You're going to lose, every time.

I ask them, “What’s your favorite team sport?”

If they’re in the U.S., they’ll say American football, basketball, or baseball. In Europe, they’ll say proper football. In the Nordics, they’ll say hockey. In the Netherlands, they’ll say proper hockey—meaning field hockey. Whatever their sport is, I ask, “Who’s the most important player?”

For American football, they’ll say the quarterback. For proper football, they’ll say the striker. Everyone has a favorite player. Then I say, “Okay, I’ll give you a team of all quarterbacks, all strikers, or all whatever. But I’ll take a team with a mix of diverse positions and skills. Now, we play each other. Who’s going to win?”

They look at me and say, “Damn, Claudia, you are.”

I say, “Yeah, I’m going to win, every time.”

And suddenly, the light bulb goes on for these straight, white, middle-aged men. They realize that if they build a team of all strikers or all quarterbacks, they’ll lose every time to a team with diversity.

The same applies to clients. If you walk into a pitch with a team of all white, middle-aged men, the client may look at you and think, You don’t look like us. You don’t reflect our values. We don’t want you as our supplier or partner.

That team sport metaphor for diversity is incredibly powerful. And when they get it, they get it. So yeah—use it.