Most private equity websites look like The West Wing

A perfectly diverse cast walking through glass corridors, sleeves rolled up, saving capitalism one portfolio at a time.

In reality, it's 12 Angry Men.
Same suits. Same stories. Same arguments, just with better coffee and worse empathy.

You can see the gap every time the corporate photographer visits. Suddenly Debra from Finance and Mohamed from Engineering are front and centre, while the real decision-makers quietly step out of frame. The illusion is complete......a perfectly curated version of modernity.

The problem isn't malice. It's comfort.

When everyone around the table looks and thinks the same, it feels efficient. Until you miss the founder who doesn't golf at your club. Until you pass on the deal that doesn't pattern-match. Until your portcos fail because no one saw the blind spot coming.

The irony is thick. Firms that preach "differentiated returns" while making decisions in echo chambers. They want outlier outcomes from consensus thinking.

It doesn't work like that.

The next generation of firms won't just look diverse.
They'll think differently.

Because authenticity isn't branding.
It's governance.