Diversity Journal - May/Jun 2009

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notebook editor’s notebook L editors notebook

James R. Rector

Looking through this month’s issue, i was struck by how many views and opinions there are regarding Diversity and inclusion.

PUBLISHER

As i sorted through the many, many articles, i tried an experiment. What could i glean from reading just the first and last paragraphs of each story? What themes would develop? What differences? similarities in thought?

Damian Johnson

Cheri Morabito

EDITOR / CREATIVE DIRECTOR

MARKETING DIRECTOR

Laurel L. Fumic

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Alina Dunaeva

Experiment Observations:

OVERSEAS CORRESPONDENT

many of our contributors use words like Courage, trust, and respect; all have a deep commitment to what they try to accomplish on a daily basis.

Jason Bice

WEB MASTER CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

some say D&i is the “right thing to do”; others point to the business case for diversity; most agree that, today, both views are critical to their programs; and diversity must have senior-level support and commitment to succeed and grow. recognizing and understanding cultural differences in a global marketplace is a recurring theme. From employees to co-workers to the markets themselves; embracing global diversity is critical to business success.

And capitalizing on the diversity of a each team member’s individual experiences and backgrounds will always generate better results than what can be achieved by a homogeneous group. this reminded me of one premise in James surowiecki’s The Wisdom of Crowds: Diversity of thought prevents the failure that results from group-think.

WhAt DiD i LeArn from my experiment? i learned that if you only skim the articles in the magazine, you’ll get the “what“ of the piece. As i returned to each article to read it in its entirety, i realized that, had i only read the first and last paragraphs, i would have missed the “Why,” and the “Who.“ i would have missed the substance and conviction in each article, and the passion that each leader brought to their insights.

David Casey Shirley A. Davis, Ph.D. Melanie Harrington Marie Philippe, Ph.D. Craig Storti

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Commentaries or questions should be addressed to: Profiles in Diversity Journal, P.O. Box 45605, Cleveland, OH 44145-0605.

All correspondence should include author’s full name, address, e-mail and phone number.

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contents

table of contents features 19 On the Cover

C elebrating Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Read how the cultural backgrounds and challenges these leaders have experienced in their careers reveal a unique understanding about diversity and leadership.

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Celebrating

Asian-Pacific American

Heritage Month

19

Habits of Highly Effective Diversity

and

Inclusion Communicators

Habits ofHighly Effective

W e asked diversity communicators to share the habits they have developed over the years.

Here are their strategies‌

D i ver si t y a nd Inc l usi o n Co mmunicators

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ongoing series 38 Thought Leaders

Volume 11 • Number 3 May / June 2009

W ith travel to seminars and conventions being curtailed, we recognize that you still may not be able to get to the seminars and conventions this year. We bring 17 diversity thought leaders to you.

38

thoughtleaders

perspectives 10 Culture Matters

DEPARTMENTS 6 Momentum

by Craig Storti

12 From My Perspective by David Casey, WellPoint, Inc.

Diversity Who, What, Where and When

9 Catalyst

14 My Turn by Shirley A. Davis, PhD, SHRM 16 Viewpoint by Melanie Harrington, AIMD

60 Last Word by Marie Philippe, PhD

58 MicroTriggers

Storti

4

Casey

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Davis

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An Assessment of Talent Management Systems

More Triggers from Janet Crenshaw Smith

Harrington

philippe

Investing for the long term is important.

That’s why we need the right assets.

At Vanguard, we invest for the long term—in the markets and in our talented employees, whose unique contributions energize our work. That is why we continue to be strong, and why we’re committed to providing opportunities for leaders like you.

Connect with Vanguard > www.vanguard.com/careers ®

Vanguard is an Equal Opportunity Employer. © 2009 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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momentum momentum who…what…where…when

O’Neale Named Campbell’s Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer

National Grid’s Inclusion & Diversity Manager, Finalist for Top Award

CAMDEN, New Jersey—Rosalyn Taylor O’Neale has been named Campbell’s Vice President of Diversity.

Taylor O’Neale

O’Neale leads Campbell’s global diversity and inclusion efforts to become a more diverse and inclusive culture. She is charged with partnering with business and Human Resources leaders to evolve a diversity strategy around attraction, retention, training, development, and engagement.

O’Neale has more than 17 years of global diversity experience from the vantage points of corporate leader, consultant, and author. Most recently, she led a consulting practice specializing in diversity and inclusion training, education, and executive coaching. In addition to North America and Europe, Rosalyn’s consulting engagements have taken her to Africa, Asia and Australia. Her experience cuts across a range of industries and cultures.

O’Neale started her career in Human Resources with Digital Equipment Corporation, now part of Hewlett-Packard. She also served as Vice President, Diversity Initiatives for MTV Networks. She is the author of 7 Keys 2 Success: Unlocking the Passion for Diversity, a practical road map for those who seek to create highly effective and inclusive organizations.

Catherine Hamilton, Inclusion & Diversity Manager, National Grid UK, was a finalist for the second annual ORC Worldwide Peter C. Robertson Award for Equality and Diversity Champions.

The award is named for Robertson, a pioneer in equality and diversity work. ORC Worldwide established the award to recognise exceptional individuals from ORC’s Global Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Networks who exhibit the qualities and accomplishments that ORC and its member companies strive to develop in their organizations and which serve as a model for all employers.

Apollo Group Names Jones Diversity Officer Vice President PHOENIX— Apollo Group, Inc., has appointed Dr. Victoria Jones to the position of Diversity Officer Vice President. In JOnes this role, Jones will develop strategic global recommendations and strategies to evolve existing diversity procedures and practices, which continue to make Apollo Group a leader in workplace diversity.

Apollo Group is the parent company of University of Phoenix, Institute for Professional Development, College for Financial Planning, Western International University, Meritus University, Insight Schools and Apollo Global.

Jones will oversee programs that serve diverse student, faculty and staff

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populations at nearly 200 locations in 40 states and in five countries.

Jones brings more than three decades of business, management and leadership experience to her new role.

Jones served as a faculty member for University of Phoenix in its online and on-campus degree programs in the Detroit area, and was selected as one of several regional diversity champions within Apollo Group whose role was to train and educate other employees in tolerance, inclusiveness and diversity awareness within the company.

LaVergne Joins New York Life as Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer NEW YORK CITY—New York Life Insurance Company has named Lance A. LaVergne as Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer.

As chief diversity officer, LaVergne is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s diversity program, including the implementation and execution of the company’s diversity strategy; coordination of diversity activities and events, with particular emphasis on the areas of recruitment, training, development and retention; and communication on diversity, both internally and externally. In addition, LaVergne will work closely with New York Life’s department managers and employee network groups to ensure that diversity initiatives are aligned with business strategies and goals.

LaVergne

LaVergne previously worked at Goldman Sachs, where he progressed through a series of positions within the company’s Diversity Management and Recruiting departments and most recently was global head of Campus & Experienced Hire Diversity Recruiting.

Prior to that, he served in recruiting roles at McKinsey & Company, Arthur Anderson LLP, and Russell Reynolds Associates. LaVergne began his career in the brokerage industry in a variety of investment positions for companies including Merrill Lynch, Chase Manhattan Bank, and Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc.

República Plasencia, Chairman and CEO of República, Inducted into Hall of Fame MIAMI—Jorge A. Plasencia, chairman and CEO of República, one of the fastest growing Hispanic-owned branding, advertisPlasencia ing, interactive and communications agencies in the U.S., has been inducted into Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Hall of Fame.

Award-Winning Pérez-Feria Joins as Senior Vice President, Editorial & Entertainment MIAMI— República has announced the appointment of Richard PérezFeria as Senior Vice President, Pérez-Feria Editorial and Entertainment. In this role, Pérez-Feria will focus on the firm’s myriad media projects; entertainment, sports and celebrity clients; licensing; special events and ancillary business opportunities.

Pérez-Feria was formerly the editor-in-chief of Time Inc’s People en Español.

Seasoned PR Professional Kolbjornsen Added as Vice President, Communications

Miami— República, a fullservice branding, advertising, interactive and communications agency, has announced Kolbjornsen the appointment of Christina Kolbjornsen as Vice With nearly two decades of experience in the media, entertainment President of Communications. In this role, Kolbjornsen leads the agency’s and sports industries, Plasencia was burgeoning communications pracrecognized for his vast professional tice, directing and managing strategic and civic accomplishments. communications programs, consumer MDC’s Alumni Hall of Fame events and promotions for the firm’s honorees are among the nation’s national and regional clients. premier business leaders, journalists With a diverse background in and educators. Through their work and dedication, these former students public relations and marketing that have become some of the most influen- spans more than 15 years, Kolbjornsen has developed and directed stratetial of leaders and have had a positive impact in their fields, the College and gic marketing, communications and the community.

public relations programs for national and international companies in various industries, including corporate, energy, travel and tourism, health care, financial and agribusiness, among others.

Darden Restaurants Announces Upcoming Retirement of Chief HR Executive and Succession Plan Orlando— Darden Restaurants has announced that Dan Lyons, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Ng has elected to retire from the company effective December 31, 2009. He will be succeeded by Daisy Ng on June 1, 2009, and remain in a transition support role for the balance of the calendar year.

In her new role, Ng will become a member of Darden’s Executive Team, reporting directly to Clarence Otis, Darden’s Chairman and CEO. She joined the company in October 2005 as Senior Vice President of Talent Management and has led a multi-year strategy to design systems and tools that better enable Darden to identify and develop outstanding leaders and drive stronger employee engagement.

Ng brings more than 25 years of experience to her new role, having held various senior executive positions in a number of highly regarded global companies in Asia Pacific, Canada and the United States. Immediately prior to joining Darden, she served as Vice President, Workforce Development, of Hewlett-Packard.

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momentum momentum who…what…where…when

WellPoint’s Matthews Recipient of Prestigious Athena Award

Butts Named Executive Vice President of the Northern Division Of AXA Advisors, LLC

DENVER— Caroline “Caz” Matthews, Vice President of Social Responsibility and President of the WellPoint FoundaMatthews tion (and a 2008 PDJ Woman Worth Watching®), was recently recognized by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce with the prestigious Athena Award.

The Athena Award is presented to the Colorado woman whom the women’s chamber feels best exemplifies “exceptional professional achievement, devotion to community service and generosity in actively assisting other women in their attainment of professional excellence and leadership skills.”

Matthews has served on Mile High United Way’s board of trustees as well as numerous other nonprofit, civic and business boards. She credits such work for many of the opportunities that later came her way, including her current board positions at Denverbased Qwest Communications and Dallas-based Perot Systems.

Opportunities abound for women because corporate and nonprofit boards realize they need them, Matthews says. “Women are sought after actively to make their contributions, to have their voices heard, as the wealth in this country has shifted to a much higher percentage of women making the active financial decisions. There is clear data to suggest that boards that have a nice diversity mix as it relates to men and women have a much higher performance track record.”

DEERFIELD, Illinois—Tammy Butts has been named an Executive Vice President of the Northern Division of AXA Advisors, Butts LLC, and a branch manager. Butts has overall management responsibility for the company’s Deerfield office and its 170 financial professionals.

In her new role, Butts will focus on recruiting, training and developing individuals who want to build careers as entrepreneurial financial professionals.

Butts has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and joined the company in 2001.

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Sodexo’s Sharma and Leyva Promoted to Key Roles Vijay Sharma was recently promoted to Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the UK, Ireland, and India. In his new role, SharSharma ma is a member of the Executive Team for Sodexo UK and Ireland. He is responsible for all matters related to information management and information technology, as well as the alignment of technology initiatives with Sodexo’s Global IS&T strategy.

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Previously Sharma served as Senior Vice President of Marketing for Sodexo’s Education Market. He chaired the Sodexo Culinary Council, was a founding member and advisor of Sodexo’s Pan Asian Network Group (PANG), and served on the Ally Advisory Board of the People Respecting Individuality, Diversity, and Equality (PRIDE) Network Group. Sharma also represented Sodexo on the Board of the Asian Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF) as CoChair of the Scholarship Committee.

Rolddy Leyva, Market Senior Director of Diversity for Corporate and Government Services, recently Leyva accepted an expanded role to lead the development & rollout of Sodexo’s global diversity & inclusion work in Latin America. In this expanded capacity, Rolddy will continue to drive the growth of diversity in his U.S.-based market segments, while providing diversity oversight and leadership in the Latin American region. He will be collaborating with Sodexo leadership and regional teams to develop & lead the implementation of highly customized, countryspecific diversity solutions for Latin America, contributing to the growth & advancement of Sodexo’s global diversity & inclusion initiative. pdj

www.catalyst.org

Cascading Gender Biases, Compounding Effects: An Assessment of Talent Management Systems

C

By Catalyst

Chief executive officers rank their concern with managing talent and tackling the shortage of executive talent above their concerns for global competition and innovation.1 To effectively address this concern, CEOs must thoroughly understand how poorly executed talent management systems can inadvertently contribute to talent shortages and gender gaps in advancement rates.

When companies implement practices that unintentionally dilute their talent pool, everyone pays a price—job satisfaction decreases, employee turnover increases, financial performance suffers, promotion opportunities are missed, and, ultimately, businesses become less successful.2 It is critical that companies recognize potential vulnerabilities in their talent management systems.

In its study, Cascading Gender Biases, Compounding Effects: An Assessment of Talent Management Systems, Catalyst investigated potential vulnerabilities to gender bias in talent management and the resulting effects on gender gaps in senior leadership by: 1) Examining the talent management process as a whole and determining how the parts interact.

2) Identifying and assessing the presence of bias in the talent management systems.

3) Exploring the opportunities for gaps to arise between the design of a talent management process and its execution.

Catalyst found that core components of talent management are linked in ways that disadvantage women, creating a vicious cycle in which men continually dominate executive positions: • The senior leadership effect. While all employees play a role in the effectiveness of talent management, senior leadership teams have a significant effect on talent management programs and practices, as well as leadership competencies and criteria. This ultimately affects who gets promoted.

• Institutionalizing bias. Most participating organizations described their talent management system as formalized, customized, and centralized. Still, analyses revealed that many companies and industries fell short when it came to implementing appropriate checks and balances that minimize gender biases and level the playing field for women and men.

• Compounding bias. Gaps between the design and execution of talent management programs compound the disadvantages faced by women, especially those seeking professional development and advancement.

Overall, data revealed that the pervasive effect of senior leaders on the talent management process can yield new senior leaders who mirror the traits and biases of the senior leadership team that promoted them.

While HR departments and talent managers across each organization are responsible for many aspects of talent management, we found that gender bias in tools and procedures can inhibit the establishment of inclusive and effective talent management programs.

The data also uncovered gender biases and stereotypes in several components of talent management systems and acknowledged that talent management experts and architects, like senior leaders, can contribute to gender bias in talent management. When practices such as succession planning and multi-rater feedback are only available to a limited few, everyone loses—the talent pool becomes artificially diluted, valuable feedback is not solicited, and, ultimately, the business suffers. To mitigate the negative effects of gender bias at all levels of an organization, corporations and firms must develop checks and balances that ensure more inclusive talent management and more effective senior leadership involvement.

While companies are becoming more dedicated to increasing gender diversity in senior leadership, the mechanisms by which gender bias enters talent management systems remain elusive. A failure to address the introduction of bias at any point has a compounding effect as the process plays out into a vicious cycle, making the effects of gender bias much more profound, especially for women.

Yet even organizations and industries with the most effective and inclusive talent management practices and programs must pay attention to the effects of bias on a process-wide level. Thus, all companies must identify talent management practices that create gender gaps and then institute appropriate checks and balances to ensure the processes and procedures match designed objectives and desired outcomes.

Talent management experts provided the following recommendations for improvement: • Examine current forms for gender stereotypes and biases.

• Develop worldwide leadership competency models.

• Review practices from other companies.

• Continue to develop, recruit, and retain all employees.

• Foster and build trusting relationships between managers and employees.

• Ensure that women and people of color thrive within the company.

• Empower managers to run performance management processes.

• Address individual biases at all levels of the organization.

1 Kevin S. Groves, “Integrating Leadership Development and Succession Planning Best Practices,” Journal of Management Development, vol. 26, no. 3 (2007): p. 239-260; Steve Krupp and William A. Pasmore, “Talent at the Top: The CEO’s Focus,” Viewpoint: The MMC Journal (2007), http://www.marshmac.com/knowledgecenter/viewpoint/Krupp2007. php.

2 Kevin S. Groves, “Leader Emotional Expressivity, Visionary Leadership, and Organizational Change,” Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 27, no. 7 (2006): p.

566-583; Groves (2007), p. 244; Karen S. Lyness and Madeline E. Heilman, “When Fit is Fundamental: Performance Evaluations and Promotions of Upper-Level Female and Male Managers,” Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 91, no. 4 (2006): p. 777-785.

Founded in 1962, Catalyst is the leading nonprofit membership organization working globally with businesses and the professions to build inclusive workplaces and expand opportunities for women and business. Visit www. catalyst.org to learn more about our work and download Catalyst reports. Visit www.catalyst.org/page/82/catalyst-e-newsletters to begin receiving Catalyst C-News, our monthly e-newsletter.

PDJ

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culture matters

Your Face or Mine?

By Craig Storti

I

In this edition of Culture Matters, we continue our tour of Indian-U.S. cultural differences. With so many American and Indian companies partnering across an increasing range of business activities and operations—with more Americans and more Indians working together every day—understanding basic cultural differences is key to smooth working relations at all levels.

One of the most common—and most serious—complaints I hear from Americans about their Indian colleagues goes something like this: “When we propose something to Indians and they don’t think it will work, or they know a better way, they never tell us. They just do what we propose.” (This same dynamic can be found across much of the Pacific Rim, not just vis-à-vis India.) The real issue here is that Americans often feel Indians aren’t bringing all their expertise and knowledge to the table—the Americans aren’t getting what they paid for—or, in the case of a joint venture, aren’t getting the added value they were looking for out of the partnership.

In many cases the explanation for this problem is cultural.

It’s not the case that Indians aren’t pushing back or aren’t telling Americans their idea won’t work; it’s the way Indians are telling Americans. Let’s back up and consider a typical exchange: BILL: So what did you think of that solution I emailed you about last week?

SUMITRA: Last week?

BILL: You know, my idea for how to redesign that platform?

SUMITRA: Oh, yes. I remember. Yes, we got that one.

BILL: And? SUMITRA: We had some good discussions.

BILL: Great. So what do you think?

SUMITRA: Deepok actually had another idea.

BILL: Great. I’d love to hear it. But what did you think of my idea?

SUMITRA: It would probably work, but we wondered if you’ve ever thought of trying…?

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BILL: We did consider that, actually, but we think this might work better.

SUMITRA: I see.

Bill probably feels Sumitra is basically OK with his idea, or at least doesn’t have any problems with it. And he thinks this because she hasn’t said anything critical about the “solution” he proposed “last week.” Bill is making the classic mistake we all tend to make when dealing with someone from another culture: assuming their behavior means what it would mean if we did it. If one American proposes something to another American, and the second American doesn’t say anything critical, then that means the second person is OK with the proposal. In fact, Sumitra is quite critical of the proposal— providing the very push-back Americans say Indians never give—and tries to propose something better but gets nowhere with Bill.

If you’re shaking your head at that last sentence, it means you’re looking at this exchange through American eyes; your idea of negative feedback is that the other person says something negative or critical, like “This won’t work” or “I’ve got a problem with that.” But India is what is commonly known as a face-saving culture where it is very important not to embarrass or discredit other people, such as by suggesting they don’t know what they’re talking about—especially if the other person is your boss or the client you work for (like Bill in this conversation). In face-saving cultures, you try very hard to not cause other people to “lose” face and very hard to “save” your own face and that of others.

This doesn’t mean that people in face-saving cultures always agree with what other people say or never give negative feedback, but it does mean they have worked out a very different way of being critical; different, that is, from cultures like the U.S. where face is not really a concern.

And the way people do this in such cultures is not to say something negative but to very conspicuously not say anything positive—and that equals negative feedback.

If you look at the Bill-Sumitra exchange in light of this new information, the first thing you will now notice is that nowhere does Sumitra actually say that she liked Bill’s proposal. In face-saving cultures, where you’d love to say what allows the other person to look good, Sumitra is eager to heap

INDIAN ENGLISH

praise on Bill’s solution. The fact that she does not is not absence of feedback, as Bill assumes; it’s negative feedback.

Indeed, Sumitra “told” Bill what she thought of his proposal, specifically, that it would not work, before this conversation ever began. After all, he sent her an email proposing a solution—and she never answered him. Once again, if she liked the proposal, Sumitra would be very keen to let Bill know; if she doesn’t say anything about the proposal—if she doesn’t even answer the email—that’s not lack of a response; it’s a negative response. The same thing happens again in the next exchange when Sumitra admits she got the email (“Yes, we got that one”) and then says nothing else. To Indians, that silence is deafening.

Not only does Sumitra repeatedly tell Bill his proposal won’t work (“We had some good discussions” is the third critical comment), she also tells him what will work, putting forth that better way that Americans claim Indians never tell them. This also has to be done with some care in face-saving cultures, lest suggesting a better way embarrass Bill by implying his way isn’t much good.

Sumitra “suggests” a better way in two places: where she points out that “Deepok actually had another idea” and where she asks Bill if he has “ever thought of trying…” Once again, because these aren’t the methods Americans use to suggest a better way, Americans don’t recognize these methods when Indians use them.

Fine, you’re saying, but what do we do about all this? How can I get honest feedback from my Indian colleagues? First of all, you are getting honest feedback; you just don’t recognize it. So the question you should be asking is: How can I get better at recognizing negative feedback, Indian-style?

Here I would propose two strategies. The first is to listen for what Indians aren’t telling you. When you don’t get positive feedback, in other words, consider the possibility that this is actually negative feedback. The other, more realistic strategy is to avoid the problem altogether by not asking for feedback in the first place—since you probably won’t understand it anyway. What I mean here is that instead of proposing something (Bill’s solution for redesigning the platform) and asking Indians what they think of it, just ask Indians how they would redesign the platform. Once you propose something and ask for feedback, you put Indians in an uncomfortable position: the possibility of causing you to lose face. So you sidestep the problem by asking Indians for their input rather than asking them for feedback on your input.

Indian English is closer to British than American English, but it contains many home-grown words that even the Brits don’t know, much less us Yanks. Here is what these words mean in Indian English: • Clubbing: Combining • Rubber: Eraser • Prepone: Move forward, do sooner (opposite of postpone) • Homely: Good houskeeper, cook • Tick off: Check off • Clean bowled: Failed (U.S. - “struck out”) • Bouncer: Something you did not understand (U.S. - “went over my head”) • Excuse: Reason or explanation • Intimate: Inform

That’s fine, you’re saying, but sometimes what I really need to know is not how Indians would do something or what their suggestions are, but what they think of my idea or my strategy. This is a bit tricky, of course, but you can even get Indians to weigh in on your idea: just don’t call it your idea. Instead of saying “I was thinking we should…,” say “Last week I heard one team did this…” and then ask Indians to comment. If it’s not your idea, then criticizing it isn’t attacking you.

Sound like splitting hairs? A client recently told me that her quarterly strategy sessions with her Indian team used to last for 10 minutes; she would lay out her ideas and then ask the Indians to comment. And they said almost nothing. The last time she had a strategy session, she didn’t propose anything; she just asked her team what suggestions they had. And the meeting lasted for two hours. PDJ

Craig Storti, a consultant and trainer in the field of intercultural communications, is the author of seven books. His latest, Speaking of India, describes the common cultural flashpoints when Indians work together with North Americans and western Europeans. He can be contacted at: craig@craigstorti.com Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

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from my perspective…

What Can We Learn from Star-Bellied Sneetches?

By David Casey

T

Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President, Workplace Culture WellPoint, Inc.

The whole notion of appreciating differences and leveraging similarities lies at the crux of managing “people diversity.”

There have been innumerable studies done in both academia and the corporate world on the positive gains that can be made by ensuring the right mix of people are at the table. We have also had close to 50 years of government regulations aimed at ensuring that everyone has a fair and level opportunity to get in the mix. So, why are we still having this discussion in 2009? Because we far too often act like Star-Bellied Sneetches.

For those of you who are familiar with the literary works of Theodore Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), you more than likely know where I’m going with this. For those of you who are not, here’s the Cliff ’s Notes version. Sneetches are a group of bird-like yellow creatures who live on a beach. Some of them have a green star on their bellies and use that as the basis of segregation and discrimination against those that don’t.

Along comes a charlatan who has observed their behavior and offers the Sneetches without stars a chance to get them by going through his “Star-On” machine, for a nominal fee. This makes them extremely happy, but upsets the ones who originally had the stars as they now have no other basis for discriminating (in an exclusionary way) between Sneetches. The original StarBellied Sneetches are then offered the opportunity to go through a “Star-Off ” machine to regain their differentiation. As you might imagine, this turns into a vicious cycle as these creatures obsessively fixate on maintaining some level of superiority or fully assimilating into the group that has it.

Again, for those of you who know Dr. Seuss and the stratified morality in his writings, you know that these are more than mere amusing children’s stories. This particular anecdote is an illustrative example of the “I can’t be a winner unless there is a loser” mentality that gets ingrained into most of our psyche at an early age. Now, don’t get me wrong, I actually am a fan of keeping score in pee wee soccer. What I’m referring to are the self-preserving discriminatory behaviors we exhibit when we feel our slice of the pie is or could be threatened by a group(s) dissimilar to us.

This has to be understood and incorporated into the way we think about, plan for, design and execute strategies for effectively managing people diversity in our various organizational contexts.

It’s not enough to simply gather a group of people who are dif12

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ferent from one another and expect a natural appreciation and effective utilization of all things different. If it was that natural for us, we wouldn’t have a need for this journal or the professional discipline of diversity management, of which many of us are practitioners.

No matter the type of diversity (e.g., ethnic, gender, socioeconomic, generational, disability, etc.), a sustainable strategy has to be approached holistically: • Start with getting clarity about what type of diversity you believe you need and why. You might have to state this as a cost of not having it.

• Be clear about how much diversity you need.

• Break through the noise around differences and focus on true requirements needed to be successful.

• Be willing and able to address the tensions and complexities that will inevitably arise due to increased mixtures of differences.

• Identify and mitigate policies, practices, procedures and behaviors that impede your ability to access talent throughout the organization.

• Articulate, correlate and measure how diversity drives results for the organization. It can’t be seen as an initiative that is separate and apart.

This approach is applicable to both bringing in external talent as well as understanding and optimizing the talent you already have. It’s very easy to get caught up in the excitement of “mixing up” the look and feel of an organization. It feels good to be able to see tangible and visible change if that is in fact your goal. But that, in and of itself, is neither effective nor sustainable. That’s why there is still relatively low representation of women and ethnic minorities in the C-suites of corporate America after nearly 50 years of mandates and regulations.

For those of you who have not read this particular book and have no intention to, I will tell you that somehow the Sneetches have a magical epiphany that their differences really do not matter and should be celebrated. If only it were that easy! PDJ

David Casey is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, having graduated with honors from Indiana Wesleyan University with a B.S. in Business Administration. He brings over 20 years of experience in talent management and strategic diversity management to his role at WellPoint.

Thanks to you,

Matthew is enjoying the benefits of coverage from a company that supports him and his life partner.

At WellPoint, we are addressing tomorrow’s health care issues today. In providing domestic partner benefits to our associates, we are strengthening our commitment to bridge the gap between the insured and uninsured in the LGBT community.

In partnership with our LGBT Associate Resource Group, ANGLE (Associate Network for Gay and Lesbian Equality), we are creating an inclusive work environment that supports diversity of all kinds, including sexual orientation and gender identity. Working to better people’s lives is not something you do every day.

But it can be – at WellPoint.

Better health care, thanks to you.

Visit us online at wellpoint.com/careers and

wellpoint.com/diversity

Contact us at diversityrecruiting@wellpoint.com EOE

® Registered Trademark, WellPoint, Inc. © 2009 WellPoint, Inc. All Rights Reserved ® Registered Trademark, DiversityInc Media LLC

my turn

SHRM’s International Diversity & Inclusion Study Reveals Global Trends and Best Practices

By Shirley A. Davis, PhD

M

Director of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Society for Human Resource Management

More than ever, businesses, governments, non-profits, and other organizations are finding it necessary to adopt a global mindset in order to remain viable and relevant in today’s global marketplace. As organizations recognize the importance of developing greater cross-cultural competence, D&I practitioners are often at the forefront of this work. This makes sense, as these professionals have long been engaged in helping individuals and organizations manage and leverage difference in ways that allow people from all backgrounds to hear and be heard, understand and be understood, and work together productively.

And some will suggest that one’s national culture is the most powerful differentiator there is, greater than ethnicity, gender, or language. And yet, D&I practitioners are often caught in the same conundrum as those they serve, because—like every other facet of business—the concepts of “Diversity” and “Inclusion” themselves often mean very different things in different countries around the world.

In 2008, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) commissioned the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a subsidiary of the Economist Group, to conduct an in-depth International Study on Diversity & Inclusion. The study was launched to provide a deeper understanding of D&I issues on a global scale, and to offer insight into D&I best practices worldwide. Only 30% of the respondents were from North America.

The rest were from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe.

This groundbreaking study surveyed over 500 CEOs and other senior executives, and conducted in-depth interviews with 40 of them. We asked them what diversity meant in their regions; what the challenges were; what their goals were; what drove their business case; and what target groups they were focusing on in their diversity efforts. Additionally, this is the first study to release a tool called the Global Diversity Readiness Index. This tool (scheduled for release later this summer), rates and ranks 47 countries on their readiness to launch D&I efforts based on 18 indicators (i.e., male/female population ratio, immigrants as a percentage of total population, religious diversity, ethnic and racial diversity, women’s access to leadership, corporate ethics, laws ensuring paid maternity leave, etc. ), and along five broad categories (e.g., National Diversity, Social Inclusion, Workplace 14

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Inclusion, Government Inclusion, and Legal Framework).

Key findings of the study revealed a growing realization among corporate executives that D&I is good for business. They recognize that the ability to draw on a wide range of viewpoints, backgrounds, and skills is critical to their companies’ success.

When we asked, “who are the main advocates for D&I initiatives in your organization,” leading the list at 60% were the CEO and top management. This is heartening because we all agree that senior leadership commitment is critical to the success of any D&I initiative. Next among advocates was the head of HR at 42%; third were the employees at 21%, and fourth was the board of directors at 18%.

Perhaps the most basic finding of the study—and a most welcome one—is that more than half—55%—of the respondents have policies in place that promote D&I either “strongly” or “very strongly.” Another 31% have policies that support D&I “moderately.” That makes a total of 86% with moderate to very strong D&I programs.

And, who usually leads D&I programs? Not unexpectedly, 59% of the respondents said HR takes the lead, while only 6% named the Chief Diversity Officer. Another encouraging piece of data from the survey is that the point person for D&I reports directly to the CEO in 26% of the companies surveyed.

In our study, we also drilled deeper to see on a global scale what specific business rationales companies use for pursuing D&I initiatives. According to our findings, the majority of organizations worldwide—53% of them—are trying to increase efficiencies by tapping into a broader range of backgrounds and skill sets to help them compete. A second rationale at 47% of the organizations surveyed is the perception that employees see diversity as a matter of fairness. And, 43% of the organizations indicated they were pursuing diversity to increase sales by tapping new sources of talent. These findings make sense in light of another finding in our global survey: 65% of the organizations surveyed reported that their customer base had become more diverse in the past 10 years.

The study also identified four main tools organizations in all regions are using to promote and monitor D&I programs. continued on p. 56 Shirley A. Davis, PhD, is Director of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives for the Society for Human Resource Management in Alexandria, Virginia. She can be reached at shirley.davis@shrm.org.

When we’re all equals, things really start to add up.

The power of equality and partnership is the power of human energy. It’s what drives our company, and it’s the reason we promote fairness in the workplace.

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viewpoint

More Work To Do: Unfinished Diversity Work

By Melanie Harrington President American Institute for Managing Diversity, Inc.

A

An Associated Press article has been making its way to local, national and online news organizations previewing the results of a Kellogg School of Management study examining the intersections between race and power. Although there are entire conferences that have explored these challenges before, it is an opportune time in U.S. history to reexamine the issues and bring a new 21st century perspective and approach.

In the upcoming September 2009 issue of Psychological Science, Professor Robert Livingston and graduate student Nicolas Pearce will report that they found that black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies with a “babyface” appearance are more likely to lead companies with high revenues and prestige.

The Kellogg study examined the role that facial characteristics play in the ascension to power of the highest positions in corporate America. In the study, a group of 21 nonblack students were shown 40 photographs of past and current CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. The photos included 10 white women, 10 randomly selected white male CEOs and 10 black CEOs. For every photo of a black CEO, the researchers also included a current or former white CEO from the same company. Participants rated on a scale of 1 to 4 the “babyfaceness,” leadership competence, and personal warmth of the men and women in the pictures. The study indicates, according Dr. Livingston, that disarming characteristics, which have been shown to hinder white executives, can help black male leaders. The study was repeated with a group of 106 students with similar results.

Interestingly, the study did not show a link between the babyface look and age. According to Dr. Livingston, the babyface look conveys a warmer, trustworthy and less threatening person. However, the participants who rated the 10 black CEOs as more babyfaced than their white counterparts also rated black people, as a group, less warm than whites, as a group. Another interesting fact that deserves further examination is the finding that women CEOs were rated as having more matured faces than white male and black male CEOs.

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For me the study raises significant concerns about the capability and/or willingness of decision-makers to make critical hiring and promotion decisions based on “requirements” (i.e., based on the mission, vision and strategy of the organization) rather than their personal conveniences, traditions, and preferences. Granted, a prerequisite to a senior leadership position in corporate America is an understanding of and ability to navigate the corporate culture. Moreover, with the help of mentors, usually emerging leaders are clued in to the unwritten rules of the organization and learn to skillfully disarm those who may be threatened by their presence or style.

But who has time to navitage around an unnecessary obstacle, like a racial stereotype.

For years in diversity work, consultants and educators have attempted to explain to managers the unnecessary and perilous tightrope that black men and other underrepresented groups must walk to secure power positions in corporate America.

It is also troubling that, nine years into the 21st century, our diversity management capability is so limited as to result in decisions easily influenced not by merit and capability but by uninformed and often biased first impressions.

With globalization driving the need for more frequent innovations, more efficient productivity and stronger leadership, organizations with an ability to access the best talent— no matter how it comes packaged—will have this century’s competitive advantage. PDJ

Melanie Harrington is president of the American Institute for Managing Diversity, Inc. AIMD celebrates its 25th Anniversary in 2009. The organization is a 501(c)(3) public interest non-profit dedicated to advancing diversity thought leadership through research, education, and public outreach. AIMD works to strengthen our communities and institutions through effective diversity management. For more information, please visit www.aimd.org.

[ Bank of the West ]

WANT TO WORK FOR A TRULY GREAT BANK?

AT BANK OF THE WEST, WE BELIEVE OUR CUSTOMERS ARE WELL SERVED BY EMPLOYEES WHO ARE WELL SERVED. Different perspectives generate fresh ideas. That’s why at Bank of the West, we value diversity and equal opportunity for all our employees. Year after year, we continue to grow stronger thanks to our unique blend of people. After all, in today’s competitive banking environment, it is our employees with innovative ideas that keep us a step ahead of the rest.

www.bankofthewest.com

Bank of the West and its subsidiaries are equal opportunity/affirmative action employers. M/F/D/V

© 2007 Bank of the West. Member FDIC.

Diversity &Inclusion drives innovation and success Kodak’s commitment to diversity and inclusion touches customers, consumers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, and more. While our vision is global, we focus upon the distinctive cultures and communities in which we live and work.

We champion diversity as a business imperative to help drive innovation.

Working together, we create technologies and services that unleash the power of pictures and printing. Become part of our picture—and join us on our journey to enrich people’s lives.

www.kodak.com/go/diversity © Eastman Kodak Company, 2008

AXA

AXA

CATALYST

SAIC

Celebrating

Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month

May* is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in KPMG

KPMG

the United States.

We wondered what unique challenges and

experiences diversity leaders of Asian-Pacific Islander descent may have experienced in their careers, and asked for their thoughts and INTERPUBLIC GROUP

opinions

about

leadership,

diversity,

and mentoring. Many are first generation

NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE

immigrants, and, not surprisingly, their unique cultural experiences gives them a personal insight into the importance of having a diverse and inclusive workforce.

IW GROUP, INC.

PRESCRIPTION SOLUTIONS

ITT

ITT

VANGUARD

UNILEVER

* The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. (The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants).

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Celebrating Asian-Pacific American Heritage

Patricia Louie, J.D.

Vice President and Associate General Counsel

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of AXA Financial, Inc., which is part of the global AXA Group Headquarters: New York City Web site: www.axa-equitable.com Primary Business: Life insurance, annuity, and investment products and services.

Employees: Approximately 11,000 employees and sales personnel.

In your opinion, what are the attributes of a great leader that you have employed in your career?

Education: J.D., University of Utah College of Law; B.S., Political Science, Certificate in International Relations, University of Utah.

What I’m reading: Team of Rivals,

by Doris Kearns Goodwin My philosophy: Sharing with others.

Interests: Entertaining family and friends; exploring the wineries in the North Fork of Long Island; attending baseball games, the opera, and ballet.

Great leaders are excellent communicators, exhibit courage in difficult or adverse situations, have a strong work ethic and are respectful of others, particularly when faced with contrary opinions or views.

When giving advice or mentoring, what strategies and principles do you communicate?

I believe being as specific as you can in giving advice yields the best results. Giving direct, honest feedback that a person can immediately consider provides the most significant benefits, in my opinion.

What is your most rewarding professional accomplishment?

While there is no one singular accomplishment, I believe being able to succeed, survive and thrive for an extended period of time in an industry that is constantly evolving and subject to intense regulatory scrutiny is a major accomplishment on its own.

What is the best advice you have ever received in your career?

Listen, listen, listen without coming to a conclusion until you have heard all the facts, and then, don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Chang Baek Chun, ChFC, CLU

Executive Vice President, Southern Division of AXA Advisors

AXA Advisors, LLC an affiliate of AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co., which is part of the global AXA Group Headquarters: New York City Web site: www.axaonline.com Primary Business: Life insurance, annuity, and investment products and services.

Employees: Approximately 11,000 employees and sales personnel. (Includes employee figures for AXA Equitable)

How has your understanding of diversity and inclusion helped you become a better leader?

When we see situations through the eyes of the perceiver, we can solve issues, maximize our true potentials and lead from a real place.

Education: Bachelor’s in Business.

What I’m reading: The Bible, sales books and industry publications.

My philosophy: Be faithful.

Interests: Golf, music, reading.

When giving advice or mentoring, what strategies and principles do you communicate?

The more people you meet, the more people you can help. I also believe in integration of the whole person—knowledge, ethics, people skills, hard work and our hearts—in order to serve others in our business. We take care of the whole lives of others so we must ourselves be whole.

What is your most rewarding professional accomplishment?

There are three things: 1. The ability to help individuals and families build a healthy financial life.

2. Recruiting and developing over 100 people, helping them become successful.

3. My own individual growth from learning through the thousands of people I have met.

What obstacles have you overcome in your career to date, and how has this made you a better leader?

To succeed in this business you need persistency and perseverance. This business is a marathon.

We need to be in the best physical and spiritual health to go the distance.

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Celebrating Asian-Pacific American Heritage

Deborah M. Soon

Vice President, Marketing & Executive Leadership Initiatives

Catalyst Headquarters: New York City Web site: www.catalyst.org Primary Business: The leading nonprofit membership organization working globally with businesses and the professions to build inclusive workplaces and expand opportunities for women and business.

Employees: 70+

In your opinion, what are the attributes of a great leader that you have employed in your career?

Great leaders don’t look for the flaws in people, but seek the best in people, seizing opportunities to coach, facilitate, and develop them to be all that they can be. Great leaders don’t seek greatness; they possess humility, a true sense of self, unquestionable integrity, and pride in the accomplishments of people they help.

How has your understanding of diversity and inclusion helped you become a better leader?

Differing perspectives provide the basis for better decision-making and ultimately better solutions.

In fact, Catalyst research shows that there is a direct correlation between diversity in leadership and financial performance.

What is the best advice you have ever received in your career?

To make my influence felt. In my first job, I was passed over for a leadership role when I thought I had out-performed everyone else. I asked my manager why, and he told me I wasn’t on the radar and that I needed to “make my influence felt.” I was stunned. Being raised in a traditional Asian family, I was taught to be “seen and not heard,” work hard, be excellent, don’t bring shame to your family, don’t rock the boat. For me, making my influence felt means “quiet” leadership and the many ways I choose to affect people in a positive way, whether directly or indirectly.

Clement Chen

Education: B.A., Mathematics, University of California, San Diego; Special studies in Math, Cambridge University; M.B.A., Harvard Business School.

What I’m reading: Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer (so that I can talk to my daughter!)

My philosophy: Have no regrets.

Interests: Watching a first-run movie in a theater.

Senior Vice President and Group Director, Strategic Planning

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Headquarters: San Diego, California Web site: www.saic.com Primary Business: National security, energy and the environment, critical infrastructure, and health.

Employees: 45,000

How has your understanding of diversity and inclusion helped you become a better leader?

It’s been said that none of us is as smart as all of us. Diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary insight oftentimes produce richer ideas and better solutions than those born out of homogeneous or rigid world views. As a leader, embracing diversity and inclusion opens the door to new possibilities that would otherwise have been missed.

What obstacles have you overcome in your career to date, and how has this made you a better leader?

Most of the obstacles I have confronted in my career were largely self-inflicted. The voyage of maturity and self discovery is not always pretty when one’s weaknesses and limitations are learned experientially. The good news is that from these mistakes, personal growth and a greater awareness and understanding of one’s surroundings arise.

What is the best advice you have ever received in your career?

In your career you must choose among three things—things that you are very good at, things that you are most passionate about, and things that you can actually make a living doing and that supports the quality of life you desire. Rarely will all three be the same thing. At best, you will likely only get two out of three…choose wisely.

Education: B.S., Applied Science, U.S. Naval Academy; M.B.A., College of William & Mary.

What I’m reading: Night, by Elie Wiesel; Fooled by Randomness,

by Nassim Nicholas Taleb; A Meaningful World, by Benjamin Wiker and Jonathan Witt My philosophy: Out of brokenness comes the possibility of redemption, joy, meaning and purpose.

Interests: Family, guitar, most sports, theology, the beach, teaching, coaching.

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Celebrating Asian-Pacific American Heritage

Kevin CHOI, CLU

Managing Partner, Los Angeles General Office

New York Life Insurance Company Headquarters: New York City Web site: www.newyorklife.com; www.losangeles.nyloffices.com Primary Business: Insurance.

Employees: More than 8,600 (domestic)

How has your understanding of diversity and inclusion helped you become a better leader?

I can relate to and understand multi-cultural differences and values. Appreciating similar and different values allows me to assimilate and react to various situations.

When giving advice or mentoring, what strategies and principles do you communicate?

Education: Finance and Business Administration, University of Southern California and California State University, Long Beach.

What I’m reading: Motivator, Teacher, Shrink, by Bob Teichart; Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson, Ph.D. My philosophy: Don’t let the past poison your future.

Interests: Movies, traveling with my favorite girls (wife Serena and daughter Claudia).

First and foremost, we need to be ourselves and be authentic. At the same time, never waver in our beliefs while learning, confronting realities and re-inventing ourselves to be the very best.

What obstacles have you overcome in your career to date, and how has this made you a better leader?

Coming out of my comfort zone, where I can get complacent, as well as confronting an “am I good enough or do I have what it takes to succeed” attitude and changing it to a “how can I help others to bring out the hidden talents within them” demeanor. Whether I succeed or fail, I understand the true value of overcoming adversity within a tough and fast-paced environment.

What is the best advice you have ever received in your career?

One of my mentors, Eric Campbell, Executive Vice President at New York Life, said, “when you feel you are at the end of the rope, tie a knot in it and hold on!” In other words, we all face challenges and when you feel overwhelmed, hold tight because you will get through it even though it seems like it’s the end of the world.

Heidi Chiang Lew, Pharm.D.

Vice President, Clinical Programs and Formulary Development

Prescription Solutions Headquarters: Irvine, California Web site: www.prescriptionsolutions.com Primary Business: Pharmacy benefit manager.

Employees: 4,500

In your opinion, what are the attributes of a great leader that you have employed in your career?

Education: B.S., Psychobiology, University of California, Los Angeles; B.S., Pharmacy, University of Utah; Hospital Pharmacy Residency, New England Medical Center; Pharm.D., State University of New York, Buffalo.

What I’m reading: Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. I like to keep up with the books my daughter is reading.

My philosophy: Life is a choice of quality over quantity, so it’s key to balance your personal and work life.

Interests: I like to spend time with my family, relaxing. I also enjoy reading and baking.

22

I feel the attributes that make a great leader include being a good listener and having an open mind and the willingness to lead by example. A leader should be approachable and not afraid to roll up his or her sleeves. If you lead this way, you’re more able to gain respect from your team members and have their support.

How has your understanding of diversity and inclusion helped you become a better leader?

Diversity brings so many new and innovative ideas for a team to build upon. It creates an enhanced environment for teamwork and strengthens a group. Each team member has unique skills from his or her area of expertise, which helps train and teach others.

When giving advice or mentoring, what strategies and principles do you communicate?

Knowing what it’s like to be a team member, I try to provide guidance and advice based on my experiences. I base my mentoring strategies from what I have observed, including feedback received from those that I have mentored.

What is the best advice you have ever received in your career?

Never to make a decision that would compromise my personal integrity or values.

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Celebrating Asian-Pacific American Heritage

Helene Yan

Vice President, Strategic Development

Interpublic Group Headquarters: New York City Web site: www.interpublic.com Primary Business: Marketing and communications.

Employees: 43,000

In your opinion, what are the attributes of a great leader that you have employed in your career?

Great leadership defies description—leaders have many different styles and attributes. The one common thread is that no one achieves anything significant alone. As Elie Wiesel puts it, we’re the “sum total” of all the ideas and people in our past and present. That’s one of my guiding principles. And I’m very fortunate to have always worked with and learned from amazing and talented people.

How has your understanding of diversity and inclusion helped you become a better leader?

Diversity and inclusion are words that may not have much meaning…until or unless you’ve lived in worlds that do not honor either. As a first generation immigrant growing up in many different cultures, I’ve seen firsthand how individual contexts & cultural viewpoints influence thinking and eventual outcomes. And we get the best outcomes and solutions when we give voice to, and welcome, the richness of thought and experience around us.

When giving advice or mentoring, what strategies and principles do you communicate?

For me, it has always been about bringing out the best in someone… to recognize what is already there, and help them see it and realize it themselves.

Education: M.S., Economics, MIT; B.A., Economics, University of Maryland at College Park.

What I’m reading: The Poet of Baghdad, by Jo Tatchell My philosophy: “When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.”—Toni Morrison Interests: Travel! 27 countries… and counting.

Bill Imada

Chairman and CEO

Imada Wong Communications Group (dba “IW Group Inc.”) Headquarters: West Hollywood, California Web site: www.iwgroupinc.com Primary Business: Multicultural marketing, advertising and public relations with an emphasis on the Asian/Pacific American market.

Employees: 75

How has your understanding of diversity and inclusion helped you become a better leader?

Diversity and inclusion can’t succeed without engagement. In order to fully appreciate diversity and inclusion, you must be willing and able to engage others and yourself. Any agency, corporation or nonprofit can talk about diversity and inclusion, but none of that really matters unless the people at the table and in your organization are fully engaged in a thoughtful dialogue based on respect, mutual interest, and a willingness to share.

When giving advice or mentoring, what strategies and principles do you communicate?

I believe firmly in the adage: People support what they help create. Getting people involved in decisions, in building their own career paths, and in finding solutions to the many challenges they will face is essential to their growth, knowledge and well-being. I also believe that knowledge is power. The best use of power is to share it; hence, sharing my knowledge with others comes naturally to me.

What/who has most influenced you in your career to date?

Jesse Aguirre, the former Executive Vice President of Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. He and his team provided me with an opportunity to jump-start my company. And he was a tough teacher and mentor. But one key thing that he said to me was to always help others. Not long ago, I made a promise to help at least 10,000 people in my life. I’ve still got a long way to go.

Education: Bachelor’s degree from California State University, Northridge; AMBEP graduate, Tuck School of Business; Asian-American fellow, Coro Foundation.

What I’m reading: The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini My philosophy: If your competition is weak, so are you...

Interests: Mountain biking, hiking, foreign movies, foreign travel.

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Celebrating Asian-Pacific American Heritage

Shuping Lu,

Vice President and Director, Human Resources

ITT China & India Headquarters: Shanghai, China Web site: www.itt.com Primary Business: Manufacturing.

Employees: 40,000 employees worldwide.

How has your understanding of diversity and inclusion helped you become a better leader?

Education: Master of Business Administration, China Northeast University; Certified Lean/ Six Sigma Champion; Certified Black Belt.

What I’m reading: Leading in a Time of Change, by Peter F. Drucker and Peter Senge

What obstacles have you overcome in your career to date, and how has this made you a better leader?

My philosophies: Learn to give before you take.

I do not like confrontation with others. I am always willing and eager to give positive feedback, but feel uncomfortable offering negative feedback. In a workshop designed for Effective Communication for my team, I learned to provide constructive feedback in a positive way without hurting feelings.

Be a useful person to others and to society.

Interests: Jogging, hiking and mountain climbing (if I have a chance).

Clayton Young

My thoughts and interactions with people stem from my Asian experiences and perspectives. I once had a meeting with one of my subordinates and a colleague. I opened the dialogue and spoke most of the time, not giving my subordinate an opportunity to speak. The next day, he told me I treated him like a child instead of an adult. I was shocked at his reaction, but realized that I was working with people from completely different cultural backgrounds, and I needed to better understand how they think and act.

As I worked to understand differences surrounding diversity, I realized there was so much to learn and leverage from respecting, accepting, and being inclusive of the differences. Now I enjoy working with a diversified team. Being inclusive gives me wisdom at work and in life in general.

What is the best advice you have ever received in your career?

The best advice I’ve ever received was from a leadership coach, Mr. Yin: Send “love” when somebody hates you; defend those who are absent; and admit when you make a mistake.

Assistant Treasurer itt Corporation Headquarters: White Plains, New York Web site: www.itt.com Primary Business: Manufacturing Employees: 40,000 employees worldwide.

When giving advice or mentoring, what strategies and principles do you communicate?

Education: M.B.A., Management and Finance, The Wharton School; B.A. cum laude, Art History, University of Pennsylvania.

What I’m reading: The Black Swan,

by Nassim Nicholas Taleb; Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell: Tolstoy’s Death of Ivan Ilych and Master and Man Interests: Charitable work, music, travel.

24

Leadership is a form of service. You should never lose sight of those whom you serve, whether they be customers, suppliers or employees, and those constituents should always be treated with respect.

You should be ever-vigilant of power and position and their ability to corrupt and subvert good motives into bad.

For your own self-development and for the good of the enterprise, you should always operate outside your comfort zone, stretch your abilities, re-invent yourself and take informed risks. There may be little downside to repetition, but there is no upside (or excitement) either.

Maintain a healthy balance between work and family. Work and play hard. Find a way to share your success and abilities through charity and community service.

What/who has most influenced you in your career to date?

My father came to this country with not much more than a steamship ticket and a semester’s college tuition. During a time much more challenging that what we are faced with today, with courage, perseverance and sacrifice, he and my mother started their own accounting firm serving businesses in New York’s Chinatown that were started by immigrant self-starters like them. My parents set a high bar for me and I am humbled by their achievement.

At the same time, I am in awe and admiration of my two children, who, at their young ages, recognize the historic challenges of our times and, forsaking capitalism and careerism, are answering the call to address these problems.

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Celebrating Asian-Pacific American Heritage

Manolet Dayrit

Advisory Partner

KPMG LLP Headquarters: New York City Web site: www.us.kpmg.com Primary Business: KPMG LLP is the U.S. audit, tax, and advisory member firm of KPMG international. * Employees: 22,000 employees

When giving advice or mentoring, what strategies and principles do you communicate?

My approach to mentoring includes listening to my mentees and understanding their goals, issues, and concerns. I try to put myself in their shoes to appreciate their perspective. Open and honest communication is key; saying what I mean and meaning what I say helps build trust. Frequent, in-person meetings help me maintain regular communication with my mentees.

What is your most rewarding professional accomplishment?

Undoubtedly, one of my most rewarding accomplishments was my admission to KPMG’s partnership 10 years ago, but perhaps even more rewarding is when someone whom I’ve sponsored is admitted to the partnership.

Education: MBA in Finance, Fordham University; B.S., Business Management, the Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines).

What I’m reading: Come Be My Light, by Mother Theresa (about her spiritual journey).

What obstacles have you overcome in your career to date, and how has this made you a better leader?

My philosophy: Do the right thing in the right way.

I was raised in a culture that believes in doing things in a reserved and low-key manner. Where I grew up, people spoke up only if absolutely needed and if they had something valuable to say. In Western culture, you’re almost always expected to say something at gatherings and meetings, or you may be viewed as a non-contributor. Because I’m reserved and low-key by nature, I had to learn to adapt to my environment. I think we all need to be dynamic if we want to succeed and be relevant in an ever-changing world.

Interests: Travel, music, movies, art.

Yasuko Metcalf

Audit Partner

KPMG LLP Headquarters: New York City Web site: www.us.kpmg.com Primary Business: KPMG LLP is the U.S. audit, tax, and advisory member firm of KPMG international. * Employees: 22,000 employees

How has your understanding of diversity and inclusion helped you become a better leader?

When you assemble a team with diverse backgrounds, it enables you to harvest and draw on a variety of strengths and perspectives, and that makes the team much more dynamic and resilient.

Recognizing this has helped me to build stronger teams, better serve my clients, and overcome many stressful and challenging situations.

When giving advice or mentoring, what strategies and principles do you communicate?

Critically evaluate your own strengths and weaknesses. Obviously you should work on your weaknesses but it’s equally as important to foster your strengths. It’s much more enjoyable, too.

What is your most rewarding professional accomplishment?

I’ve had several great experiences at KPMG, but I’d say my three-year rotational assignment in our Bangkok, Thailand office stands out in my mind. The experience was professionally challenging and personally very rewarding.

What is the best advice you have ever received in your career?

Education: B.A., International Business and Accounting, University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, Minnesota).

What I’m reading: The Soloist, by Steve Lopez Interests: I enjoy spending time with my family—my husband Patrick, my sons Brandon (13) and Spencer (11), and my daughter Claire (5). All three kids are violin players, and I enjoy accompanying them to their various concerts.

Focus on what’s most important, and never lose sight of it. *KPMG international’s member firms have 123,000 professionals, including more than 7,100 partners in 145 countries.

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Celebrating Asian-Pacific American Heritage

JAMES WONG,

Vice President, Business Development, Americas

Unilever Headquarters: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey Web site: www.unileverusa.com Primary Business: Consumer products.

Employees: Nearly 12,000 in the United States and Puerto Rico.

How has your understanding of diversity and inclusion helped you become a better leader?

Education: B.S., Economics, University of Pennsylvania; M.S. Management, M.I.T. Sloan School of Management.

What I’m reading: Watchmen, by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons; my own unfinished novel that I started in college is always at my bedside, a self-reminder of the path not taken, as well as opportunity in the future.

My philosophy: Perhaps “Tit for Tat”—the simplest, most versatile and effective strategy, according to game theorists.

As a first generation immigrant who’s built a career at a multinational company, I’ve led a relatively peripatetic life. I’m grateful for the insights I’ve gained from having lived in 9 diverse cities on 3 continents. I’ve lived in countries where I was part of the majority and also where I’ve been in the minority. Having experienced both sides of that equation really gives perspective on inclusion and a basis for empathy. In my experience, I’ve found a strong correlation between leadership excellence and the ability to empathize with others.

What/who has most influenced you in your career to date?

Is it alright to say it’s me? I’ve always been a firm believer in an individual being ultimately accountable for her or his own personal and career development. It’s important to take control and ownership, as no one will ever be a better advocate for you than yourself.

What is the best advice you have ever received in your career?

“No one is perfect, James. Don’t be afraid to expose others to one weakness or fault of yours.

If people can’t name one, they will make up two or three.”

Interests: For me, it’s about “Who” rather than “What,” so any activity with family and close friends.

Abha Kumar

Principal, Information Technology

Vanguard Headquarters: Valley Forge, Pennsylvania Web site: www.vanguard.com Primary Business: Investment management.

Employees: 12,500 in the United States.

In your opinion, what are the attributes of a great leader that you have employed in your career?

Education: Master’s in Management from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India.

What I’m reading: I just finished reading Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell; I am currently reading Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters,

by Nancy Pelosi and Amy Hill Hearth My philosophy: Work hard and always do your best.

Interests: Listening to music, reading.

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Aristotle said, “What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.” This philosophy has held true for me throughout my career. In today’s environment, business management skills are not enough.

Leaders need the ability to deal with the pace of change, realities of continuing shifts in the marketplace, and the demand for new innovations. The attributes of a great leader include the ability to understand, accept, manage and, most importantly, lead change. My career has been all about embracing and leading change.

When giving advice or mentoring, what strategies and principles do you communicate?

I encourage individuals to understand the whole picture, their part in that picture, and the impact each of them can have. It’s important to understand the entire scope of a situation or problem before arriving at and implementing the best solution. It’s also important to look beyond the immediate problem—toward a vision—in order to derive a sustainable solution.

What is your most rewarding professional accomplishment?

It’s hard to point to a single professional accomplishment. One that comes to mind is the recent opportunity I had to speak to high school girls about careers in technology. Following the event, I was told that I opened many eyes and, in all likelihood, changed a few lives.

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Hi g hly Eff e coft i v e

Habits Highly Co mm uEffective n i c at o r s

Diversity and Inclusion Communicators These are the people who disseminate all the diversity and inclusion-related information to their employees, consumers, shareholders, suppliers, communities and other groups. It’s an important role, and we know there are specific strategies that diversity communicators must develop in order to share this information effectively.

We’ve invited diversity leaders to share the habits they have developed over the years. Here are their strategies…

by Jim Weathersbee Senior Consultant Ivy Planning Group, LLC

Organizations often struggle to find the best way to get their diversity and inclusion message out to all their employees.

The senior management team spends a lot of time and effort developing the vision and strategy and need to ensure everyone in the organization knows what it is and what their role will be. As Marshall McLuhan said, ‘the medium is the message.’’ So what are some of the best practices organizations use to get the top level diversity messages out to everyone?

Some organizations hold large, conference-style meetings for all employees, providing the CEO or other senior executive an opportunity to present the diversity message. Depending on the size of the audience, questions can be entertained in that forum or the audience can be broken into smaller breakout groups facilitated by senior managers; this allows additional information to be discussed and 28

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questions answered. For example, one of our retail clients makes use of their annual sales conferences for each of their lines of business to disseminate the latest diversity message and training to their various sales groups in the company.

Some organizations hold Diversity Dialogues, where mid-level managers convene town-hall-type meetings to present the diversity message, facilitate discussion about diversity and inclusion and respond to questions. Diversity Dialogues can also be held throughout the year and expanded to other topics that the organization’s Diversity Council deems important. One of our large aerospace clients also tracks employee participation in these Diversity Dialogues to help ensure employees are “getting the message.”

For organizations where employees are spread out in several locations, the diversity message is sent out to all employees by letter or brochure, which is either mailed or emailed directly to them.

This method is highly recommended compared to simply posting the message on the company website and instructing employees to search and read it. The direct technique will increase the chances that employees will actually review the document, as well as boost accountability. Managers will often forward the message from the executive team to their employees along with their own appropriate comments, reinforcing their support for diversity and inclusion.

Best practice organizations often use a combination of these methods to ensure their message is received by everyone. Remember, if the message is important, then the medium to communicate the message is just as important. PDJ

Habits of Highly Effective Diversity and Inclusion Communicators

by Michael Collins

by David Kassnoff

Managing Director, Diversity Strategies

Manager, Community Affairs and Communications;

American Airlines

Global Diversity & Community Affairs Eastman Kodak Company

American Airlines views diversity communications as an evolving discussion that includes listening for differences, engaging people through their experiences and backgrounds, and then sharing real and relevant stories to recognize and celebrate diversity.

Listening

Our Employee Resource Groups, Diversity Advisory Council, Workplace Advocates, and key community organizations enhance American’s understanding of how employees experience the workplace and how we relate to our customers, suppliers and business partners. These groups provide valuable insight into what we can do, and frankly, should stop doing, to build loyalty among our employees, customers, suppliers and communities. American knows effective listening yields tremendous opportunities. This means we must create an environment that is encouraging, safe, welcoming, and respectful of people from all cultures and backgrounds if we are to thrive as a company and provide great travel experiences for our customers.

Diversity communications—both internal and external—must reflect the positive aspects of your program, and evolve to focus on many constituencies to grow an inclusive culture. It’s especially challenging when your organization is undertaking a sweeping business transformation.

From 2003 to 2007, Kodak did just that, acquiring businesses and re-shaping its global footprint to emerge as a leader in digital imaging and printing technologies and services.

Throughout our transformation, Kodak maintained representation of women and people of color as a percentage of its global workforce. But, how would Kodak’s perceived commitment to diversity and inclusion fare? We re-thought some communications practices to speak to the changing environment: Leverage Leadership

American makes it a point to find and share stories that connect with employees’ humanity and desire to make American a great place to work and the airline of choice for customers. American values similarities and differences. Our greatest strength is the rich diversity of our people and the energy and passion they have for our customers and the communities we serve.

With leadership the essential ingredient of a diversity and inclusion commitment, we showcased senior executives’ engagement in external diversity forums. Kodak Chairman and CEO Antonio M. Perez chaired the CEO Leadership Initiative of Diversity Best Practices, participating in the group’s summit and gala and conference calls with industry leaders. Philip J. Faraci, Kodak’s President and Chief Operating Officer, also kicked off a DBP roundtable. Kodak Vice President Essie L. Calhoun, Chief Diversity and Community Affairs Officer, spoke at many diversity conferences, and participated in a segment on the nationally syndicated Steve Harvey radio program.

Bringing Diversity to Life

Use Your Intranet

Engaging Employees and Customers

Real life stories transform diversity from an abstract concept to an experience people embrace and act upon. As engagement increases, leadership behaviors improve and creative thought leadership increases. An article highlighting the experiences of gay employees and their straight allies, for example, resonated with many people. As a result of stories like this, employees and customers become more connected and more loyal to their airline.

At American, diversity is not just an aspirational goal; it’s the way we do business. PDJ

Kodak’s restyled intranet home page, My Kodak World, increased its use of employee success stories featuring people from diverse cultures—including members of Kodak’s eight employee networks. Kodak’s external blog—1000words.kodak. com—also highlighted employee network members’ activities.

Focus on Inclusion

With Kodak’s Global Diversity & Community Affairs office, the Employee Communications team re-cast a pre-existing diversity award into a new CEO Global Inclusion Award.

To promote the focus on inclusion, finalists were chosen by an employee vote. Coverage of this recognition showcased the winner and all nominees—including a “President’s Honor Roll”—as well as using laudatory quotes from the employees’ nomination forms. PDJ

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Habits of Highly Effective Diversity and Inclusion Communicators

by Kathleen Haley Director, Multicultural Marketing HP

At Hewlett-Packard, three key strategies drive all communications around our diversity, inclusion, and multicultural efforts.

It’s About Good Business

All communications, across disciplines from supplier diversity to marketing, must align with corporate objectives, which include an emphasis on diversity. Our customers, suppliers, and employees want us to reflect the diversity of their environments. But it’s much more than ‘being a good citizen’: we must drive home the economic—as well as the intellectual and social—value of diversity. Sharing metrics helps demonstrate our commitment and effectiveness: • In 2008, we estimate more than $10 billion in HP revenue came from customers requiring HP to demonstrate supply chain diversity.

• In 2008, HP purchased goods and services worth more than $1B from woman-/minority-owned small businesses in the U.S. • 32.4% of new U.S. hires in 2008 were from minority groups.

• In 2008, 17.2% of our top executives were women.

• Integrated marketing to ethnic segments outperforms general market programs: a targeted Hispanic program yielded a 75% uplift in sales on average across three retail stores.

by Marvin B. Ross Diversity Officer New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)

In order for diversity and inclusion practices to be successful within the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), it has to be a commitment generated from the level of senior management. If diversity weren’t a senior management commitment, then EEO complaints would rise, minority employees’ morale would decline, and nothing would be accomplished with regard to workforce development and diversity.

Diversity Task Force

With that said, diversity is a commitment at the DEP and one of the most important habits of communicating that commitment is through our Diversity Task Force (TF). The TF is made up of all senior level managers, the directors of HR, EEO, the Diversity Officer, and leaders from each of five Employee Resource Groups.

The TF meets twice a year during one-day retreats to discuss all aspects of DEP’s Diversity process.

Communication

Pool and leverage resources to optimize communication impact. For instance, the cross-functional design of the Multicultural Marketing team enables a sustainable presence in key ethnic markets to drive loyalty and sales over time. Another example: social investment, talent attraction, and marketing groups team to support key organizations in order to advance and hire diverse talent.

Another important habit is how we communicate our diversity and inclusion message to our employees. As part of our ongoing efforts to sustain and enhance a positive, inclusive and professional work environment, we developed a Diversity Training Plan for DEP staff.

DEP managers play a key role in advancing diversity in the workplace. As such, we train our staff with the same message that we train our managers. The objectives help to encourage a climate of inclusion and involvement, build culture competence through effective communications, and improve supervisor-to-staff two-way communication.

Partner Strategically to Reinforce and Extend Communications Reach

Diversity Employee Resource Groups

We work with leading organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers and Management Leadership for Tomorrow across disciplines like recruiting and social investment. For supplier diversity, we partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration and are a founding member of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, Supplier Diversity Europe and other top international groups. We also equip our employees to be brand ambassadors— that means approximately 321,000 worldwide ambassadors speaking about HP with our customers and prospective employees.

Innovation and invention are the by-products of diversity and at the heart of HP’s long-term success. HP is committed to harnessing the power of our differences to deliver the very best that technology has to offer—to everyone. PDJ

DEP Diversity Employee Resource Groups (DERGs) also play important roles in communicating information to employees. These employer-recognized groups are organized around shared sets of interests, experiences, and perspectives. Their activities are of professional benefit to the employees and further the mission of DEP. The primary purpose of DERGs is to advance DEP’s goals, including its diversity initiatives, through C.L.U.E: Communication (Open Exchange of Ideas), Learning (Developing Cultural Competence), Understanding (Improving Diversity Awareness), and Enhancement (of DEP’s Goals).

PDJ

Smart Collaboration Amplifies Results

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Habits of Highly Effective Diversity and Inclusion Communicators

by Jorge A. Plasencia Chairman and CEO República

by John Sequeira Senior D&I Advisor Royal Dutch Shell

As a professional communicator and marketer for the past 20 years, my career has put me in charge of planning communications strategies for companies and organizations spanning numerous industries. Understanding and embracing diversity through all communications channels is key to developing winning strategies that will share information effectively.

As such, there are a few habits I’ve developed that have helped me along the way:

A successful D&I implementation is reliant on such elements as visible senior-level sponsorship, a clear business case, and a commitment to embed D&I into the systems, processes and culture of the organization. An effective communications strategy can enhance and strengthen the implementation and fuel the fire of change. We have found the following elements to be integral to an effective communications strategy.

Monitor Industry Press for Insights on the Competition

Within Shell’s holistic planning framework, we have identified Talent, Leadership, and Competitiveness as the core areas on which we strive to effect change on an ongoing basis. Communications is a key lever to sustain the change along with education, enhancements to recruitment and development processes and our ongoing efforts to build an inclusive work environment.

One thing every executive I’ve ever admired has done is to be fully aware of what the competition is doing. Learning about the innovative ideas and strategies my peers are developing helps me stay aggressive and in the know. I encourage my staff to stay informed of what the latest big idea is in the industry. It’s important to be part of the conversation, even if we’re just listening.

Community Involvement

Participating and volunteering in my community is something I’ve done my entire life. Naturally, I encourage my team to embrace and give back to the community in which they live by dedicating and providing pro-bono work to local organizations, most of which focus on helping diverse communities. Through my company, República, I have the opportunity to give back in a meaningful way.

Emphasis on Bilingual and Multicultural Staff

While this isn’t completely a deal breaker, it’s extremely important to employ staff that reflects our audience. Innovative ideas come to life when a diverse group of people continually collaborate. República is made up of diverse people who live in various cultures—whether it’s a Hispanic account executive who’s passionate about volunteering, or our Haitian art director who also happens to be a terrific photographer. Providing various perspectives to our marketing approaches allows us to deliver high-level services to our clients. PDJ

Include Communications as a D&I Planning Element

Have a Consistent Messaging Strategy

Having a strategy that can be used by leaders, D&I practitioners and communications professionals in your organization assures the D&I story is consistently told in presentations, town hall sessions and articles about D&I. You want leaders to think and talk about D&I in the same way as other key areas that impact business success (e.g., strategy, safety performance, sales).

Develop Effective Relationships

Relationships with the communications professionals in your organization as well as with those involved in developing the business strategy and brand management activities assures key D&I messages are included in leaders’ presentations, internal and external publications, and brand campaigns.

Utilize All Existing Communications Channels

This means incorporating success stories in online and paper news publications including the corporate annual report. This lends credibility and commitment to those targets because it is in the best interest of the corporation to show progress year on year.

For many, D&I is linked to the core values and operating norms of an organization. A key activity for practitioners is to modify messages to incorporate how D&I is integral to making our way through these difficult times and having a long term, viable, successful company. PDJ

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© 2008 Lockheed Martin Corporation

BETWEEN THE CHALLENGE AND THE SOLUTION, T H E R E I S O N E I M P O R TA N T W O R D : H O W.

Diversity. It’s not a goal. It’s a necessity. When facing down the most important projects in the world, you need fresh ideas. And unique perspectives. Delivering the most complete answers to solve complex problems is all a question of how. And it is the how that makes all the difference. lockheedmartin.com/how

Habits of Highly Effective Diversity and Inclusion Communicators

by Jennifer Williamson Senior Director, Human Resources and Diversity Communications

by Susan Lee Director, Diversity Textron Systems Corporation

Sodexo

Take Advantage of All Existing Channels of Communication

It is critical to leverage all established communication vehicles, teams, and individuals. Existing modes of communication have a recognized audience and carry a high degree of validity. Using existing channels helps to position diversity and inclusion as part of the fabric of the company, not as a separate program.

It is also important to build internal partnerships with teams such as public relations, brand management, marketing, and internal communications. Network with them, keep them informed, and provide them with the tools and resources necessary to easily communicate your message to their constituents. Given the opportunity, these teams will facilitate cascading your message.

Last but not least, you must leverage the people who can really tell your story, such as members of employee network groups, members of diversity councils, scholarship recipients, etc. Identifying a reliable “army” of communicators on the ground will spread your story organically. The most effective way to do this, especially in a decentralized organization, it to have a consistent message that is supported by clearly defined and articulated talking points.

Embed Diversity and Inclusion into Everything You Do

At Sodexo, our goal is for diversity and inclusion to be integrated into everything we do. That means not only communicating it as a stand-alone subject but also incorporating it into the fabric of the organization. For example, if you are writing about employee benefits, relate it back to diversity and inclusion. If you are preparing a presentation on talent development, relate it back to diversity and inclusion. This ensures that people will see the connection between our diversity and inclusion efforts and their impact on the success of our business.

Leverage Relationships with Strategic Partners

Partnerships and alliances with external organizations and nonprofits enable Sodexo to focus on programs that build awareness and educate diverse communities on the vast opportunities available within Sodexo. They also provide an excellent opportunity to share our message and establish brand recognition, interest, and loyalty within diverse communities. PDJ

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I believe that a key first step in effective communications on diversity and inclusion is mitigating potential barriers.

Among them is the notion that these concepts are a “should have” or a “nice to have.” In today’s business world, a diverse and inclusive workplace is imperative to competitiveness and innovation, and communications must focus on the concrete ways this can be nurtured.

Further, time is necessary to compose, deliver, receive and understand these messages; unfortunately, time is a precious and limited commodity. Linked to these barriers are leaders’ and employees’ respective comfort levels and degrees of knowledge in transmitting and receiving messages on these topics.

However, there are some methods that can be employed to bolster the effectiveness of communications on diversity and inclusion: • Determine key audiences and let their needs shape the message. A “one-size-fits-all” approach may not be effective.

• Create communications touch points that are meaningful to specific audiences. Even a well composed message may miss the mark if delivery and follow-up do not complement audience requirements.

• Generate messages on diversity and inclusion from all over the organization. It is important to encourage involvement in all areas and at all levels of the business.

At Textron Systems, these key messages are threefold.

First, test and confront assumptions—instead of avoiding or tolerating, promote understanding and appreciation. The results will include more effective teamwork, a better outcome and a more innovative product.

Second, diversity and inclusion relate to all of us. As individuals, we have unique skill sets and perspectives that contribute valuably to the company’s competitive advantage.

Third, we all can be agents of change by showing leadership in our own spheres of influence. In that sense, all employees share in the responsibility of communicating and promoting diversity and inclusion.

PDJ

Bring It

Monica, Verizon Telecom

At Verizon, we want you to bring your diverse talents, experiences, backgrounds, and viewpoints to work. It’s your smarter, bolder, and faster ideas that will move our business forward at the speed of FiOS! Bring it in and bring it on – bring your diversity to work at Verizon.

At Verizon, we’re changing the way the world lives, works and plays. We open doors to opportunities and rewards that rival your ambition. From having the most reliable network, to the outstanding service we provide our customers, to our unparalleled FiOS technology, we’re dedicated to being the best at what we do. Whether your interests lie in sales, marketing, finance, IT, HR, customer service, engineering, or operations, we offer careers as ready as you are.

Careers For Everything You Are www.verizon.com/telecomjobs Verizon is an equal opportunity employer, m/f/d/v.

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Habits of Highly Effective Diversity and Inclusion Communicators

by Donald Fan Senior Director, Office of Diversity Walmart Stores, U.S.

by Linda Jimenez Staff Vice President, Inclusion & Workforce Mobilization WellPoint, INC.

Wherever your company is in its D&I journey, reaching your destination depends on how well you can deliver well-crafted, impactful D&I messages to your employees and external stakeholders. I’d like to share some of my learning with you.

At WellPoint we have identified three keys to effective diversity and inclusion communication strategies:

Diversity Communication Strategy

At WellPoint, focusing on diversity helps us to better understand and meet the health care needs of the unique communities we serve—while actually becoming part of their cultural fabric.

WellPoint’s mission is to improve the lives of the people we serve and the health of our communities­—one person, one family, and one community at a time.

Indeed, the diversity of our workforce enables us to develop a 3-D Leadership Shadow—from the top-down, side-to-side and from the bottom-up—so that we better connect with, understand, and serve our customers and the different communities where we all live and work.

A well-developed communication strategy will guide you through focused initiatives and efforts, and help you get results. Before initiating the strategy, ask yourself: how will I align the D&I mission with my corporate purpose; how can our D&I efforts help achieve overall business goals; and how can we convey the messages to the targeted audience. We apply a filter system to ensure we’re always on the right track: visibility (enhance positive image), credibility (add value and help build trust); and integrity (fact-based and truthful).

Diversity Brand

A diversity brand should be based on the corporate culture and aligned with the corporate brand. It focuses on human value, rather than material value. It demonstrates what you stand for and who you are—your identity. I recommend taking a broad approach—enhancing the brand awareness through internal business meetings, Employee Resource Groups, community outreach activities, company publications, etc. That practice aims to raise the level of morale, make employees proud of their company, and increase their engagement.

Take Full Advantage of Multiple Communication Vehicles

Repeat consistent messages and tell success stories time and again through various channels. We work with diverse media outlets to penetrate our messages to the targeted communities; we use our corporate Web site to outline the D&I commitment, initiatives and programs; we utilize intranet to provide the training and tools for associates; and we develop a D&I annual report to showcase our accomplishments.

Manage Diversity Reputation

Include reputation management as an integral part of your D&I communications strategy. An established reputation as a national leader in the D&I arena attracts top diverse talent, boosts internal morale, gains brand loyalty, and eventually accelerates business growth.

At the end of the day, the results of successful diversity communications will enhance brand loyalty from customers, trust from employees, confidence from investors, and fairness in PDJ media coverage.

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Obtain Commitment at the Top Levels and Develop a 3-D Leadership Shadow

Build the Necessary Programs and Activities and Maximize Associate Engagement

We incorporate numerous vehicles for educating employees about the benefits of diversity and inclusion—WellPoint’s Diversity Annual Report, The WellPoint Associate Calendar, our internal WorkNet site, and media branding partnerships such as Profiles in Diversity Journal, DiversityInc magazine, Diversity MBA Magazine, Diversity Edge Magazine, just to name a few. And, if associates are evaluated and rewarded in part on the basis of diversity objectives, they then have a shared responsibility for ensuring the success of diversity initiatives.

Design and Integrate a Strategic Diversity Communications and Marketing Plan

Our strategic diversity communications and marketing plan is based on four pillars: Information: we educate and inform our Associates and external stakeholders about our D&I strategies, initiatives and progress. Reputation: we seek to leverage internally and externally the recognition and respect WellPoint has earned for its leadership example under strategic diversity management.

Leadership: our strategy is to demonstrate our commitment to improving health care awareness, insurance accessibility, and quality of life for our members. Empowerment: our communication and marketing plan seeks to sustain a culture of distinction which fosters inclusion and an environment that naturally enables customers, providers, vendors, and communities to freely contribute in making a difference in the lives of others. PDJ

YoUr inDiViDUAlitY

>

YoU know

UnleAsH YoUr iDeAs, AnD MAke YoUr MArk. At UnitedHealth Group, diversity isn’t just a corporate buzzword. It’s the way we work, and it comes through in everything we do. From the high-performing people we hire, to the health care services we provide, we advocate the possibilities of unique thinking.

We’ve become a Fortune 25 company by creating an inclusive environment fueled by innovative ideas. Our employees have diverse cultural backgrounds, beliefs, perspectives, and lifestyles. But they all have one thing in common – their ability to excel.

Right now, we’re working to build the health care system of tomorrow. One that will work better for more people in more ways than ever.

A goal with this kind of magnitude requires the brightest, most forward-thinking minds around. We have them here. And they’re making a difference.

Make your mark of distinction at unitedhealthgroup.com/careers

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: equal opportunity employer M/F/D/V. UnitedHealth Group is a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment. © 2009 UnitedHealth Group. All rights reserved.

thought th leaders d thoughtleaders

Profiles in Diversity Journal continues to bring you the ideas, opinions, and profiles of leaders in the field of Diversity & Inclusion in our ongoing series, thoughtleaders. We once again invited prominent diversity thought leaders to share the latest thinking regarding the workforce diversity and inclusion topics with which they are most active.

We believe that, as more travel budgets are being cut, conference attendance will be down substantially. Consider this our way of bringing the conferences to you, even if you are confined to your cubicle for the near future.

houghtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders

Understanding Privilege

By Eric C. Peterson Manager, Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives Society for Human Resource Management

A

As a Diversity & Inclusion practitioner, I’m paid to discuss the undiscussable. Whether it’s politics, religion, or why a transgender woman should be allowed to enter the ladies’ room, it’s my job to speak freely, yet calmly—without hesitation, but not too enthusiastically. I need to role-model comfort and ease when broaching these difficult issues, even if my insides are squirming. And I’m good at it.

But still, there’s one word I’m often unable to say: “Privilege.”

For if I do, I cease to be a calm, reasoned professional. No matter how serene I appear, at the mere mention of privilege—or oppression, or power, or inequality—I morph from a bridgebuilder into a bomb-thrower. And yet, privilege is always there.

As an openly gay white man, I have a unique understanding of privilege. I see clearly how being gay works against me, at work and at home. I’m assumed to be straight by almost every stranger I meet, and the choice to correct this assumption is one I make almost every day. I know nearly everything about straight culture: the code words, the customs, the habits, and the concerns of straight folks—and am keenly aware that most heterosexuals know nothing about my worldview. Because most straight people think of themselves not as “straight,” but as “normal,” it’s easy for them to minimize how different we are in this regard—and in essence, to minimize me.

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Thanks to many coaches and mentors I’ve met throughout my career, I’ve been able to use this experience to gain a greater understanding of the skin privilege and gender privilege I benefit from every day. While I can’t change the way my skin color and gender work to my advantage in society, I can – at the very least – try my best not to take it for granted. It’s a small step, but a crucial one.

And yet, it’s difficult for me to share this learning with those around me, particularly those who look like me. To do so would call attention to the elephant in the room – that whites and males in our society benefit from a system that allows us to believe that we’re normal, and that only women and people of color are “different.” To do so would cause whites and males to feel defensive, as though we caused every injustice ever perpetrated against those not like us.

And so—either out of misplaced politeness, or because we believe that the few white men who actively work with us will abandon us should we offend them—we remain silent on the issue of privilege. We assume that those who benefit from privilege do so knowingly. And with every good intention, we isolate white men even more.

If we hope to move Diversity & Inclusion to the next level, we cannot be afraid to share what we know, to teach those with privilege about themselves. For what greater barrier to trust can there be but a secret we refuse to share? PDJ Follow Eric on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EPetersonSHRM

hought diversity o f thought What’s Important

What Works (and What Doesn’t)

diversity

What’s Going On

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders

A Global Company, Embracing Global Diversity

By Denise Lynn

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Vice President, Diversity and Leadership Strategies American Airlines

As an airline that serves a quarter of a million customers daily from around the world, we take great pride in the role American Airlines plays in bringing people together from many different cultures and communities. At American, we recognize that we are more than an airline; we are also an economic engine that represents opportunity to people and communities across the globe. American creates and facilitates these opportunities through our own network and through our participation as a founding member of the oneworld® Alliance, which marks its 10th anniversary this year and whose members serve nearly 700 destinations in more than 140 countries and territories.

In today’s rapidly changing environment, where access to global markets is essential, it is imperative that we embrace the ever-increasing diversity of our own workforce and the world around us. Thus, we work hard to create an environment where employees feel empowered to contribute their unique talents, perspectives and ideas to the business every day so American can provide the best travel experience possible for our customers.

Diversity leadership engenders the thought leadership, innovation and loyalty that are the foundation of successful companies. American’s comprehensive approach includes diversity and inclusion training initiatives that touch employees in every part of our airline, steady progress in the representation of women and minorities at the highest levels of the company, a mature supplier diversity program, and a holistic approach to building loyalty within diverse customer segments. Our executive leadership is actively committed to these efforts, and our board-

level Diversity Committee provides oversight, guidance, and accountability.

From hiring the industry’s first African-American flight attendant in 1963, and the first female pilot in 1973, to being the first airline to offer benefits to same-sex domestic partners, American has a long history of leadership in diversity and inclusion. Our experience at American has shown us that diversity is a core strength with far-reaching positive impact, internally and externally. Women make up approximately 40 percent of our workforce, and 32 percent of U.S. based employees are minorities. American has 16 Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), representing various cultures and affinities, which are a source of invaluable insight on employee, customer and community perspectives. And our Diversity Advisory Council, comprised of representatives of all of our ERGs, is engaged in supporting key business initiatives.

As a company that bears the name “American,” much is expected of us and we hold ourselves to a high standard. While we are proud of our record, we realize there is always more progress to make. So, we will continue to work to ensure a safe, welcoming and respectful environment for all of our employees and customers, in the U.S. and abroad. At American Airlines, diversity is not an aspirational goal; it’s the way we do business. PDJ

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleader Can Women Save the Economy?

Yes They Can!

By L iz Haesler, Vice President, Home Life & Trend; and Mary Stoddart, Vice President & General Manager, Territory 6

T Best Buy

Haesler

The economy is struggling, unemployment rates are soaring, and retail sales are down nationwide.

People are feeling the impact in their paychecks and their pocketbooks. At Best Buy, we’re putting resources behind the women who work and shop at our stores—because we believe that women have a powerful role to play in changing the direction of our economy.

Women are the guardians of the family checkbook. They are often the ones making the decisions about where to invest household finances. Yet, you don’t have to look hard to see media coverage or hear stories of how women are being impacted by the economic downturn, and are in dire need of professional development and growth opportunities.

Stoddart

Creating a space for women—employees and consumers—is not a recent program here. Best Buy is dedicated to changing the way women perceive technology, and helping them do that through education and support. It’s also about changing the way we relate to one another, and becoming better leaders through helping others succeed.

One example of how we’re doing this is through our WOLF at Best Buy network. Short for Women’s Leadership Forum, WOLF at Best Buy was formed in 2004 to give a voice to the unheard, to develop leaders through networking, to give back to the community and to drive real business results through employee commitment. It is a network of thousands of employees, consumers and volunteers who work with individuals, brands,

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partners, stores and communities to help Best Buy build strong women leaders and capture a greater share of the female consumer electronics market.

There are many different ways for both men and women to participate. To date, more than 10 percent of our worldwide staff is involved with the program, including nearly 300 teams working to create opportunities for women around the world.

There are quarterly volunteer events, network partners who also reach women around the country, and an annual conference that draws partners from across the globe to discuss ways to engage and mentor female employees.

But our efforts don’t stop with our employees. Over the past two years, WOLF at Best Buy has also connected with more than 3,000 female customers as Omega Wolves, in U.S. and U.K. cities, to help us find better ways to meet the needs of other female consumers. And within our famous Geek Squad, DIVAS (Dynamic Intelligent Vivacious Agents with Solutions) are bringing a woman’s perspective to helping customers with technology services.

We’re in the stores, on the streets, in Facebook and Twitter, and in our communities. WOLF at Best Buy is a network that benefits every employee in every sector, reporting directly to our CEO in collaboration across the organization.

We know if we want to be a great place for women to shop, we have to be a great place for women to work. Our economic future depends on it. PDJ

Follow us both at www.twitter.com/shebestbuy.

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Corporate Diversity Leaders: Providing Value Beyond the Numbers

By Melissa Donaldson

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Many corporate diversity and inclusion leaders may find themselves in an interesting quagmire as the profession continues to explode and expand globally. They wonder what types of questions they should be asking and which ones obtain the answers that help accentuate the importance of diversity programming.

Questions like: • Just where should I focus my energies in a way that serves my company best?

• Should my energies be spent on leading my company’s fight for recruiting the best and brightest diverse talent?

• How about manning all of my company’s doors to make sure good talent doesn’t leave unnecessarily or involuntarily?

• Should I focus on ensuring that a strong and formidable leadership pipeline of current and future leaders is chock-full of women and professionals of color?

How about our business partners?

• Is there an adequate enough representation of businessowners who are women, minorities, veterans, disabled, etc.?

• Has our company’s “front porch” been sufficiently extended into the communities where we operate?

• Are we doing our best to identify and penetrate emerging markets heavily populated with new and plentiful spenders from diverse populations?

The answer is our energies need to be directed towards all of the above—not as an all-around expert or executor in each area, but as a knowledgeable administrator-consultant to leaders and non-leaders alike. Many of us do not have primary responsibility for recruiting, talent management, supplier diversity or community relations. It is imperative, however, that our influence be present across the board if our role is to be viewed as a strategic business resource.

In the most progressive of circumstances, the role of the corporate diversity leader is that of a corporate textiler trying to weave threads of diversity and fringes of inclusion into all aspects of a

Senior Manager, Inclusion Practices CDW Corporation

company’s short and long term growth fabric. There is unmistakable evidence of the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in every operational component. No longer can we as practitioners solely serve as the resident demographer keeping track of how many associates of what kind are located where in the organization and at what level of leadership.

The singular focus on solely valuing diversity is certainly where our work gained a foothold in corporate America in the 1980s with the recognition that quality talent was becoming less homogeneous. But because the world is flat, to borrow Thomas Friedman’s ideology, many unforeseen global challenges and opportunities have revealed new talent and new markets which intensify the competitive frenzy among corporations, leading them to increase interest in not only who’s where, but what’s the result of them being there, how have customers reacted to them and how can they compete to win?

To increase the strategic effectiveness and credibility of our ever-morphing and often-maligned role, we must be able to do these five things: 1. Think globally and act locally.

2. Speak the language of our respective businesses.

3. Understand our customer base and be clear on our company’s growth strategy.

4. Insist on integration by becoming trusted advisors to business unit leaders.

5. Offer inclusive approaches to real business challenges where we see them lacking.

If we get it right, no longer will we hear the skeptic-laden choir singing, “That doesn’t work!” Instead, the refrain will undoubtedly turn to, “Give us more!” PDJ

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleader The Aging Workforce: Preventing the Knowledge Gap

By Andy Goodman Executive Vice President, Global Human Resources CA, Inc.

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The U.S. workforce has been consistently aging since 2007, with about 76 million baby boomers approaching retirement. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the proportion of workers over the age of 55 is expected to increase steadily from 12 percent in 2000 to 20 percent by 20251.

While the aging workforce represents a major economic challenge for many industries, the information technology field can be especially affected by the knowledge gap this issue may cause. CA, Inc., the world’s leading independent IT management software company, has recently released The Mainframe Conundrum: Escalating Workloads, Shrinking Staff survey results.

The survey findings show that enterprise IT organizations are losing their experienced mainframe personnel to retirement just as the mainframe market is moving into a growth phase. The study, which surveyed senior IT executives from Fortune 2000 companies around the world, found that 80 percent of respondents will have mainframe staff eligible for retirement within two years. Yet at the same time, all of them have applications that are running and will continue to run on the mainframe. A total of 50 percent of respondents said their mainframe spending was higher two years ago than it is today, while 63 percent said it would be higher two years from now. As mainframe continues to be the computing core platform for the global enterprise—running the world’s most critical applications and hosting the world’s most important data—the loss of qualified personnel may have a serious effect on the whole industry.

It is critical that IT organizations start thinking about addressing this issue sooner rather than later. Today, CA is one of very few companies (only 37 percent of employers adopted strategies to encourage older workers to stay past their traditional retirement age2) that has developed programs specifically aimed at retaining the current workforce. Introduced in February 2009,

our pilot Short Work Week program allows each CA mainframe employee, who has a total of twenty years of mainframe experience (the last ten of which have been with CA), to reduce their schedule by up to ten hours per week and still remain a full-time employee, eligible for a full benefits package.

In addition to creating flexible work options for the existing workforce, we have also developed programs targeted to recruit and train the next generation of CA’s mainframe specialists. For example, through our recently-introduced university recruitment initiative—the Mainframe Associate Software Engineer Program—we are identifying the highest caliber candidates who are interested in pursuing the mainframe career path. CA currently partners with eight universities nationwide, including University of North Texas, Marist College, University of Pittsburgh, College of New Jersey, University of Indiana, Temple University, Illinois State University and Northern Illinois University. As a part of this program, CA’s recruiting teams, led by regional senior mainframe management and local HR representatives, visit these universities to participate in career fairs, host information sessions, conduct interviews and recruit the most qualified candidates to join CA. The new hires in the Mainframe Associate Software Engineer Program attend 40 full days of training at a CA regional office, where they learn important mainframe skills and have the opportunity to meet people within the company. CA developed this training course based on a curriculum successfully used in the company’s Mainframe Center of Excellence in Prague, Czech Republic since 2005.

Recognizing that its people are its most important asset, CA is working hard now to minimize the impact of a potential knowledge gap in the IT industry, retain its highly qualified and experienced mainframe specialists and help shape a successful future. PDJ

1 United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration, “Aging Baby Boomers in a New Workforce Development System,” April 3, 2004. http://www.doleta.gov/Seniors/other_docs/Aging_Baby_Boomers.doc.

2 Schweitzer, Tamara, “Report: Retiring Baby Boomers Expected to Hurt U.S. Companies,” Inc. Magazine, March 23, 2007. http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200703/boomers.html.

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders The Courage to Lead

By Alfred J. Torres

C

Executive Director, Talent Acquisition & Diversity Verizon

“Cowards.” That was the one word the news media focused on after Attorney General Eric Holder’s remarks about how Americans deal with race. Ironically, one of the key points he made was that we are uncomfortable having candid discussions about race, and the response was to ignore the larger issue and rail against the use of that one word.

age to confront the uncomfortable, and to discuss with candor issues we may normally shy away from.

We continue to be faced with opportunities to display such courage. To fully realize the In hope of avoiding the same fate, I would like to share some benefits of diversity, we need to create a culture that not only thoughts on courage, in particular as it relates to those of us who allows us to develop a deeper understanding of one another, but are diversity practitioners. We have made great strides when demands it. We must not settle for tolerance, but lead the disit comes to diversity in corporate America. We congratulate course that will foster understanding. Where we have had successes, we need to set the ourselves for the good work bar higher. For groups to that has been accomplished, whom we haven’t given but we should also use our When we proudly note that we closely our full attention, we successes to point out that we still have a long way to go. mirror the available labor pool, do we have the need to work with greater intensity. Failing to have When we proudly note courage to point out where the gaps still exist candid discussions about that we closely mirror the race, gender, sexual oriavailable labor pool, do we with equal vigor and frequency? entation, gender identity, have the courage to point out religion, age or any other where the gaps still exist with dimension of diversity equal vigor and frequency? does not resolve the unHow often do we go deeper, to find out not only what the derlying misunderstandings and stereotypes, it just allows them numbers are, but also how included the people behind those to be ignored. This, in turn, allows micro-inequities and other numbers feel? Are we creating a culture where people of all subtle forms of discrimination to manifest. backgrounds not only treat each other with respect, but also Here’s a thought from the Attorney General that didn’t get understand one another’s perspectives and history? much attention: Diversity has the potential to be America’s As we celebrate our successes, we must remember that they greatest strength, but only if we fully understand and discuss all were not easily achieved. We stand on the sacrifice, the integrity, of our dimensions of diversity. If not, it will serve to separate and yes, the courage of those that have come before us. Our us, making it impossible to have any meaningful interaction, repredecessors engaged in candid dialogue about race and gender gardless of how polite we are on the surface. Our job as diversity issues in the workplace. They had the uncomfortable conversapractitioners is to lead those conversations and drive a deeper tions that it would have been easier to avoid. More often than understanding of each other. not, our successes now are incremental gains building on the This is our challenge. The question is whether or not we have legacy of those that have come before us. To see breakthrough change, to create our own legacy, we will need to have the cour- the courage to meet it. PDJ

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleader Buy-In at the Grassroots

By David Williams

I

Chief Executive Officer Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP

In 2009 there are probably very few places in which a young African-American will walk into his new workplace— as I did 25 years ago—and be the only African-American staffer in the office. As a whole, American business has made some good strides on the diversity front.

But as challenging as it was to get where we are today, sometimes it seems to me that achieving diversity was the easy part. What’s the next challenge? Building relationships with, rewarding, and retaining all that diverse talent. In a word, inclusion.

Commitment from the C-suite is essential to creating an inclusive culture, but an organization must also have buy-in at the grassroots.

Leadership positions may be filled by the CEO, but engagement teams are chosen by managers. And if up-and-coming professionals don’t get relevant experience on engagements, they’ll never be in line to lead.

Although I was the only African-American in an entry-level position when I began my career, I was extraordinarily fortunate to have role models close at hand. The firm I joined actually had five AfricanAmerican partners (a huge number in 1984), two of whom worked in my office.

Still, partners have better things to worry about than the career of an entry-level accountant. It didn’t take me very long to learn the real difference between diversity and inclusion. My presence may have made the office more diverse, but it didn’t require my colleagues to include me on their teams—especially if they assumed I was there just because of the color of my skin. Inclusion began to happen when people started to see me in action and we began building relationships.

I really saw the power of relationships a few years later. I was a senior manager, leading a team of about 15. The engagement on which we were working expanded significantly and the firm assigned nine additional teams to the project. The nine other senior managers and I received a list of about 150-200 people from which to choose our teams. It was a pretty diverse list, but somehow the other managers managed to staff-up without choosing a single woman or person-ofcolor. I already had a diverse team, and we were working well together.

But I assembled a new team from the professionals the others hadn’t chosen and—after explaining my reasons—I sent my original team off to work with other managers.

My new team ended up performing the best. It didn’t have much to do with me personally, but I think it had everything to do with

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our diversity. I saw the light dawn for the other managers, some of whom had gotten staffers from my original team, as they saw for the first time that diversity was not just about skin color or gender, and that inclusion wasn’t just about “doing the right thing.” It’s about different ways of looking at a problem, different styles of developing a solution. It’s about harnessing the best that the organization has, in order to deliver a superior product to its clients.

And—bottom line—that’s what inclusion has always been about to me. It’s the notion that a diverse group of people, working collectively, will always find a better answer than a homogeneous team.

Even if you don’t personally support diversity, if you believe in serving your clients with distinction, you have to recognize that inclusiveness is vital.

Things will be different for the next generation of leaders. The Millennials have already had more diverse experiences in their 20-odd years than most of the rest of us have had in a lifetime. I had a conversation recently with a 28-year-old man who works in my practice.

In five minutes, we had a wide-ranging conversation about his native country (Argentina), sports (soccer and cricket) and business (the financial crisis). When I was 28, I would have been too intimidated to say much to a partner beyond, “Hello, sir.” I think that things we struggled to accomplish may come easily to the next generation.

But in the meantime, how can leaders generate a grassroots demand for inclusiveness throughout our firms? One way I do it is by making sure that diverse candidates are “seeded” throughout the business—in much the same way that I seeded other teams with diversity back when I was a senior manager (only now I’m responsible for more than 1400 people).

I divide my senior managers and partners into groups: the top 20%, the bottom 10% and two groups in the middle—people with tremendous potential whom I think I can influence, and people who are underperforming relative to their potential. I particularly focus on the diverse professionals in these groups. For instance, I am fortunate to have a lot of high-performing women partners. I work with them to broaden their experience so they can progress to the next level. And if there’s an underperformer, I’ll try to figure out why: Is it an issue of the person’s inherent talent or is it a barrier that the organization has (consciously or unconsciously) placed in the person’s way?

The more we can spread diverse talent throughout our organizations, the better our people will get at demanding diversity—because they will see the tangible benefits it brings. That’s inclusiveness at the grassroots, and that’s a powerful thing for any business. PDJ

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Advancing Women in the Engineering and Construction Industry

By Jacqueline C. Rast, P.E.

F

President and Group Chief Executive Center for Project Excellence

For centuries, the engineering and construction industry has been male-dominated. CH2M HILL was founded in 1946 by four male engineers. Although they lived in an era of traditional gender roles, these founders had the foresight to establish a culture different than others of its day for an engineering and construction firm—a culture of diversity, inclusion, and innovation that would lay the groundwork for CH2M HILL’s Women’s Leadership Initiative. This initiative serves to attract, develop, retain, and promote women into leadership positions, and targets a crosssection of women in all professions that support the company— not just women engineers. In January 2009, our initiative became the first in our industry to win the Catalyst Award, a prestigious international award which recognizes innovative organizational approaches that advance women in the workplace.

In response to these changing workforce demographics, CH2M HILL created programs geared to building more diversity in its workforce. The Women’s Leadership Initiative, launched in 2003, was the first of these programs. Elements of the initiative include a steering committee which provides guidance and support at the executive level; annual women’s leadership summits to connect junior- and senior-level women and provide mentoring and leadership development; local office chapters, which hold regular networking events; outreach to external professional organizations; and visible leadership in the engineering and construction industry.

Measurable success

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CH2M HILL has achieved results that far exceed any U.S.-based engineering and construction company of comparable size—especially at the organization’s most senior levels. Women now make up 31% of our Board of Directors and 25% of our executive management team. From the launch of the Women’s Leadership Initiative in 2003 to 2008, women’s representation in senior leadership positions increased from 2.9% to 18%, and the number of women project Lee A. McIntire, CH2M HILL President & CEO managers grew from 20.5% to 30.3%. These numbers are hard evidence of the impact made by the Women’s Leadership Initiative within CH2M HILL, and demWomen under-represented in the industry onstrate that women are “at the table” to help shape our business Through tracking changes in the engineering and construction strategy for the future. PDJ industry workforce, CH2M HILL’s leaders recognized women as a critical part of our talent pool, and therefore strategic to our longterm success. Although the number of women in our industry is CH2M HILL is one of the top-ranked engineering and construction firms growing (an increase of 18 percent between 1995 and 2002, ac- headquartered in the United States, with US$6 billion in revenue in 2008 cording to the National Association of Women in Construction), and more than 25,000 employees worldwide. The firm’s work is concentrated women accounted for less than 10 percent of the 9.6 million total in the areas of energy, water, transportation, environmental, nuclear, and U.S. workers employed in the industry in 2002. In 2007, women industrial facilities. CH2M HILL works on the most challenging projects on the planet, including the historic expansion of the Panama Canal; the London still made up less than 10 percent of the industry (1.1 million out 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games; and Masdar City, the world’s first of a total of 11.9 million), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor carbon-neutral “sustainable city” in Abu Dhabi. The company’s values and its Statistics’ Current Population Survey. Furthermore, while there people have created a culture in which diversity, inclusion, and innovation are are now as many women as men in the U.S. obtaining bachelor’s natural and an integral part of how CH2M HILL does business. In 2009 the degrees in the overall science and engineering category, fewer firm was recognized for a fourth time on FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For”. CH2M HILL is 100 percent employee-owned, the people overall—male or female—are applying to U.S. university only large engineering-construction firm to have this ownership structure. Its engineering and construction programs. corporate headquarters are near Denver, Colorado.

If anyone in the engineering business doesn’t think having women in their management is important, then they are ignoring a whole pool of talent. How could you possibly expand and continue to do your work otherwise? It’s not a choice to be thoughtful, understanding, and supportive of bringing women in and retaining them—it’s a business imperative.

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleader Keeping Diversity Relevant

By Fred Keeton Vice President of External Affairs and Chief Diversity Officer Harrah’s Entertainment

W What does Harrah’s Entertainment do to continually improve through the use of diversity and inclusion?

Diversity conversations in the United States, historically, focus on the protected classes of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, and disability. Motivation for diversity mostly centers on legal compliance and ethical mandates. Diversity efforts have also been remedial—to “fix” people who can’t include and value colleagues.

But, how do we make the conversation DIRECTLY relevant to EVERY facet of our business?

First, understanding and catalyzing diverse “cognitive toolboxes” is key. The number and relevance of diverse tools available to focus on a problem determines functional potential in individuals and teams.

Finally, we focus on hard problems, ensuring the end goal is understood. The team works within a defined timeline and with minimal administrative guidelines. While there is a singular defined goal, how the team applies its diverse cognitive tools to solve the problem is left to them. Diverse by Design teams practicing inclusion ultimately manifest enhanced value in their outcomes.

It has become trendy for companies to state that diversity enhances business results, only using corporate culture enrichment and equality arguments to make their case. Even diversity-focused marketing efforts are solely targeted toward reaching under-served protected-class market segments. These arguments, while I want Harrah’s to be known as a place important, do not present a where our colleagues legitimately feel compelling, defined value proposition for the universal that they have made themselves in some business application of diversity way personally better through their very and inclusion.

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At Harrah’s, we view focusing cognitive abilities and predispositions based on Chairman and CEO Gary Loveman individual backgrounds, experiences, and genetic wiring, Second, we take on hard problems. Any group, diverse or not, as critical to generating desired business outcomes. As a company can solve easy problems. Diverse groups, practicing inclusion, with 80,000 global employees, we must identify, mine, and chanmanifest advantages by increasing numbers of approaches available nel these diverse, untapped cognitive resources toward specific to solve the problem, and therefore are able to take on difficult results. Only then can we transform perceptions of, and our approblems more effectively. proach to diversity and inclusion.

Third, we recognize that good ideas can come from anywhere: Chairman and CEO Gary Loveman sees diversity and incluwhether line-level employees or the executive offices. sion as critical to maximizing performance: “A high performing

association with the company.

Fourth, our structure both harnesses cognitive diversity and focuses it toward driving specific business outcomes.

Our approach at Harrah’s is to first identify a defined business goal. What are we trying to accomplish? What is our immediate issue?

Next, we create a Diverse by Design work team: a smart, cognitively diverse group that also brings other relevant dimensions of diversity to the issue. We use the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) as our method of determining cognitive predispositions.

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organization is the product of a diverse group of talented employees, working in an inclusive environment where various backgrounds and experiences are respected and valued, and where each individual has the opportunity to do his or her best work. I want Harrah’s to be known as a place where our colleagues legitimately feel that they have made themselves in some way personally better through their very association with the company.”

Finally, our formula for Success is simple: Diversify, Include, Engage, Innovate and Profit. PDJ

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Adapting to a Changing Marketplace through Diversity and Inclusion

By Tammie L. McNaughton

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Director, Corporate Diversity & Work Life Highmark Inc.

The challenges facing businesses and health care companies in today’s economic climate are widespread. One of the greatest hurdles we have is the evolution of the health care industry. With each passing day, it is clear to us that our workforce and customer demographics are changing and we need to find ways to anticipate and fulfill customer needs to compete in a multicultural marketplace.

Our initial groups are “BRAG” (Black Resources Achieving Great business results) and “hiPRIDE” (Highmark People Respecting Individuality and Diversity in Everyone) to leverage “LGBTA” (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender and Allies) employees.

At Highmark, we believe a diverse, inclusive, and talented workforce is a key competitive advantage. Companies that We lead “Discussing Diversity” sessions that create open embrace diversity and inclusion can go from good to great. We dialogue about individual differences and build the business know that we have great peocase for diversity to engage ple who can help us thrive. employees at all levels. And, With each passing day, it is clear to us that The synergy of our employreverse mentoring in our inees’ skills, talents, potential our workforce and customer demographics formation technology area aland backgrounds allows us to lows exempt level employees are changing and we need to find ways be innovative and carry out to mentor senior staff and our mission to provide access to anticipate and fulfill customer needs to explore differences in work to affordable, quality health experience based on gender, care, enabling individuals to compete in a multicultural marketplace. race/ethnicity, generation and live longer, healthier lives. sexual orientation.

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We work endlessly to assure that our employees, products and services are a reflection of the communities we live in and serve. This could not be accomplished without the support of our CEO, who also considers himself Highmark’s Chief Diversity Officer, and has positioned the company to further our goal of cultural competency.

Highmark’s Diversity Council was launched in 2007 to expand diversity and inclusion as a company-wide initiative and provide opportunities for diversity champions to emerge.

The Diversity Council is a 17-member group of diverse leaders from business units including IT, Sales, Operations, Finance and Supplier Diversity, among others.

We also established Business Resource Groups (BRGs) to promote inclusion and achievement as strategic business objectives and empower employees, further tapping into their innovation and creativity.

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Our best-in-class disability employment and corporate accessibility strategies are designed to provide comparable access to job opportunities and information by our employees and customers alike. Committed to building a culture of inclusion, we educate our workforce on the competencies of credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie to build trust, boost engagement and impact productivity.

We have taken steps to invest in the company’s future by participating in the National Health Plan Collaborative, which works to reduce health care disparities and enhance health equity. The impact on our employees, customers and communities is far reaching.

We know that business success at Highmark is built on recognizing and respecting all people. We are committed to building a unified, diverse and inclusive workforce, which will ultimately allow us to provide the best possible care to our members and the community. PDJ

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleader Valuing Diverse Customers

By Jane Conti Vice President New York Life Insurance Company

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Companies that are successful proactively strategize on how best to serve diverse clients. The changing United States demographics substantiate this opinion.

Today, minorities represent roughly one-third of the U.S. population, and are expected to become the majority in 2042, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

At New York Life, our goal is to be the Company of the Community and to do so means we need to mirror the communities in which we live and work. As our Cultural Market efforts become a greater percentage of the total, we recognize the importance of ensuring that we have the proper support in place to best serve our growing and diverse clientele. As a result, we engage all areas of the Company to anticipate and respond to unique needs of this consumer base. We consistently seek input from agents working in these communities and from our diverse consumers directly to see what additional support or changes to our existing programs may be needed. For example, when designing a series of product marketing materials it is important to take into consideration cultural preferences and nuances.

One’s process in helping individuals, families and businesses is the same for all clients and prospects. This process starts with the fact-finder, which helps the agent determine the need relevant to the resources and allows us to better understand their hopes, desires and dreams. All of this information is collected to determine unique solutions for the respective client. This process is the same for all, but for some clients there may be additional needs, such as in-language materials to better explain the products and/or concepts. Additional needs may also arise on the underwriting and/or servicing side, where having representatives who are fluent in the respective language and/or a vendor to assist is crucial.

Marketing to these consumers—Brand awareness is important to reaching these consumers. Cultural marketing and branding that demonstrate an understanding of the culture and shows consistent commitment is important. Participating in community activities shows support and gives back. It is important to have plans that consist of activities that demonstrate one’s commitment to these markets and involve active participation of agents and managers at the local level. Advertising should be incorporated into marketing plans as a way to heighten brand awareness in each cultural market, but most efforts should be aimed at educating the consumer.

In-language and/or culturally relevant materials— Educational pieces and marketing packages that appeal to the community help one to better serve clients where language can be a challenge, and it illustrates one’s commitment to the respective market.

In-language and/or cultural training—In-language training forums should be developed to compliment existing training programs. These programs help agents to address cultural concerns.

Underwriting support—Having underwriters who can communicate with consumers in their native languages when necessary helps clients understand the process and what information is required. In addition, translating underwriting guidelines and materials improves efficiency when communicating to these individuals.

On-going servicing—To maintain a diverse client base, companies should constantly seek bilingual employees for service centers, and when needed have a vendor who can assist in the servicing process.

Keys to successfully servicing a diverse clientele can be summarized as follows:

Recognizing that our Cultural Markets now represent a third of our new business and are growing rapidly, we have worked to create infrastructure and processes which help us attract and better serve diverse consumers, such as in-language concept materials and language capabilities at our underwriting and service centers.

It starts with distribution—A diverse group of Agents who mirror the community, understand the cultural nuances, and, when needed, are proficient in the respective language(s), is crucial to building and maintaining a diverse consumer base.

The key to serving diverse markets is understanding and appreciating the differences, increasing the number of people serving these markets and proactively building and/or adjusting support mechanisms to address unique needs. PDJ

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders What Globalization Means for Diversity and Inclusion Efforts

By Susan Johnson

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Vice President, Strategic Talent Management and Diversity Leadership Pitney Bowes Inc.

A new era of diversity management is upon us. Globalization has transformed society, economics and politics, greatly influencing demographics within the workplace. Not only are today’s employees more diverse, with minorities constituting 40% of the U.S. workforce in 2009, the heads of state—Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf—reflect a sea change in perceptions of leadership. A multi-cultural, global workforce symbolizes a new way of thinking about diversity and inclusion efforts.

shared mission and common set of values, diverse teams can develop better, more robust ideas and processes based on a variety of viewpoints. And, with increased levels of innovation and an ability to attract toplevel talent, global diversity is a competitive edge.

In fact, diversity programs have had a positive impact on employee motivation and customer satisfaction for more than Even the term “diversity” needs to be redefined. Whether it half of the companies that have implemented them, with a noted is linked with race and civil rights in the U.S., languages and improvement in brand image for 69% of companies studied by cultural sub-groups in European countries, or other cultural the European Commission. In addition, Fortune 500 companies with three or more women on nuances in Asian and Latin their board of directors had American countries, “diversity” …the definition of global diversity better financial performances must encompass the innumerable than those with two or fewer, differences found in the global should encompass an understanding of according to a 2007 study workforce. the differences between countries and from Catalyst.

For many organizations, the Clearly, a global perspecdefinition of global diversity should the internal diversity of each country. tive in diversity and inclusion encompass an understanding of management is an economic the differences between countries imperative. With the U.N. reas well as the internal diversity of each country. The scope must be global, and knowledge porting that restricted job opportunities for women cost the Asia about the country’s customers, employees and suppliers is and Pacific countries between US$42 billion and US$46 billion essential. Support from top management and clearly communi- in GDP growth annually, business impact is a reality. cating the business case for diversity and inclusion practices are So, what can a global organization do with diversity dynamalso important. ics changing so rapidly? Here are some suggestions. To avoid any A diverse workforce alone does not equate to a successful business consequences of an improperly managed diverse workglobal diversity management program. Inclusion programs force, focus on inclusive efforts within an organization. In order and initiatives that bring a heightened sense of awareness to transform a business environment, inclusion practices must and sensitivity to differences often provide employees with be imbedded into an organization’s bottom line and throughout tools to overcome the potential challenges associated with its culture. Agree on a common definition of diversity that resonates within and outside a country’s cultural frame of reference. diverse, global teams.

Once the culture of an organization shifts from a narrowlyThese challenges can exist from country-to-country or in defined identity to one of cultural inclusiveness, a sustainable cultural sub-groups of one country, but with the right mix of and successful model of global diversity is achieved. PDJ diversity and inclusion practices, successful teams often avoid the “group think” that can plague homogeneous ones. With a

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleader Management Implications of the Multi-Generational Workforce

By Linda Jimenez Staff Vice President, Inclusion & Workforce Mobilization WellPoint, Inc.

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As Tom Brokaw commented during a recent interview with Time Magazine, “Within every generation there is greatness.” For the first time in our history we are seeing an unprecedented phenomenon with four generations with distinct character traits and approaches to work coming together in the workforce. According to Claire Raines, co-author of the book, Generations at Work, these four generations are: • The World War II generation, born before about 1940, who account for approximately 5 percent of the workforce.

Characteristics of this generation include dedication, sacrifice, and respect for authority. This generation established the authority system and our present day workplace ethic.

• The Baby Boomer generation, born from about 1940 to 1960, who account for approximately 45 percent of the workforce and still hold the lion’s share of leadership positions in most organizations. Characteristics of this generation include optimism, team orientation, and personal gratification. This generation rebelled against the authority system.

Remember the Vietnam War protests, the hippie movement, drugs, the feminist movement and music—from Elvis’s pelvic gyrations to the Beatles?

• Generation X, born from about 1960 to 1980, who account for approximately 40 percent of the workforce.

Characteristics of this generation include diversity, informality, and self-reliance. This generation ignored the authority system. They grew up with fast paced educational and interactive television and computer games, their attention span is shorter and they expect immediate awards. By 2040 they will outnumber the Baby Boomers.

• The Millennial generation, born after 1980, who account for about 10 percent of the workforce. Characteristics of this generation include sociability, civic duty, and morality. This generation thinks they are the authority system. They generally believe that what they want they should get—NOW!

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These generations are mixing more than ever before at work—older workers are staying longer on the job and corporate hierarchies have flattened over the past two decades. The challenge of managing a multigenerational workforce is still fairly new on company radar screens, and most workplaces have no mechanism to address the issue. Members of each generation bring distinct sets of values, attitudes and behaviors to the workplace. The four generations in the workforce today come to work with different expectations, assumptions, priorities, and approaches to work and communication. If these differences are ignored, they can grow into a source of misunderstanding and conflict. However, when appropriately managed, they create opportunities for collaboration and synergy among the different generations of workers, giving the organization a competitive edge.

Proper communication is critical—the better each generation understands the other, the better they’ll all work together.

Employee manuals that customarily include traditional topics such as responsibilities and duties, compensation and benefits, disciplinary guidelines, holidays and paid time off are being expanded to include specifics on incentives, professionalism, dress, tattoos, hair color and cuts, and body piercings. All these generations in one workplace force us to rethink how we hire, train, manage, and retain employees.

A new term called “generational competence” describes the behaviors that organizations must make in order to meet the diverse needs of the four generations in today’s workforce­—behaviors and approaches around effective communication tools to minimize conflict, progressive HR and work-life strategies to attract and retain key talent, and management practices to enhance productivity and personal and professional development. It is imperative for employers to develop a clear, appropriate and deliverable employer “brand;” adopt demographic and generational marketing, learning and teaching practices; and align key HR programs focused on recruitment and retention.

Over the next 20 years each of today’s generations will enter its next phase of life. In doing so, each will transform that phase in ways that echo through our history. This is how history repeats and society progresses. Each new young generation fills a role being vacated by an older generation. PDJ

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders A PIPE-line to Effective Recruiting

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By Ouraphone Siri-Outhay

With the economy in flux, there is no such thing as business as usual anymore—and that goes double for the business of diversity recruiting.

At UnitedHealth Group, we know that building a diverse team of high-performing employees is key to achieving our mission of helping people live healthier lives. As our customer base and businesses evolve, our recruiting strategies and tools evolve right along with them, combining tried-and-true methods with new technology that gives us a competitive edge. Through the changes, we keep three truths top of mind:

1. To build a diverse team, we first have to build a diverse talent pool. We have ongoing relationships with well-established organizations like the National Black MBA Association, the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, the National Association of Hispanic Nurses and INROADS, which have all been sources of great employees for us.

But we’re expanding our reach. For example, we’re developing initiatives to recruit, develop and retain employees over age 50, because we know that they’ll bring valuable perspectives to our work to serve our customers in the same age range. Tools to help us reach this group and other diverse populations are integrated into the comprehensive employee-sourcing strategies created by each of our functional recruiting teams (e.g., Information Technology, Finance, Healthcare Operations).

Technology is part of the mix, too. Our candidatemanagement system, the PIPE (People Interested in Potential Employment), ties each résumé to a list of searchable keywords we can use to identify and begin developing relationships with passive candidates whose experience would enhance our team’s diversity.

2. Good relationships will always be our most effective recruiting tool. The PIPE also gives us a high-tech way to make sure our recruiting process is high-touch and personal. The customized system is based on customer relationship management software. Since there’s such fierce competition for talented people, we use the PIPE to help build UnitedHealth Group’s employment brand among candidates who are thinking about making a career change.

The PIPE helps keep us connected with the candidates and lets us share information about UnitedHealth Group that’s

Director of Diversity Recruiting UnitedHealth Group

personalized to their interests and needs. We can send news updates and industry information, provide details about events that we’re attending, or offer post-event information via e-mail. These personalized communications provide a valuable touch point.

The PIPE also centralizes information on leads and prospects, and sends our recruiters reminders to reach out to them periodically. The system plays a critical role in keeping our recruiters updated on a candidate’s status. Because it is integrated with our applicant-tracking system, our recruiters can receive a daily report that shows where candidates are in the hiring process. This ensures efficient, streamlined communications.

Candidates are not being contacted multiple times by different functional areas, and each recruiter can see what his or her peers are doing who may be located across the nation.

3. We want the best candidates, not just the best healthcare candidates. When we talk about diversity at UnitedHealth Group, we’re talking about differences that reach far beyond gender and ethnicity. Teams that reflect a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, perspectives and beliefs are best equipped to produce the innovations that drive our business, so we are always on the lookout for people whose résumés reflect accomplishments beyond the parameters of the health-care industry.

One of the features of the PIPE is a home-page news feed that provides a steady stream of competitive intelligence. For instance, recruiters can see information on topics like national and local developments at our competitors’ locations, layoff announcements from major employers, mergers and acquisitions, and executive job changes. Our recruiters get the scoop immediately and can get in touch with potential candidates quickly.

We know we will find talented, creative people in every kind of business, educational and nonprofit environment. They are the people we want to recruit for our team. As we reach out to potential employees—whether it is face-to-face or via our high-tech tools—our message is consistent: at UnitedHealth Group, your ideas can come to life in ways that touch the lives of millions. PDJ

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleader Cultural Competency = Market Intelligence

By Tisa Jackson Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion Union Bank, N.A.

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Are diversity and inclusion initiatives in corporate America about doing the right thing, or about improving business results?

The answer is both. In addition to offering quality products, businesses often grow because of the experiences they provide their customers through relationships, branding and service. Since these experiences are typically an extension of a company’s internal culture, it makes good sense to simultaneously address the needs of both employees and customers.

When you look at the collective buying power of traditionally under-served populations, such as African American, Hispanic and Asian communities in recent years, it’s clear from a business perspective that multicultural markets pose lucrative business opportunities. According to U.S. Census data, buying power is expected to reach $1.1 trillion annually for African Americans by 2012, $1 trillion for Hispanics by 2010 and $579 million for Asians by 2010.

Companies that effectively serve a diverse customer base have done their homework to develop cultural competency—understanding the values, norms, behaviors and expectations of diverse consumer markets. This is simply basic market intelligence.

To increase market share, companies must develop an understanding of other market dimensions, including generational differences—the ages of today’s consumers span more than four generations—and diverse communities such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) market. In addition to having considerable buying power ($712 billion in 2008), this community has extraordinary brand loyalty to companies that genuinely accept and support it.

African American consumers are particularly responsive to companies that are involved in the community. Union Bank reaches out to this group by supporting a number of business, professional development and neighborhood organizations, including the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce (GLAAACC), Urban Financial Services Coalition (UFSC), and

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100 Black Men of the Bay Area. We also sponsor events such as a symposium in March that brought together affluent African American customers and other guests at Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles to honor world-renown pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, who inspired a recent TNT film, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story. Dr. Carson participated in a panel discussion, and the bank made a donation to the Carson Scholars Fund to help youth who demonstrate academic excellence. This event gave our affluent African American customers an opportunity to meet a well-respected role model in the community, and provided the bank an opportunity to foster relationships with those who attended.

Companies that have been successful in engaging and leveraging a multi-dimensional workforce are uniquely positioned to increase customer diversity. Many of Union Bank’s branch employees are bilingual—they speak Spanish, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Farsi, among other languages—and provide customer service that reflects an awareness of and respect for the nuances of other cultures. We also offer special services designed to meet the financial needs of various markets.

Serving multicultural markets is as intrinsic to our corporate culture as employee diversity—not just because it makes good business sense, but because it’s the right thing to do. PDJ

Tisa Jackson, vice president of diversity and inclusion for Union Bank, N.A., has more than 13 years of experience in this field, as well as strategic human resources management, community development and organizational development. She is founder of the Professional & Technical Diversity Network (PTDN) of Greater Los Angeles, a diversity consortium comprised of companies committed to diversity and inclusion. Union Bank, N.A., is a full-service commercial bank providing an array of financial services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, and major corporations. Union Bank is California’s fifth-largest bank by deposits and has 335 banking offices in California, Oregon, and Washington and two international offices.

Visit www.unionbank.com for more information.

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Inspiring Trust

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By Robert T. Spencer, Jr. Director, Talent Management and Inclusion Entergy Services, Inc.

To be effective, a Chief Diversity Officer must have a broad range of skills and competencies. A critical skill for success is the ability to inspire trust. The board and CEO must trust that you will work within the system to bring about positive change. They may have this confidence because you have already done it internally on other subject areas. Or, as an external hire, there is a direct connection between reputation and trust. If you have done it before in another company, many decision makers will trust that you know what you’re doing.

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Many companies are turning to internal leaders with little or no diversity experience to run their diversity office. These are most often very capable, highly respected leaders who have been with the organization for ten-plus years and have the internal network and the trust of the CEO that allows them to be successful leading a major change initiative. So, mission accomplished?

Not quite.

The CDO must also inspire trust Ultimately, as with most hirwith the larger employee base, and In order to have credibility with any external stakeholders. This means “front-line” employees, they have to ing decisions, this one is likely to come down to best fit and the being empathetic to the point of view comfort level the decision maker of a large number of constituents believe that you are willing to speak has with the candidate. In other and, like all executives, understandtruth to power. words, who does the decision ing the business impact of your role. maker trust?

In order to have credibility with “front-line” employees, they have to believe that you are willIn the end, inspiring trust takes time. It takes consistent ing to speak truth to power. The CDO role can’t be relegated behavior viewed positively by the person with whom we are to a public relations/marketing role: working to position the trying to build trust. A colleague of mine expresses a sentiment company in the most favorable light internally and externally that I think applies to the Chief Diversity Officer: “I don’t feel through communication and window dressing but not subI’m doing my job well unless I’m about to lose it.” Her point stantively moving the company toward the creation of a more was that some roles require you to push the envelope, and the inclusive environment.

CDO is certainly one of those roles. Part of a CDO’s role is As an example of the importance instilling trust plays in the to inspire trust with all employees throughout the company: skill set of a CDO, let’s consider the process of hiring someone male and female, minority and majority, etc. If the CDO is so for that position. Few organizations have large diversity staffs, close to the upper level decision makers that he or she will not which allow them to promote from within, and rarer still “rock the boat,” meaningful change is not likely. In the right would be the external diversity practitioner who has in-depth environment, however, the CDO becomes an agent of positive knowledge of the organization, and the key internal relation- change because of the trust he or she has built throughout the ships needed to successfully create change. Because interviews organization—trust that inspires the organization to become have the constraint of time (even when conducted over multiple truly inclusive.

PDJ meetings), a decision maker will have difficulty assessing the candidate’s ability to inspire trust on issues as sensitive as diversity and inclusion. Add to this the discomfort most executives already have with their own D&I journey and you see the uphill battle an external candidate will have.

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleader Innovative Workplace Accomodation

By April Taggart Senior Vice President, Talent Management & Diversity BMO Financial Group

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Workplace accommodation is key in addressing workplace barriers faced by people with disabilities in the Canadian workforce.

In 2006, approximately 4.4 million people in Canada had disabilities, representing 14.3 percent of Canada’s population.1 Further, 49.5 percent of working age adults with disabilities are either unemployed or not in the labour force, compared to 24.5 percent of working age adults without disabilities.2 Organizations may ask how they can work to create a work environment and culture that will help attract and sustain a workforce that includes people with disabilities.

BMO Financial Group’s commitment to establishing and sustaining a diverse workforce and an equitable, supportive and inclusive workplace was first articulated in our 1989 Corporate Strategic Plan. It gained strength and focus with the establishment of four Task Forces from 1991-1995 that identified the barriers faced by designated groups, and articulated action plans. A major goal of the Task Force on Employment of People with Disabilities was workplace accessibility. The report recommended that BMO provide workplace modifications, alternative work tools and individual assistance to create an inclusive work environment, which would remove barriers and improve employees’ ability to contribute equitably and effectively to the business. A significant outcome of their recommendations was the creation of our Workplace Accommodation Policy that made the provision that workplace accommodations were to be centrally funded to support people with disabilities. This meant that all workplace accommodations were now funded at the group level with no impact to the unit manager’s budget, leaving the manager to focus on a wider talent pool without the concern of costs.

Although we have advanced over the last decade in creating an equitable, supportive workplace, we continue to measure our success and look for ways of improving an inclusive work environment. It was through a review of this policy that it became clear that, although our funding model was successful, the decentralized management was inefficient and ineffective. Adequate support was not being provided to either the employee with the disability or to

the manager. Therefore, it was concluded that the current accommodation model would not meet the demands over the next three years to support the increased hiring of people with disabilities. In response, we took this opportunity for our company to enhance our existing model by looking at innovative ways to provide better support for managers and employees in assessing and delivering workplace accommodations.

Building on our existing Diversity & WorkPlace Equity (DWPE) team, we centralized our workplace accommodation expertise to improve turnover time for implementing workplace accommodation to increase productivity and work effectiveness across the business. This change means managers are no longer responsible for implementing workplace accommodations; rather, the DWPE team is accountable for the assessment, coordination and fulfillment of accommodations for employees with disabilities. As part of this improvement, the role of a Workplace Accommodation Advisor was created. The Workplace Accommodation Advisor works with both employee and manager to ensure the successful implementation of workplace accommodation needs. This includes recommending and arranging for workplace assessment through a specialist; reviewing the results of the assessment; evaluating the workplace accommodation with the employee and manager; identifying, sourcing, ordering and arranging the accommodation needs; documentation; and follow-up to ensure all accommodation needs are being met.

The improvements to our Workplace Accommodation Policy reinforce our commitment to provide workplace accommodation to our employees with disabilities and potential employees during the recruitment process by relieving managers from feeling that they need to be the expert, and employees are freed from having to know exactly what accommodations their new work environment will require. Further, we believe this review and update will result in decreased work-related stress and increased overall job satisfaction and performance. PDJ

1 Statistics Canada, Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) 2006, released

December 3, 2007, Table 1.1-1.

2 Statistics Canada, Participation and Activity Limitation Survey 2006: Tables (Part III).

Catalogue no. 89-628-X - No. 008.

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Your perspective is our advantage rolina orth Ca N f o ld ie ur lth of o Blue Sh a d e n h a e s h os d on oving t Blue Cr ing goo to impr k d a e t M it . y e as munit is comm orkforc nd com w a a s r h e it with tarts w custom ntinues ment s o it c m t I . m s o r our c stome ers and s our cu s, partn r a e e li s p r p e div rse su ing dive t r s. o p p su nization a g r o y nit ut a commu ore abo m n r a ibutes om to le y contr .c c it s n r s e b c iv of all Visit b lieves d e health that be h t y n o t a p d com ess an ur succ o o t h t bo ns. arolinia C h t r o N

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my turn continued from p. 14 The two most used were: 1) revising employee policies to improve work/life balance and 2) widening recruitment pools—both of which are used by 46% of the organizations in our survey. Further, 40% of the organizations surveyed are providing employee training to enhance respect for diverse cultures and 36% are providing channels for confidentially handling equal opportunity complaints.

The following are the 13 D&I best practices used worldwide and are generally useful in all regions. These are practical strategies we should all strive to adopt: Lead the effort from the top. In many regions—especially in Western Europe—CEOs are the main advocates of D&I. Make diversity a core value. To get managers and employees on board, make diversity a core piece of the organization’s value system.

Build an infrastructure to support diversity. This consists of both the existing hierarchy and permanent dedicated groups such as employee networks with top-level backing.

Focus on diversity in the entire talent pipeline. Large companies that want to ensure a supply of qualified, diverse candidates for senior-level jobs must start at the bottom of the pyramid by grooming promising employees.

Network intensively with business unit managers. Business unit managers must be involved if diversity efforts are to succeed.

Leave room for national variation in implementation.

National cultural differences play a major role in determining whether diversity programs take hold, and the programs must be tailored with those differences in mind.

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Revise business processes to support diversity. Particularly in Europe, companies stress the importance of taking a close look at business processes to ensure that diverse candidates have a fair chance at hiring and promotion.

Set clear diversity targets. Successful diversity programs set qualitative and quantitative targets that are attainable and tied to the organization’s business objectives.

Establish metrics and track progress. A corollary of setting targets is measuring progress toward that target.

Offer appropriate management incentives. Successful companies encourage managers to contribute individually to the results. Often, there is a direct quantitative link between managers’ compensation and their diversity recruitment and promotion results.

Make diversity training a way of life. To be successful, training to encourage diversity must be ongoing. Emphasize mentoring and coaching.

Focus on the business case for diversity. Successful diversity programs are often built on the persuasion of middle managers.

The decisive selling point usually is the business case for diversity.

Cast a wide recruiting net. Partner with outside organizations to broaden recruitment efforts. Use employee networks to support external outreach.

The study also differentiates how companies approach D&I in different regions of the world (e.g., North America, Europe, and Asia, etc.). For more study results, or for more information, visit PDJ www.shrm.org or email me at shirley.davis@shrm.org.

We Must Reach Out‌ We are very proud of our record on diversity and inclusion.

After all, the more different perspectives we have on board, the more great ideas we can generate. When we reach out to shape the future, we ensure a responsible energy future for all. www.shell.com/us

If We Want to Shape the Future.

stories

microtrigger stories editors notebook

Have You Experienced These Kinds of Triggers?

By Janet Crenshaw Smith

Newbie Nightmare Meeting Mishap MicroTriggers are those subtle I began working for a When I have meetings new company last year. After scheduled with a Latina behaviors, phrases and inequities being there for about 6-8 colleague, she typically arrives that trigger an instantaneous weeks, people in the office 20 minutes late, without notice still did not know who I or remorse. This happens more negative response. Here are some was, nor did they take the often than I would like and it time to find out. No one upsets me. When I’ve discussed samples for you to consider. made an effort to introduce it with others, they remind themselves and I thought I me of the cultural difference. was in an office full of rude I understand and appreciate and unprofessional people. As opposed to feeling like differences, but scheduling meetings and not honoring a total outsider, I took it upon myself to speak to as times can be disruptive to my work day.”

-S. Barry, CMP many people as I could. This did not make me the most popular person in the office, but it definitely helped change the dynamics of many relationships I Platter Pet Peeve had with my new co-workers.”

I was at a restaurant with some colleagues after -J. Davis work one evening. After everyone ordered and the food arrived, a couple of my co-workers became enamored with the presentation of my meal. Soon Double Trouble they began asking me if they could try some of my I work in an office in which there is one food, and by the time my plate went around the other minority of my ethnicity. She and I are table it was a less than desirable portion. I do not like constantly mistaken for each other. Though we try sharing my meals at restaurants, let alone having my not to take it seriously, it is hard not to take offense. meal become the sample platter of the table. Everyone We are individuals and it would be nice to be treated reviews the same menu…I don’t understand why this as such.” has to be the case.”

-Anonymous -D. Vilmenay, J.D.

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PDJ

Janet Crenshaw Smith is president of Ivy Planning Group, LLC, a consulting and training firm that specializes in diversity strategy and leadership. Her book is titled, MicroTriggers: 58 Little Things That Have a BIG Impact. Have a MicroTrigger story to share? Send it to: JSmith@ivygroupllc.com.

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ivy planning group SERVICES

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Communicating Effectively in a World of Differences

By Marie Y. Philippe, PhD Corporate Vice President, Culture and Organizational Effectiveness The Lifetime Healthcare Companies

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Nothing should be simpler between individuals than an exchange of thoughts, information or messages. Nothing, however, is further from the truth.

Communication methodologies have been dissected based on gender, producing tons of valuable insight into the barriers between the sexes. Many more tons of studies documented the huge gaps in cross-culture communication, and voluminous writings offer thousands of solutions.

Within the workplace, whether the exchange is between two or more, regardless of the differentiating dimensions—gender, age, geography, or language, to name a few—four principles hold true because of their universality. Let’s dwell a moment on each of these four points.

1. The lesser the demonstrable/visible cues, the higher the probability of miscommunication. Randomly ask anyone at your workplace if any of their electronic communications was ever misinterpreted. Chances are that honest responses will indicate a 50%+ occurrence rate. Not a surprise. In the total absence of visible cues, the probability of miscommunication skyrockets.

Therefore, if one wishes for clarity, avoid communicating solely through e-mail.

2. Suspending assumption and judgment while listening and talking is a requisite for an effective exchange. One of the most challenging tasks for any human being is to temporarily suspend all assumptions. Making assumptions about our environment is innate. This attribute has allowed us to survive as human beings, by assessing potential harm and reacting to it.

Suspending assumption in communication requires a conscious filtering of one’s own thoughts.

Further, suspending judgment as our brain interprets various inputs, in nanoseconds, during an exchange is even harder.

Every society is based on value systems which foster judgment.

Everyone in the human race has the propensity to judge, consciously or not. In this world filled with differences, great clarity is rare because very few have mastered the temporary suspension of judgment and assumptions for the duration of a communicative interplay.

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3. Checking for understanding is the most effective mechanism for alignment in intent and interpretation. To alleviate the communication disconnect between intent and impact in our diverse world, a check-point methodology is highly recommended. Although many still hesitate to check for understanding when communicating within the workplace, the approach proven to most effectively promote mutual respect and collaboration is the clarification of intent. These simple words “Please correct me otherwise, but what I believe I heard you say was…” can make a world of difference between gaining a supportive partner or frustrating and disengaging a co-worker.

Checking for the understanding of the intended meaning tends to lead to more effective communication due to an increased alignment with the interpretation. However, that is not always the case if there is no alignment between the words and the behavioral cues.

4. Without congruency between verbal and non-verbal cues, there cannot be effective communication. Incongruence between the verbal and body language inevitably leads to confusion and miscommunication. Try smiling while reprimanding someone about something. Invariably, those who try this exercise for fun generate a perplexing facial expression from the other party or a lack of acceptance about the seriousness of the matter, no matter how serious the nature of the reprimand. A caveat is needed on this point. Cultural differences should be taken into consideration when interpreting communication cues such as eye contact, touching, tone of voice, bodily expressions, etc.

Significant challenges exist in transferring one’s thoughts into words that are expected to be understood exactly as they were meant to be. In a world of such great diversity, becoming a more effective communicator demands that we try giving and receiving visible cues, suspending assumptions and judgment when talking and listening, and pausing periodically to check for mutual understanding as well as aligning verbal and body languages. Only by faithfully trying to live by these guidelines can one hope to achieve true communication. PDJ Marie Y. Philippe, PhD is well known for her leadership contribution in corporate culture transformation through strategic diversity initiatives and organizational change management.

She can be reached at marie.philippe@lifethc.com.

Also Featuring …Perspectives from Storti, Casey, Davis, Harrington, Philippe • Catalyst • MicroTriggers

Volume 11, Number 3 MAY / JUNE 2009

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PROFILES IN DIVERSITY JOURNAL

At Wal-Mart, we continue to look for ways to diversify our business and team of associates to better serve our customers. We are proud of the strides we have made, but our journey is not over.

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Diversity and inclusion are enduring values embedded into our culture. These values are fundamental to both our business and our mission, to save people money so they can live better.

MAY / JUNE 2009 • VOLUME 11 NUMBER 3

Business wins when everyone matters.

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With the help of our associates, customers, suppliers, and the communities we serve, we look forward to continuing our journey in being a true leader in all aspects of diversity and inclusion by offering programs that truly matter.

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), Walmart and Save Money. Live Better. are marks and/or registered marks of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ©2009 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Bentonville, AR.