Embracing diversity and inclusion in the games industry remains mission critical but there is more work to do what does it really mean and what actually needs to be done? Diversity alone doesn’t guarantee effectiveness. Cultural Intelligence (CQ) provides the skills leaders and teams need to celebrate and build diverse, inclusive, and equitable work environments. We can define cultural diversity very broadly in this context, going beyond nationality or ethnicity. Organizations have unique cultures, families have unique cultures, different generations have unique cultures, and even functional business areas have unique cultures. Designers will have an understanding of the implications of a project which will likely differ from how engineers or artists view the same project. These are all manifestations of cultural diversity. In this Table-Topic, we’ll take the approach start from the perspective that we can make a difference in our systems and practices and become more intentionally inclusive. For the first half of the session, we will start with an introduction to some definitions including CQ plus common examples of cultural biases which show up in the games industry as we explore our various cultural identities and how they show up in the workplace.

In the second half, we’ll brainstorm specific strategies and actions for mitigating and disrupting bias every day, tacking topics such as:

• Mitigating bias in talent management & decision making

• Best practices for inclusion when working hybrid/with diverse teams

• Building phycological safety in teams and with partners