Attempts at enhancing diversity often begin with a notion of enhancing tolerance for a minority group, resulting in ongoing senses of both disenfranchisement by the minority group and resentment by members of the dominant group. Looking at examples from the rise of the multicultural workplace, to the rise of autistic people and in the world of work, to the rise of women and gender and sexual diversity, we will examine opportunities to move from reactive, to strategic, to a new kind of essential diversity approach.