Incognito, Inc. is an arts-based diversity educational & training company led by author/actor/activist Michael Fosberg. Through the use of an entertaining one-man play, unique hands-on workshop/training sessions and engagingly challenging keynote addresses, Incognito has proven to be a one of a kind program used by educational institutions, corporations, government agencies, military bases and not-for-profits.  Incognito is a dynamic & dramatic teaching/training tool that creates safe, non-threatening and meaningful dialogue on issues of unconscious bias, micro-inequities, cultural competency, diversity, identity and race.

Michael’s uniquely refreshing approach utilizes methods of interpersonal contact theory, storytelling and enjoyably engaging interactive methods in challenging people’s preconceived perceptions about difficult issues.  Whether it is issues of cultural competency, uncovering biases, defining the harmful effects of micro-inequities, or simply giving people the space to discover all the ways in which we have similarities, Incognito succeeds where others don’t.

If someone said to you, there’s a way to be more productive, make more money, get a better education, you’d want to learn more about what that was, wouldn’t you?  DIVERSITY is that answer and there are studies with PROOF!  Recent research by McKinsey makes clear that a more diverse workforce performs better financially.(1)  Another study of investment clubs discovered that groups of men & women outperformed single-sex groups.  A worldwide study of 4000+ R & D teams found that diverse teams were much better at driving radical innovation.(2)  And a study published recently in PLos One by a team of researchers from M.I.T. and Carnegie Mellon shows how teams with more women than men outperform their counterparts.  By contributing more equally, having a better sense of empathy through direct eye contact, and communicating a great deal, these teams proved to be smarter and more effective.(3)

The importance of this last study cannot be over-emphasized; equal contributions, better communication, and the ability to keep track of what people feel, know and believe make for the smartest, efficient and most productive teams.  “The snag,” as a recent New Yorker business column points out, “is that, while diverse groups perform well, they can be harder to manage and more challenging to work in than homogeneous ones, precisely because diverse perspectives lead to more disagreement and conflict.  So even when the results are better, people are less happy with the experience.  To fix this, you have to consciously reshape how people deal with one another, and that entails some cultural disruption.  But it’s a price worth paying.”(4)

(1) Why diversity matters, Vivian Hunt, Dennis Layton, and Sam Prince, McKinsey Co., Jan 2015

(2) Gender diversity within R&D teams: Its impact on radicalness of innovation, Christina Diaz-Garcia, Angela Gonzalez-Moreno, Francisco Jose Saez-Martinez, Innovation: Management, Policy & Practice, 2013 (3) Why Some Teams Are Smarter Than Others, Anita Woolley, Thomas W. Malone, Christopher F. Chabris, New York Times, Jan 16, 2015

(4) Valley Boys, James Surowiecki, The New Yorker Magazine, Nov. 24, 2014