward with DEI efforts, those that harness technology and AI to lower unnecessary barriers for opportunity will be exemplars in the field. Having engines that can calculate pump pressures for each line based on input from the driver, and having AI assistants that can pull up any policy instantaneously means that testing for the ability to calculate or recall those types of data become less and less valuable. There are also ways to implement DEI into promotional pathways todaythat do not require technology or AI and that would increase opportunity across any and all groups.
While it is true that the world of sports is almost entirely merit based, academia and the U.S. workforce at large are recognizing that there is more to an individual than just their ability to calculate or remember. Academia and the workforce are appreciating the whole person and such an approach should be considered by all organizations. The fire service has inherently required the whole person approach since firefighters do physical work, think through problems, and need to cooperate intimately with shiftmates, but has not necessarily assessed individuals on a whole-person basis for promotions. With AI expanding rapidly, an individual’s ability to calculate or remember will be much less valuable, and it is possible that even one’s ability to make decisions will rely on AI. As that reality comes into focus, a person’s health and ability to perform (body) and their ability to connect with others (soul/social) will increase in value to an organization, and because of this the way fire departments consider individuals for recruitment and promotions should adjust to take this into account.
The idea of equity did not start from CRT, Critical Theory, Marxism, or DEI efforts. Equity has existed in Western philosophy from Aristotle for millennia. If individuals have a body, mind, soul/bio-psycho-social triad, then organizations have those same dimensions on a larger scale since organizations are just groups of individuals. As organizations seek to expand DEI efforts while also reducing division and skepticism, DEI offices should consider reviewing Aristotle’s work on equity and the exchange of goods and honor as a model for how to do equity the right way at an organizational scale.
*I did not win the essay contest. I broke the 2 page limit and touched on some topics that might have been at odds with certain narratives. The winning essays can be found at the link of the bottom of this web page: https://www.darley.com/media/darleys-2023-thought-leadership-essay-competition-focus-on-recruitment-diversity-equity-inclusion-dei-within-the-fire-service/
Here is a direct link to the PDF of the winning essays:
http://www.darley.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Darley-Essay-Competition-Winners-2023.pdf
References:
1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/24/diversity-white-america-desantis-crt/
2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaunharper/2022/08/08/your-companys-dei-training-isnt-critical-race-theory-no-need-to-ban-it/?sh=63bb4ebb69b0
3. https://www.discovery.org/education/2021/08/05/critical-race-theory-the-marxist-trojan-horse/
4. https://nypost.com/2020/06/25/blm-co-founder-describes-herself-as-trained-marxist/
5. https://reason.com/2020/11/02/kamala-harris-equality-equity-outcomes/
6. Nicomachean Ethics, Book 5, Chapters 5-15
7. https://www.harvard.edu/admissionscase/lawsuit/
8. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/us/yale-discrimination.html#:~:text=The%20Justice%20Department%20sued%20Yale,during%20its%20rigorous%20admission%20process
9. https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Yale-sued-by-group-claiming-bias-against-
15979666.php
10. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/12/01/sat-math-scores-mirror-and-maintain-racial-inequity/
11. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/270035/