20 DIVERSE BUSINESS LEADERS TO WATCH IN 2021
THE BUSINESS CASE
for diversity How diversity and inclusion is good for people, good for business, and becoming integral to culture and success
By KYLE BACKER
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usinesses have long failed to reflect the diversity of the surrounding community within their ranks and the customers they serve. In doing so, studies show these businesses do a disservice to both their bottom line and the future growth of the company. Some, however, understand that clients and potential employees are increasingly looking at the diversity of a company to help make decisions on with whom to work. The value of diversity Latasha Causey is the vice president of human resources for Bell Bank’s South Region markets. Part of her role is to expand the diversity and outreach efforts of the bank. Causey believes that folks typically have a narrow idea of diversity. “To most people, diversity just means race,” says Causey. “Diversity really means you bring something different to the table, whether that’s your upbringing and background, your experiences, or age.” But just accepting employees with differences in a company doesn’t capture the value of diversity. Organizations are more innovative when they synthesize multiple viewpoints stemming from the variety of life experiences represented within the company. “Diversity is not just acknowledging and understanding our differences, but truly valuing those differences we bring to the table, learning from those differences, and harnessing the product of the differences to benefit the organization and our community,” says Leonardo Loo, Phoenix office managing partner of Quarles and Brady. The law firm has won numerous diversity awards, including Arizona Diversity Council’s Corporate DiversityFIRST award and the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Award. For Trevor Wilde, CEO of Wilde Wealth Management Group, focusing on diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do. But
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it’s also good business. “It feels weird to think about diversity in terms of promoting the bottom line, because that wasn’t the focus, but I do believe it does. Employee turnover is incredibly costly to any business, especially (in financial advising). Our clients don’t like to see turnover,” says Wilde. As the CEO and founder of BestCompaniesAZ, Denise Gredler spends her days elevating the best companies in Arizona through local and national award programs. “Based on our experience working closely with so many of these quality inclusive award-winning companies, we have learned first-hand that a focus on inclusion at every level of the organization, starting with the CEO and board, leads to better overall company performance, increased innovation, an enhanced ability to address customer needs, talent attraction, higher employee engagement, lower employee turnover rates, and strengthened communities,” says Gredler. 5 steps to get you started Understanding the value of diversity is only the beginning. To create an organizational culture that values and implements the diverse viewpoints of the company takes effort. Here are five steps leaders can take to get started on creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. 1. Educate your leaders and invest in meaningful diversity training. One of the first things that leaders can do is educate themselves about the importance of diversity and inclusion. Causey recommends attending a bias training. “All of us have biases and if we don’t know about them, that will hold us back. Attending a