66 minute read
NORTHWELL HEALTH
Customer Obsessed
An Interview with Michael J. Dowling, President and Chief Executive Officer, Northwell Health
EDITORS’ NOTE Prior to assuming his current post in 2002, Michael Dowling was the health system’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Before joining Northwell Health in 1995, he was a Senior Vice President at Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Dowling also served in New York State government for 12 years, including seven years as State Director of Health, Education, and Human Services and Deputy Secretary to the governor and the final two years as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services. Earlier, Dowling was a Professor of Social Policy and Assistant Dean at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Services and Director of the Fordham campus in Westchester County. He has been honored with many awards and recognitions over the years, including being selected as the 2017 Grand Marshal of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the 2012 B’nai B’rith National Healthcare Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the 2011 Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award from the National Center for Healthcare Leadership, the 2011 CEO Information Technology Award from Modern Healthcare magazine and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, the National Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee, the Distinguished Public Service Award from the State University of New York’s Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, an Outstanding Public Service Award from the Mental Health Association of New York State, an Outstanding Public Service Award from the Mental Health Association of Nassau County, the Alfred E. Smith Award from the American Society for Public Administration, the Deming Cup from the Columbia School of Business and the Gold Medal from the American Irish Historical Society. For 13 consecutive years, Modern Healthcare has ranked Dowling on its annual list of the “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare,” including the #2 ranking in 2020. He was also ranked #44 among large company CEOs in the U.S. and was the nation’s top-ranking healthcare/hospital CEO on Glassdoor’s “Top CEOs in 2019” list. Dowling is past Chair of the Healthcare Institute and the current Chair of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences and the North American Board of the Smurfit School of Business at University College, Dublin, Ireland. He also serves as a board member of the Long Island Association. He is past chair and a current board member of the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL), the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) and the League of Voluntary Hospitals of New York. Dowling was an instructor at the Center for Continuing Professional Education at the Harvard School of Public Health. He earned his undergraduate degree from University College Cork (UCC), Ireland, and his master’s degree from Fordham University. He also has honorary doctorates from Queen’s University Belfast, University College Dublin, Hofstra University, Dowling College and Fordham University. INSTITUTION BRIEF Northwell Health (northwell.edu) delivers world-class clinical care throughout the New York metropolitan area, pioneering research at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, and a visionary approach to medical education, highlighted by the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. Northwell Health is the largest integrated health system in New York State with a total workforce of more than 76,000 employees – the state’s largest private employer. With 23 hospitals, more than 830 outpatient
facilities, including 220 primary care practices, 52 urgent care centers, home care, rehabilitation and end-of-life care services, Northwell is one of the nation’s largest health systems with $14 billion in annual revenue.
Will you discuss Northwell Health’s long and deep commitment to diversity and inclusion?
We have focused on this for decades because it is my view that if you want to be relevant and reflect the communities you serve and Michael J. Dowling respond to their needs, there is no choice but to be diverse and inclusive in the way you operate and structure your organization. Northwell serves one of the most diverse regions in the world and we want to be responsive to our communities and have our workforce reflect these communities. In order to do this effectively, it has to be a central part of the organization’s DNA and it starts with the onboarding of new staff from the front line caregivers to middle management to the senior leadership. This is also a moral issue and while we are making progress, we still have a long way to go. It is a never-ending process.
How critical is it to provide opportunities for diverse talent to grow and lead in the organization in order to retain the talent?
It is crucial that we identify diverse groups of people throughout the organization and provide them support, mentoring and education on an ongoing basis in order to continue to elevate
them to senior positions. If you do not provide opportunities to grow and lead, it becomes a very hollow exercise. It has to be real. There is always unknown talent in your organization and you have to be aggressive in identifying it.
Diversity is also about sharing knowledge and getting different groups to understand each other better. If you are working alongside people from different parts of Asia or South America, it is important to know their background, history and culture. The more that diverse people work together and learn and understand each other, the more you can create understanding and build a team culture. We must all expand our knowledge base.
What do you see as the impact that diversity and inclusion has on business performance?
If you nurture the talent from different places and different backgrounds in your organization, it enhances the business enterprise. The more talent you have with different opinions and experiences that you bring together to make business decisions, the better those decisions will be for your business. At Northwell Health, we have what we call BERGs, which are Business Employee Resource Groups. We spend time with these groups, such as our African American BERG or our Asian BERG, in order to help us understand how we can be better in working and leading people with different backgrounds both in our organization and in our communities. We focus on issues such as literacy, education, language, cultural uniqueness as well as supplier diversity by working with vendors that are diverse and represent these communities. Diversity and inclusion is a moral issue and it is also a critical business issue.
Northwell Health has an innovative and leading medical school. Has the medical school been effective at attracting diverse students that will become the future leaders of the organization?
This is a major focus of the medical school and we have attracted a diverse student population. It is a surprising statistic that there were more Black men in medical schools 20 years ago than there are today. This shocked me when I learned it. There is a documentary series titled, Black Men in White Coats, that we are engaged with and we know that we need to continue to increase the number of Black people in our student population and faculty in order to impact the numbers of Black doctors. When these individuals enter medical school, they need to see people that are like them in our faculty and in our hospitals in order to see opportunity and feel that they belong.
We also spend a great deal of time in the high schools and have a pipeline program for minority kids in underprivileged communities to try to get them interested in science. We need to build the pipeline over time so that these students will have the competencies to go into medical school and build a career in the profession.
How is Northwell Health working to address the issue or health disparities which have been highlighted during the pandemic?
This has been a focus for us for a long time and has been intensified with the pandemic. We have identified 11 communities that we are doing a lot of work with in regard to COVID testing and now with COVID vaccinations. We need to deal with the inequities in care that exist in these communities which have high instances of heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses. COVID shined a light on this problem and made it very clear that we need to do a better job in this area going forward. It will be an ongoing priority.
Will you discuss your focus and emphasis on putting employees first?
Inspired and happy employees have a direct correlation to happy customers. It is not complicated and applies to any business. If you run a restaurant and have a happy waitstaff that love working at the restaurant and enjoy working with each other, you feel it when you are a patron and it will result in you becoming a loyal customer. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers and at Northwell we are both employee and customer focused. We were just ranked number 19 on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list which says a lot about how we treat and care for our people, especially as we have been on the front lines of the pandemic this past year. In addition, our employee engagement scores have risen dramatically over the past twelve months even as our people were dealing with the stress and pressure of COVID. The key for us is to maintain this focus and commitment.
Many leaders in the industry use the term patients, but you use the term customers. Will you elaborate on this distinction?
I focus on the term customer since it is not only the patient, but the patient’s family, that we are working with as well. When you look at it from the perspective of treating a patient, it puts that person in a subservient position where the provider knows everything and is dictating to the patient. This usually starts with the question, “What is the matter with you?” When you look at that person as a customer, the question becomes, “What matters to you?” It is about meeting the person where they are and focusing on service, convenience, quality and outcome. We need to be responsive to what the customer wants and needs. At Northwell, we are customer obsessed.•
Community Health and Wellness
An Interview with Debbie Salas-Lopez, MD, MPH, Senior Vice President, Community and Population Health, Northwell Health
EDITORS’ NOTE Debbie Salas-Lopez joined Northwell Health in 2019 as senior vice president for transformation, responsible for system valuebased initiatives that improve health and care delivery. She assumed her leadership role after serving as the chief transformation officer at Lehigh Valley Health Network where she led strategy and oversaw a unique and broad portfolio including community-based and population health initiatives, telehealth, connected care, innovation, strategic partnerships, and operational redesigning of the clinical delivery system. Salas-Lopez earned her MD from Rutgers School of Medicine and her MPH from Rutgers School of Public Health.
Will you highlight your role and key areas of focus?
I oversee the department of community and population heath which is the department responsible for the overall strategy for working with our communities in terms of health and wellness, including community health equity and the social determinants of health. Over the past year, we have focused on COVID-19 testing and today we are focusing on vaccine distribution and community planning. We work closely with vulnerable and disadvantaged communities, particularly communities of color. We focus on the issues that are a priority to these communities, such as access to care and addressing chronic illnesses like diabetes and obesity, which are prevalent in underserved communities. We have a responsibility to all the communities we serve, and particularly to those who are vulnerable.
What are the keys to being successful and driving lasting change in these communities?
A key to having a successful community health and wellness strategy is building relationships in the communities we serve. This takes time as you need to have a presence and build trust. It is about caring and taking the time to listen and understand what is most important to our communities. An example of this occurred last year when COVID-19 testing was at a premium and there was not a lot of testing available. We made a special effort to go into our poor and disadvantaged communities that were being devastated by COVID and provided free testing at community and faith-based organizations. Today, we are leveraging the relationships that we created with these community and faith-based organizations to provide access to the vaccine. We have now created a Health Equity Taskforce with over 100 CBO’s and FBO’s to ensure the safe and equitable distribution of the vaccine. Our communities know that Northwell cares since we were there when they needed us the most.
How important is it to look at health as more than just about illness and expanding the focus on prevention and wellness?
This is critical and we consider the totality of the communities’ health and wellness. Statistics show that a person’s health is only 20 percent dependent on the medical care they receive, while the other 80 percent is dependent on other factors such as access to healthy food, violence, safety, their own behaviors, level of education, poverty, and employment. We view health and wellness in a holistic way that takes into account the entire picture, not just as being the delivery of medical care. For example, access to healthy foods is essential to health and wellness. This is an area that health systems can partner with community-based organizations like food pantries, large food chains, and corner stores to make a difference in neighborhoods that have food deserts. There are many examples of community issues that health systems can partner with community and faithbased organizations that have the experience and trust of communities. This requires having the humility to know when we can lead and when we need to follow. Building relationships with community and faithbased organizations is key and synergistic as the size, scale and influence of a health system, in conjunction with their expertise and know-how, can effectively provide needed resources to our communities.
Will you discuss Northwell Health’s commitment to building a diverse and inclusive workforce in order to mirror the diversity of the patients and communities it serves?
Northwell Health has had a long-standing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. It starts with building a diverse workforce. We ensure we provide opportunities for employment across all of our diverse communities. Last year, our organization signed a pledge declaring racism a public health crisis. Today, it is more important than ever for the community to see someone that looks like them, who speaks their language and who understands their culture. This is a priority for Northwell. Over the past year, our communities
of color were devastated by COVID-19 and seeing someone like Sandra Lindsay, a nurse at Northwell who is a female of color, get the first vaccine shot in the country outside of a clinical trial, and her vaccine being administered by Dr. Michelle Chester, Northwell’s director of employee health services, who is also a female of color, was important because access to the vaccine in these communities is critical. Education and outreach on COVID-19 is also essential so we have recruited our diverse Northwell colleagues to provide videos of themselves talking about the importance of the Debbie Salas-Lopez vaccine, social distancing and wearing masks since we feel that it is our responsibility to provide this education and information. We need the trust of our communities and working with someone who understands them and relates to them is critical.
What was the vision for creating the Center for Equity of Care and how has it evolved?
The Center for Equity of Care was started ten years ago with the mission of eliminating health disparities and delivering the highest quality care to everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, cultural background, language proficiency, literacy, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability or socioeconomic status. The Center is focused on building a culture of inclusion within the Northwell community as well as within the external community. It is about working with the community so that they can be empowered in terms of their own health management. This has been a ten-year journey and the work of the Center for Equity of Care continues to evolve to include education and issues around social justice. The Center is addressing racism, unconscious bias, and other societal issues that impact the delivery of care. Northwell has ranked #1 in 2020 and 2021 by DiversityInc in recognition of this work although we understand that this work is a journey and much remains to be done.
How special is it for you to work for an institution like Northwell Health that is committed to addressing societal need and tackling challenging issues?
I feel blessed and honored to work at Northwell and to be part of this community. Michael Dowling, our President and CEO, sets the tone and is not afraid to take a stand against racism, health inequities, and social injustices. We have a leadership team that cares about diversity and is engaged with who we are recruiting and how we are retaining our talent. I am fortunate to be a part of this institution and to have the opportunity to do the critical work we do every day.•
People and Purpose
An Interview with Mark Gloade, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Northwell Health
EDITORS’ NOTE Mark Gloade joined Northwell Health in 2000 and is currently involved in managing the day-to-day operations of its Office of Legal Affairs (“OLA”) and in OLA’s and Northwell’s longterm strategic planning as well as leading OLA’s labor and employment practice group. Before joining Northwell, he was an associate at Marshall & McEvoy, where he represented hospitals and financial companies in employment and labor matters. Earlier, he was an associate with Paul Hastings in its New York office in that firm’s Employment Law group. He began his legal career in Epstein Becker & Green’s New York office. Gloade holds a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University and earned his JD from New York Law School.
How critical is it for the role of deputy general counsel to be engaged in business strategy?
Our people at Northwell are smart and creative and know their business, but they also need to be able to evaluate the feasibility of doing something and whether it may be impacted by any regulations or laws. It is critical for our legal team to be engaged in business planning and strategy since the healthcare industry is so heavily regulated. It is also vitally important for our lawyers at Northwell to be involved in formulating business strategy since it keeps everyone informed of the legal ramifications and may also lead to discussions that create other business opportunities.
Is the legal function at Northwell Health centralized and how does it operate in order to be most effective given Northwell’s size and scale?
We are primarily centralized but we are firm believers in getting out to all of the locations within the health system since there is no substitute for meeting with our people and being together in person. This was a challenge during the pandemic, but we place a strong emphasis on being at the different facilities so that the legal department is viewed as a resource that our people can use.
You worked at law firms prior to joining Northwell. What excited you about this opportunity and made you feel it was the right fit?
I worked for different size law firms coming out of law school and realized pretty quickly that there was a uniform business model and approach to how they worked. At the time that the Northwell opportunity came along, I had a one-year-old daughter and was barely able to see her or spend time with her as I was working at all hours. While I was not actively looking to make a change, when someone I knew mentioned that there was an Mark Gloade opening at Northwell and that someone of my background would be a good fit, I decided to talk to them and learn more about the opportunity. When I came for the interview and spoke to the people in the legal department at that time, they were all truly nice people who described the work as being different every day and that it provided the opportunity to address a diverse set of issues and challenges. I was excited to get the chance to work for a single client on diverse issues with smart and nice people. The opportunity to come in-house and to be a part of an organization that provides healthcare in a community setting was appealing to me.
How do you describe Northwell Health’s culture and how critical is culture to the success of the organization?
I believe that culture is the single greatest factor driving Northwell’s success. We start by attracting people whose purpose is to take care of other people and that drives everything else we do. We are often taking care of people at the most vulnerable moments in their lives and our people are those who are driven to meet these challenges and care for others. When you have this purpose as your foundation, it is easier to build on it and create a culturally competent organization that takes care of its patients, its people and its communities.
Will you discuss Northwell Health’s commitment to diversity and how important is it for Northwell’s workforce to mirror the diversity of the communities it serves?
We are located in New York which is one of the most diverse metropolitan areas in the world. In order be successful, it is vital that we reflect the communities we serve and understand the cultures and backgrounds of the people in these communities. Diversity enhances our service delivery since we have people at Northwell who have been through the same experiences as the people we serve in our communities. This drives a level of empathy, understanding and competence which enhances the level of service we deliver.
Northwell Health has taken a leadership role in addressing societal issues, from gun violence prevention to human trafficking to social justice. Will you highlight Northwell’s commitment to these issues and its focus on being a force for good in society?
There are many reasons why I am proud to work at Northwell, but this is probably the one that makes me most proud. It would be very easy, for example, for Michael Dowling to say that we would not touch the issue of gun violence since this has become a political issue and people like to focus on the Second Amendment. However, to Michael’s credit, he does not let this deter him and he gets involved since he believes that this is a public health issue and, as a healthcare organization, we need to dig in on this issue since it is impacting the communities we serve. Northwell is a member of a community and we have a responsibility to put forth a position that has a positive impact on the members of our community.
Will you highlight the strength and resilience that Northwell Health’s workforce at all levels of the organization has displayed over the past year being on the front lines fighting the pandemic?
Our people were remarkable. As New Yorkers, we did not have the luxury of waiting to see how others handled the pandemic because we were the first area in the United States to be impacted and we had to react quickly and competently. Our people at Northwell, and New Yorkers in general, were remarkable. If you look today at what is happening in places like India and Brazil, we see what it could have been in New York. It is through the efforts of people at Northwell directly and New Yorkers generally that we are not in the situation now that those other places find themselves in.
Northwell Health has a long and deep commitment to New York. Are you optimistic about New York’s recovery and rebuilding?
I have no doubt about New York’s future. I am an immigrant and I think that New York is a beacon that draws and will continue to draw people from across the globe. There is nowhere else that compares – New York is a great city.•
The Human Aspect
An Interview with Maxine Carrington, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, Northwell Health
EDITORS’ NOTE Since joining Northwell in 2008, Maxine Carrington has served in progressively responsible leadership roles and has successfully driven team member engagement and development at every layer of the health system. Most recently, she served as deputy chief human resources officer where she was responsible for the design and implementation of strategic initiatives related to the team member experience, Maxine Carrington career and performance development, change management, workforce diversity, equity and inclusion, corporate social responsibility and compensation. She previously held several regional and site HR roles. Prior to joining Northwell, Carrington was a manager and attorney with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Labor Relations. In addition to mentoring within and outside of the organization, she is an instructor with the Center for Learning & Innovation, Northwell’s corporate university, and serves as a co-sponsor of the organization’s business employee resource groups. She is also a trustee of the 1199 Pension Fund serving employees for the New York Region and serves on the board of The INN (Interfaith Nutrition Network), a not-forprofit organization that provides essential services to assist those challenged by hunger, homelessness, and poverty. Carrington holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Africana studies and a master’s degree in educational administration and policy studies from the University at Albany in New York. She obtained her Juris Doctorate degree from New York Law School.
How has the role of the chief human resources officer evolved?
As companies and organizations have evolved over time with an emphasis on culture, people and technology, the landscape has become more competitive and there is an increased need to elevate efforts to attract and retain talent. We are committed to caring for our patients, but it starts with caring for our people and providing an atmosphere where they want to work and stay so that we can fulfill our mission. The human resources officer needs to be engaged in business strategy and not just have a seat at the table, but have a voice at the table.
Northwell’s focus on caring for our people has been at the forefront this past year in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. We increased our efforts to support the well-being of our 76,000 team members and we have seen the impact of those efforts in our increased employment engagement numbers and recent elevation from #93 to #19 on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® list. We are now working to make sure we sustain this momentum in caring for the well-being of our people.
You mentioned culture. How are you able to maintain culture with the size and scale of Northwell Heath?
The first priority is to define the culture and we do this by starting with our mission, behavioral commitments, and values. We refer to our values as the “trulys” – to be truly compassionate and truly innovative, for example – and this bonds the organization across our 76,000 team members. We have many locations and each has a local culture, but they are all connected by our Northwell mission and values. We work to ensure sustainment of our culture through our hiring, selection, recognition and compensation practices.
How critical is it for Northwell Health’s workforce to mirror the diversity of its patients and the communities it serves?
Our President and CEO, Michael Dowling, makes it very clear that this is of great importance and has his commitment. He recently discussed with me the need to more effectively surface diverse talent in the organization. We created a team within Northwell about a year and a half ago called Fair Employment Practices and in addition to a focus on immigration, they lead our workforce diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy. Many other teams also play a role – it is a comprehensive and integrated strategy. Key objectives include preventing bias in the hiring process, driving organizational commitment, and increasing the representation of underrepresented groups in leadership.
Parallel to that focus is a major commitment to inclusion. While we can increase representation, if people don’t feel that they have a voice and that they belong, we will not be able to retain that talent. We have invested heavily in education with an inclusive leadership course, unconscious bias training and cultural competency education. We will be expanding our impact by providing equity, diversity and inclusion education for family members of our team members.
We are also driving these efforts at our medical school and experiencing positive outcomes. There is a strong voice and commitment from our dean in partnership with faculty, students and a dedicated physician leader to attract and support our diverse student population.
You devote your time as an instructor at the Center for Learning and Innovation, Northwell’s corporate university. Will you discuss the mission and impact of the Center?
It was Michael Dowling’s vision many years ago to have our own university. The university is comprised of our Center for Learning and Innovation (CLI) and the Patient Safety Institute (PSI). PSI is about ensuring quality patient care and safety outcomes. CLI houses enrichment learning, leader preparation, development programs and more. Its offerings include emotional intelligence, coaching and conflict management. The Center provides an opportunity for our team members from all over the organization to connect, learn and grow together. We continue to evolve the work of the Center to ensure that its programs and offerings are relevant and supporting the organization’s needs.
Northwell Health was on the front lines of the pandemic and treated more COVID patients than any other health system. How proud are you to see the strength and resilience of your team members during this challenging and uncertain time?
Proud is an understatement. I would not work anywhere else. We have a saying at Northwell – “I am made for this.” We also have a new branding campaign called “Raise Health.” The work that we have done for years, especially around culture development and emergency management, enabled our people to be made for this and they demonstrated their character, selflessness, courage and resilience during this unprecedented time. It is a privilege and honor to raise the standard of health alongside them.•
Fostering an Open and Inclusive Environment
An Interview with Mitchell E. Rudin, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Savills North America
EDITORS’ NOTE Mitch Rudin joined Savills as President of its North America region in 2019, bringing more than 30 years of leadership in the commercial real estate industry, and was promoted to Chairman and CEO on June 30, 2020. Over his distinguished career, he has served in a CEO capacity at three major real estate firms – MackCali Realty Corporation, Brookfield Office Properties, and CBRE. Rudin sits on the boards of the NYU Schack Institute, NYC Police Foundation, Police Athletic League, and St. Francis Friends of the Poor, and is a member of the U.S. Trust Advisory Committee and Governor of the Urban Land Institute. He has also been awarded Person of the Year honors from multiple organizations. COMPANY BRIEF Established in 1855, Savills (savills.us) is one of the leading real estate advisors in the world. Savills helps organizations find the right real estate solutions that ensure employee success. With services in tenant representation, workforce and incentives strategy, workplace strategy and occupant experience, project management, and capital markets, Savills has elevated the potential of workplaces around the corner, and around the world, for 165 years and counting.
How do you describe Savills’ culture and how important has culture been during this uncertain and unprecedented time?
Several things excited me about joining Savills, but chief among them was the firm’s culture. Savills has always had and continues to have an entrepreneurial ethos where camaraderie, innovations and ideas are forged through consistent collaboration and integration. Many of our colleagues have been with the company for more than 30 years, which I attribute to the firm’s strong sense of community and emphasis on partnership. However, this past year has been unlike any other in recent history. Commercial real estate companies were required to evolve countless practices and implement new policies for continued success.
Our culture has been key in keeping our teams connected, informed and optimistic. When our competitors went through significant cost-reduction, we actively expanded our platform. In addition, through selective intervention programs, especially those that support diverse employees and vulnerable internal groups, we mitigated attrition. Savills remains one of a few, if not the only, companies in our peer group with no net debt, which enabled us to retain staff, keep our momentum, and increase market share in select regions as the industry recovers from the pandemic. Not only has the pandemic challenged business operations globally, but also how people engage with one another. Savills maintains an office-centric approach to work, but the transition to working from home was smooth. We quickly adapted technologies and leveraged internal platforms and thought leaders to keep employees apprised and engaged. However, we are looking forward to getting our professionals and staff fully back in the physical office safely this July.
Will you provide an overview of Savills’ diversity and inclusion strategy?
Today, more than ever before, CEOs are being held accountable for the diversity, equity and inclusion within their organizations – as we should. Our responsibility is to champion a corporate culture that enables colleagues to authentically engage with one another and learn and grow from each other’s lived experiences. The internal community drives operations, innovation and brand, and leading organizations thrive on open dialog, inclusive practices, and empowered teams. Diversity has been central to my career and a core tenet of my leadership strategy. Going back 15 years at other
companies, I was a co-founder of the African American Network Group (AANG). I also facilitated or have been the executive sponsor for several women’s networks. AANG actually established a Mitchell E. Rudin Diversity Award. In short, our strategy at Savills is to focus on the systemic challenges within our industry and business that create obstacles for minorities and other marginalized groups. We are doubling down on our commitment to foster an increasingly diverse workforce by recruiting, retaining, Mitchell E. Rudin and advancing women and multicultural talent. Our diversity team and employee resource groups (ERGs) facilitate programming, training, discussions and share written communications to build awareness of and appreciation for our differences and similarities. We are also working to impact diversity externally through partnerships, philanthropy and service in the communities in which we operate and beyond.
How engrained is diversity and inclusion in Savills’ culture and values?
Diversity has been an essential value at Savills but we, like others, need to get significantly better. Savills was one of the first major commercial real estate firms to provide healthcare benefits to same-sex families and parental leave benefits to commissioned salespeople, which is now a more common practice in our industry. We pride ourselves on being a meritocracy, where excellence is prized and rewarded regardless of ethnicity, gender, race or any other personal characteristic. As our country and client teams have become more diverse, we believe we need to make a more explicit effort
to recruit, retain and promote more diverse talent, and ensure we foster an open and inclusive environment in our offices. Since January 2019, approximately 90 percent of senor hires and promotions have been diverse.
Last year, we implemented two initiatives specifically designed to address the lack of racial diversity in commercial real estate: The Junior Broker Development Program and Black Excellence United (BeU), an internal ERG comprised of Black employees and allies. We initiated the recruitment for the Junior Broker Development Program, our entry-level rotational program for recent college graduates, in 2019 and launched the initiative in October of 2020. Ninety percent of the inaugural class is a minority or comes from a diverse background. Participants are paid a full salary throughout the 15-month program, and we have already begun recruiting the next class. We will be expanding the program to three additional Savills markets, providing minorities and women with every resource to establish successful careers within the commercial real estate industry.
In addition to BeU, Savills launched a second group, Women’s Initiatives Network (WIN), which provides a platform to promote mentorship and increase professional development opportunities for women throughout the company. More groups are planning to roll out over the next year.
How critical is it to have diverse perspectives and experiences at the table when making business decisions?
Having colleagues with diverse perspectives and lived experiences at the decisionmaking table is crucial to the vitality of any business with sustained success. A recent article from Built In shared that diverse and inclusive teams are 87 percent better at making decisions and 120 percent more likely to hit their financial goals. Diverse organizations enjoy 2.3 times higher cash flow per employee. Racial and ethnically diverse companies are 35 percent more likely to perform better than peer institutions and are 1.7 times more innovative. Working with diverse teams helps any organization operate more creatively and optimally. Bringing people with unique backgrounds and varied experiences leads to a more thoughtful approach, unique insights and innovative ideas.
How is Savills reaching out to different organizations and institutions in order to make sure it is reaching a diverse talent pool?
Savills’ Human Resources team engages professional candidates and interns from diverse backgrounds through partnerships with organizations such as Parker Dewey. We have relationships with historically black colleges and universities and outreach programs at predominantly white institutions to identify the best qualified individuals. We also consult with our peers on best practices and have national and local partnerships with groups like the Real Estate Executive Council, African American Real Estate Professionals, Real Estate Board of New York, and Commercial Real Estate Women. In addition to creating inroads with diverse talent, these organizations give us access to resources that assist our team in taking measurable action in advancing Savills’ diversity and inclusion efforts.
However, we must also be concerned with retaining our recruits once they join the organization. Savills was the first commercial real estate firm to join PwC’s CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion – the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace – which now has nearly 2,000 signatories. The tools offered through the initiative help address the issues that challenge equitable workplaces, allowing organizations to achieve their diversity and inclusion goals, including recruitment and retention, faster than one could achieve on its own.
Is it critical to have metrics in place to track the impact of Savills’ diversity and inclusion initiatives?
Absolutely. Metrics hold us accountable and track our progress toward our tangible goals – and that is for any Savills initiative. This is especially the case for our Junior Broker Development Program and our strategies around recruitment, retention and promotions. When it comes to diversity and inclusion, achievable metrics and targets are more important because we are not aiming to fill quotas or waste resources on performative activities. That approach incentivizes the wrong behaviors and could facilitate reverse discrimination. We are working to create changes to the built environment, internally and externally, that may create obstacles for any minority group to enter the industry with equal and equitable chances for success.
What are your key priorities as you look to Savills’ continued efforts in regard to diversity and inclusion?
We continue to advance our commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity through our workforce, vendors, civic and social activism, internal events and proactive training. In 2020, Savills emphasized building a more robust diversity and inclusion platform to address the racial disparities within the commercial real estate industry. ERGs are an effective way to build community and keep a pulse on the issues that are affecting our colleagues. We will be rolling out additional groups in the coming months. Over the past year, the awful events and subsequent calls for real and meaningful change transcended the real estate industry. They forced businesses and individuals to question whether we were doing enough. I feel incredibly fortunate to be at Savills, and I look forward to what our team can accomplish in this area over the next several years.•
Workplace Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
An Interview with Richard A. Rosenbaum, Executive Chairman, Greenberg Traurig
EDITORS’ NOTE Richard Rosenbaum is the Executive Chairman of Greenberg Traurig, a unified international law firm of more than 2200 attorneys spanning 40 offices around the globe. For a number of years, the firm has been executing a one-of-akind strategy, now with 30 offices across America, and is the only firm that has its largest office in New York City while still being among the largest in its original market of Miami; has five offices in California while being one of the top firms in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Texas for over 10 years; has over 150 lawyers in each of New York, Chicago, Atlanta, California, Miami, and Europe; has over 350 lawyers in each of the New York TriState Region, South Florida, and Europe; and is located in 14 out of 17 of the broadly acknowledged innovation centers of the future, including such diverse locations as Tel Aviv, Berlin, Seoul, Miami, Warsaw, Tokyo, Silicon Valley, Austin, Atlanta, New York, London, Chicago, Los Angeles, Shanghai, and Amsterdam. Rosenbaum joined the firm in 1985 as its 90th lawyer and has been a key leader of the firm’s strong growth across the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. He is widely known for his experience in a diverse range of industries, including real estate, entertainment, media, technology, investment, and finance, representing companies of all sizes, and many wealthy individuals and successful entrepreneurs while building the firm over the years. Today, Rosenbaum’s primary responsibilities involve the firm’s overall strategies, closely working with day-to-day leaders of several key U.S. markets including the New York region and all its non-U.S. operations.
What are your views on the business case for workplace diversity and inclusion?
The research is clear that companies with diverse teams outperform financially. Framing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) as a critical asset is key, as is providing the right incentives. At Greenberg Traurig, we have seen the value of having diverse perspectives at the table. What we achieve on behalf of clients is often the result of having as many perspectives as possible from which to address a problem. We also collaborate with our clients on advancing initiatives that help develop a pipeline of diverse attorneys. Recent collaborations include: • Creating a diverse mentoring program with a multinational investment bank with a focus on professional leadership and development; • Partnering with a client in the telecommunications sector to virtually mock interview their diverse legal interns;
• Sponsoring a first-year law student with a multinational fast-food chain through the Move the Needle Diversity Pipeline Collective with The Diversity Lab.
What are the keys to building a diverse culture that is sustained in the long term?
At Greenberg Traurig, our leadership is diverse by intention – nationally, and internationally – with more than 45 percent of the firm’s executive committee comprising diverse leaders, including women, ethnic minorities, and LGBTQ+ individuals. This creates a pipeline of diverse talent in our Richard A. Rosenbaum recruiting programs which starts at the community level and continues through to education and ultimately to internships, clerkships, and employment.
How do you measure the progress of your diversity efforts?
We look for outside organizations that provide certifications or rankings. Greenberg Traurig’s track record of putting diversity into action led us to achieve Mansfield Rule 3.0 Certification from The Diversity Lab. This national program is designed to help law firms become more inclusive
and diverse by requiring them to consider at least 30 percent women, ethnically diverse, LGBTQ+, and differently abled attorneys for leadership and governance roles, equity partner promotions, formal client pitch opportunities and senior lateral positions.
Is there more to do beyond internal programs?
Supporting social justice initiatives helps to take your impact into the community. In 2020, Greenberg Traurig’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion team launched several new initiatives within our Social, Racial, and Economic Justice Action Plan. We have committed to funding $5 million over five years to support external programs/organizations that address causes and effects of systemic racism.
How do you build diversity into workplace culture?
Building diversity into workplace culture will be different for different organizations based on industry, location, size, corporate age and more. I would offer the following six ways leaders can help create an environment where diversity, equity, and inclusion are top of mind. 1. Start at the Top – Creating achievable shortterm goals can drive long-term change. Building a diverse team can be fundamental to creating the solutions and strategies that clients and customers need to accomplish their goals. For example, the diversity, equity and inclusion initiative at Greenberg Traurig is driven by the firm’s Executive Committee, and Litigation Shareholder/Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer Nikki Lewis Simon, a Miami shareholder, who reports to both the firm’s chief executive officer and co-president. 2. Create Transparency – Transparency is particularly important because you need to create buy-in at all levels. Include everyone in the planning, strategy, and implementation.
3. Be Intentionally Diverse – Intentional Diverse Leadership is not just about having one minority or female partner or high-level executive so they can check a box. Our leadership is diverse by design, including the following: • Ernest L. Greer, Co-President. • Lori G. Cohen, a firm Vice Chair, Co-Chair of the global Litigation Practice and of the Trial Practice. • Jaret L. Davis, Miami office Co-Managing Shareholder. • Demetrius G. McDaniel, Co-Regional Operating Shareholder for Texas, Chair of the Texas Government Law & Policy Practice and Co-Chair of the Washington, D.C. Federal Government Law & Policy Practice. • Richard C. Kim, Co-Chair of the Global Finance Practice and Co-Chair of the New York office Corporate Practice.
Additionally, firm leaders have had the unique experience of emigrating to the U.S. as diverse individuals, including: • Cesar L. Alvarez, a former CEO and current Senior Chair; Yosbel A. Ibarra, who is LGBTQ+, Miami office Co-Managing Shareholder; and Orlando L. Evora, Orlando office Co-Managing Shareholder, were born in Cuba. • Jéan E. Wilson, Orlando office Co-Managing Shareholder, was born in Haiti. • Ejim Achi, New York office Co-Managing Shareholder and office Corporate Practice Co-Chair, emigrated from Nigeria. 4. Collaborate to Connect – Leadership involves service and most professionals feel that they have a responsibility to give back. Collaborating with community organizations perfectly blends service and diversity. 5. Allow DE&I Spread Throughout the Organization – Create a chain reaction of DE&I successes that will flow through the organization. This is part of who you are, not just something you do. 6. Involve everyone – Like everyone, diverse employees, particularly junior employees or those new to the organization, can usually be best served by having a sponsor or mentor. Have leaders make it part of their job to mentor these individuals. Involve allies in meaningful ways and support a culture of personal commitment. If you are on the right track, underrepresented employees will feel included and will be comfortable voicing their concerns.
As just one example of what we are doing, as part of Greenberg Traurig’s Social, Racial and Economic Justice Plan, the firm utilizes its Social Justice Action Academy to reach employees. The program educates and trains them on matters of race, justice, and equity; facilitates and encourages “Courageous Conversations” on these topics; and helps drive forward meaningful change.
Greenberg Traurig’s Diversity Initiative
From its inception, Greenberg Traurig has been committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Greenberg Traurig is a uniquely empowering and diverse firm built on a foundation of fairness, equality, and authenticity. Through its Social, Racial, and Economic Justice Action Plan, the firm has committed $5 million over five years to help combat systemic racism and support impoverished communities. In addition, the firm’s efforts have been recognized through its Mansfield Rule 3.0 certification, administered by The Diversity Lab, and by local, national, and global publications and organizations including Chambers and Partners.•
An Instrument of Social Justice
An Interview with Philip O. Ozuah, MD, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Montefiore Medicine
EDITORS’ NOTE Dr. Philip Ozuah is the President and CEO of Montefiore Medicine, the umbrella organization for Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. A nationally recognized physician, leader, executive, researcher, teacher and author, Dr. Ozuah previously served as President of Montefiore Health System. A National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded researcher and award-winning educator, he also served as Professor and University Chairman of Pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Physicianin-Chief of Children’s Hospital at Montefiore. Dr. Ozuah has been recognized locally and nationally for excellence in teaching and patient care, including as an inductee into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and a two-time recipient of the Academic Pediatric Association’s prestigious Helfer Award for Innovation in Medical Education. Along with his various awards for teaching and clinical excellence, Dr. Ozuah has also been recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the “Top 25 COOs in Healthcare.” Dr. Ozuah earned his medical degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, a master’s degree in education from the University of Southern California and a PhD in educational leadership and administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He completed his Pediatric Internship and Residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore, and his Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Medical Education at the University of Southern California School of Medicine. INSTITUTION BRIEF Montefiore Medicine (montefiore.org) is the umbrella organization overseeing both Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Montefiore Health System is comprised of 11 hospitals, including Children’s Hospital at Montefiore and Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, employs nearly 40,000 people, and has nearly 8 million patient interactions a year throughout four New York counties: The Bronx, Westchester, Rockland and Orange. In addition, Montefiore recently ranked among the top 1 percent of hospitals in seven specialties by U.S. News & World Report. For more than 100 years, Montefiore has been nationally recognized for innovating new treatments, procedures and approaches to patient care, producing stellar outcomes and raising the bar for health systems around the country and around the world.
Will you discuss Montefiore’s long and deep commitment to diversity and inclusion and how this focus is a part of the Montefiore culture?
Diversity and inclusion aren’t goals at Montefiore, they are our way of life. Equity and fairness are what we do and what we have always done. We define medicine as an instrument of social justice. We are a literal celebration of humanity, a place where all are welcome to join us in our quest Philip O. Ozuah for excellence, and where all receive the support and encouragement they need to thrive and succeed. Our difference is our commitment, to each other and to the people we serve, to create a community of care that reflects the rich variety of the communities and the world we share. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion began in 1889, when Montefiore became a nonsectarian hospital that welcomed all religions. The first woman doctor joined the house staff in 1916, practically unheard of in those days. During the 1930s, Black medical residents were accepted to Montefiore at a time when such integration was rare. Today, our workforce is over 71 percent female and over 70 percent people of color. We continue to harness the power of diversity by providing an environment where associates know they can be themselves wholeheartedly, unapologetically and without judgement. They recognize our commitment to social justice, along with our core values of fairness, inclusion, innovation and teamwork. They feel valued, engaged and empowered to do their best every day.
While diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do, you have also stated that it is critical for driving better business results. Will you elaborate on how diversity and inclusion impacts business performance?
It’s the success of our mission that drives our success as a business. At Montefiore, there is no difference between who we serve and who we are. There are no barriers between our staff and the people who come to us for help. We have evidence to show that a workforce that’s more reflective of the population it serves delivers better, more sensitive care. Our diversity is critical for the success of our mission, which is to promote health and provide worldclass care to every person who comes through our door. By focusing on diversity and inclusive leadership at Montefiore, we see more engaged, socially responsible actions and behaviors from our associates, improved communication and workplace culture, and increased patient satisfaction and quality outcomes. That is how we succeed as a business.
What are the keys to being effective in attracting and retaining diverse talent and how is Montefiore making sure that it is reaching a diverse talent pool?
The key is to find the best people, regardless of their background. It’s about pursuing
excellence at all levels of the organization and then it’s about having an attitude of inclusiveness. If you are pursuing excellence, and you are committed to inclusiveness, that helps you even in areas where talent is rare and hard to find. Inclusiveness tends to permeate, and after a while, once you reach a certain critical mass, it’s no longer an issue. The quality of your people and the talent you have assembled helps you to recruit more people with the skills and attitudes that meet your standards.
Montefiore believes in identifying and recruiting talent from both traditional and nontraditional candidate pools, representing diverse backgrounds, skillsets and geographic locations. We are dedicated to growing leaders at all levels through learning and the implementation of innovative leadership practices. Our Leadership Academy, for example, sponsors a leadership onboarding program to ensure that new leaders at Montefiore have the tools, training and support necessary for success.
How important are metrics to measure and track the impact of Montefiore’s diversity efforts?
Our diversity metrics drive our transformation efforts, highlight operational performance, and show us where our initiatives are succeeding and how we can improve. Two big numbers, the fact that our workforce is over 71 percent female and over 70 percent people of color, certainly confirm our commitment to inclusivity. Another good example is our participation in the annual Human Rights Campaign Health Equality Index (HEI). HEI is a national benchmarking tool that evaluates healthcare facilities’ policies and practices related to the equity and inclusion of LGBTQ patients, visitors and associates. The effort is spearheaded by an associateled, inclusion committee that uses the HEI tool to establish benchmarks, identify gaps and develop strategies to ensure Montefiore continues to be a champion for LGBTQ staff, patients, and community partners. For the past four consecutive years, Montefiore has been recognized as a LGBTQ Healthcare Equality Leader for our commitment to equitable, knowledgeable healthcare to LGBTQ patients and their families, and as a safe, inclusive workplace for our associates.
Montefiore serves a diverse population and diverse communities. How critical is it for Montefiore’s workforce to mirror the diversity of its patients and communities?
Forty-three percent of our employees live in the Bronx, a community of 1.42 million where 59 percent of residents speak a language other than English at home, 26 percent of households have income below the poverty level and 30 percent of adults didn’t graduate from high school. We know our community and they know us. We understand each other. Our tight connection to our Bronx neighbors was never more important than during the coronavirus pandemic, when we fought side-by-side to beat COVID-19, which has had such a disproportionate impact on people of color and the poor. Faced with a terrifying and deadly new threat, they knew they could count on us to see them through it. Serving our neighbors’ healthcare needs is just part of what we do. Over the years, the Montefiore Community Workforce Program has formed several partnerships with community-based organizations that empower disadvantaged populations and prepare them for the workforce, including employment through us.
How is Montefiore making sure that its diverse talent has opportunities to grow and lead within the health system in order to retain this talent?
One key is staying true to our mission, which is what inspires us and the reason people want to be part of what we do. Another is creating an array of opportunities to get ahead. In 2013, we formed the Office of Leadership, Engagement and Diversity (LEAD) to develop and implement initiatives to broaden the pool of minority and disadvantaged students who can go on to thrive as physicians and scientists. We work very closely with our labor unions, creating and funding numerous opportunities for career advancement, further education and the acquisition of new skills. For other parts of the workforce we have, essentially, what I call the “Montefiore University,” a slate of programs where we take people from all across the system and groom them in a formal way. The evidence for the effectiveness of that effort is the fact that the vast majority of our senior roles are filled from within. This diversity at the top ensures that Montefiore remains true to its commitment to identify, recruit, train and support people from all backgrounds.
What do you tell young, diverse talent about the career opportunities that exist in the industry?
I said it before, but it bears repeating – at Montefiore, we view medicine as an instrument of social justice. To advance that cause, we have multiple partnerships with local organizations to ensure that our workforce reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. The diversity of our staff is a strength that fosters an environment free from cultural bias, delivers equitable and culturally-competent care, and improves the health of the people who depend on us. Young people interested in careers in healthcare should seek out institutions that share those core values – places where they can grow, develop as leaders and make an impact by addressing the health inequities that plague too many of our communities.•
Building on a Commitment
An Interview with Paige Ross, Global Head of Human Resources, Blackstone and Christopher James, Chief Operating Officer, Blackstone Tactical Opportunities
EDITORS’ NOTE Paige Ross is the Global Head of Human Resources at Blackstone. In this role, she oversees human resource management globally for the firm. She brings more than 25 years of experience in talent development and strategic planning across a multitude of industries and geographies. Prior to joining Blackstone, Ross served as the Managing Director of Talent Management at Centerbridge Partners with a focus on leading Talent Management across the portfolio companies. She has also held senior human resources leadership positions at Pfizer, Avon and PepsiCo. Ross earned her BA at Stony Brook University and PhD in Applied Organizational Psychology at Hofstra University.
Christopher James is a Senior Managing Director of Blackstone and Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities group. He is a member of the Investment Committee for Tactical Opportunities and Blackstone Growth funds. Prior to launching Tactical Opportunities in 2012, James managed a number of the firm’s business development efforts and strategic initiatives across asset classes and investment products. Since joining Blackstone in 2006, he has led the organization of a number of new Blackstone investment products as well as the execution of the firm’s initial public offering and the firm’s investments in GSO, Pátria Investimentos and Strategic Partners. He has served on the boards of past Blackstone portfolio companies and currently serves on the boards of Blackstone TORO Holding Trust and CDL. James received a BS from Duke University and a JD from Harvard Law School. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Prep for Prep and Riverdale Country School.
FIRM BRIEF Blackstone (blackstone.com) is one of the world’s leading investment firms. It seeks to create positive economic impact and long-term value for its investors, the companies it invests in, and the communities in which it works. Blackstone does this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Its $649 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis.
Paige Ross Christopher James
How has the human resources role evolved and how important is it for the role to be engaged in business strategy?
Ross: At Blackstone, our business strategy is our Human Resources strategy. Our Human Resources department is intrinsically connected to all business planning. Our HR team focuses on attracting, recruiting, and developing employees throughout the entire employee life cycle, all in support of meeting business objectives including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
Will you provide an overview of your role and key areas of focus?
James: I’m the Chief Operating Officer and a founding member of Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities (Tac Opps) business, which is the firm’s opportunistic investment platform. Tac Opps provides flexible capital solutions across asset classes, sectors, and geographies. Our mission is to deliver attractive riskadjusted returns to our investors. In my role, I help manage the business, including our team, our investment process, and our relationship with our investors.
How do you describe Blackstone’s culture and how critical is culture to the success of the firm?
James: Blackstone has a culture of meritocracy, excellence, openness, integrity, and innovation. Those are the values that Steve Schwarzman and Pete Peterson founded the firm on 35 years ago, and they still ring true today. I’ve been with Blackstone for over 15 years and have in many ways “grown up” here. One of the key reasons I’ve had such a satisfying experience is because of those values and that culture that is the bedrock for Blackstone and working at our firm.
Will you discuss Blackstone’s focus and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion?
Ross: DEI is critically important to our culture and makes us better investors. At Blackstone, we are committed to increasing diversity and the scale of our portfolio – over 200 companies that employ nearly half a million people – allows us to have massive impact. We’re proud of our efforts to date but know there is still work to be done.
Will you highlight Blackstone’s diversity and inclusion strategy?
Ross: Blackstone has four main priorities in relation to diversity, equity and inclusion. Recruitment of diverse talent; retention and engagement efforts; value creation through responsible investing; and giving back to underserved communities.
First, we believe true impact starts early at the recruitment pipeline. We expanded the number of schools we recruit from to 44 schools, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). This shift has drastically altered our talent pipeline and first-year analyst class with 45 percent of our
2020 global analyst class identifying as female, up and 44 percent of our 2020 U.S. analyst class identifying as racially diverse. Within the firm, we have four affinity networks dedicated to supporting the recruitment, retention and advancement of women, diverse professionals, LGBT+ individuals and veterans. I’m proud to share that these groups are not siloed within the company, but rather celebrated and embraced by all employees. This is thanks to the fact that our senior most leaders champion diversity, equity and inclusion as a business priority, not a requirement by Human Resources.
Second, we work to ensure we have strong engagement and retention. In addition to our affinity network programming, we offer talent development and mentorship opportunities for employees at all levels.
Third, we are focused on creating value at our portfolio companies. For example, we recently announced a commitment to increase board diversity and to find career opportunities for under-resourced populations.
Finally, we also partner closely with the Blackstone Charitable Foundation to give back to communities where we live and work. Recently, their flagship LaunchPad program – dedicated to making entrepreneurship accessible for all college students – announced a $40 million commitment and partnership with UNCF to focus on colleges and universities that have a majority diverse population or are serving under-resourced communities.
How important is it for Blackstone to build a diverse and inclusive workforce in order to bring diverse perspectives and experiences to the table when making business decisions?
James: It is extremely important to have a diverse and inclusive workforce – it is what makes us better investors, helps us avoid risk and deliver better outcomes for our investors. At Blackstone, we see our people as our most important asset and building and maintaining a positive, diverse and inclusive culture has been critical to the company’s success. We’re working every day to continue to build on that commitment. Recently, we announced an expansion of our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) team, with five newly-created senior positions across the U.S., Europe and Asia. With our new hires, we are adding new resources and capabilities within the business units, like Tac Opps, and also building out a corporate ESG structure which will deepen our existing ESG integration across our investment process and asset management.
How valuable has it been to have the commitment of Blackstone’s senior management in its diversity, equity and inclusion work?
Ross: Having ‘buy in’ is crucial for success. Thankfully, at Blackstone we have unwavering support from our senior leadership team on all our diversity, equity and inclusion and environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives. The perfect example of this is our Career Pathways Program which aims to expand employment opportunities for people from underserved communities. This program requires strong partnership across HR and the business and portfolio operations and is championed by Blackstone’s Global Head of Private Equity, Joe Baratta, and Marcus Felder, VP in Portfolio Operations.
What was the vision for creating Blackstone’s Diverse Professionals Network and how do you engage Blackstone’s workforce in its efforts?
James: Blackstone launched its Diverse Professionals Network (DPN) in 2015 to improve the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities at Blackstone as well as create an inclusive community of diverse employees within the firm. Our DPN provides a space for our employees to come together and discuss their experiences, develop relationships and networks that foster a sense of inclusion and, ultimately, weave these aspects into the firm’s culture.
Engagement with the DPN happens throughout Blackstone. Senior leadership of the firm has strongly endorsed the DPN and its mission, and there are over 900 employees representing a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds. The widespread support and enthusiasm for the DPN has been crucial to the success we’ve had.
What do you tell diverse talent about the opportunities that exist to grow and lead in the industry?
James: First, I acknowledge that our industry has had a relatively poor history sourcing and progressing diverse talent. There are longstanding structural dynamics in our society that have facilitated failures here.
However, there are positive changes happening in the industry to remedy these failures. Importantly, there is now broad awareness of how far we need to go and the big efforts we need to undertake to enhance diversity in financial services. Coming out of the confluence of events last year – the murder of George Floyd, rising social unrest and the pandemic – you are now seeing allyship across many different groups to really address diversity and inclusion in our industry.
There is aggressive leadership from many enterprises on this, including Blackstone. We’ve made a sustained commitment to improve our diversity and progress our diverse employees into positions of leadership.
What advice do you offer young people beginning their careers during this challenging and unprecedented time?
Ross: I’d urge everyone to think of every job as an opportunity to learn. Be open to different opportunities and build your network. Careers are zig zagged, not a straight line – you never know where you’ll end up.•
Unlocking Higher Levels of Business Performance
An Interview with Dino E. Robusto, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CNA Financial Corporation
EDITORS’ NOTE With a career spanning more than 30 years, Dino Robusto is a recognized industry leader. Before CNA, he held various positions at Chubb, serving as President of Commercial and Specialty Lines, and President of Personal Lines and Claims. He has also held several underwriting and field roles of ever-increasing magnitude where he honed his trade expertise. Additionally, he had responsibility and oversight for several functional areas, including human resources, information technology, communications, corporate development, external affairs and innovation. Robusto serves on the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement USA; the Board of Trustees for The Institutes; and the Board of Overseers for the Maurice R. Greenberg School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Sciences at St. John’s University. He formerly served on the Boards of Directors of Applied Systems and RAND Corporation’s Institute for Civil Justice, and on the Board of Advisors of Catalyst Inc. Robusto earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce, finance and economics from McGill University in Montreal, and is a graduate of The Wharton Business School Executive Management Program. COMPANY BRIEF CNA (cna.com) provides a broad range of standard and specialized property and casualty insurance products and services for businesses and professionals in the U.S., Canada and Europe, backed by more than 120 years of experience.
Will you discuss CNA’s long and deep commitment to diversity and inclusion and how this focus is a part of CNA’s culture?
Since becoming CNA’s CEO in 2016, I’ve reaffirmed diversity and inclusion as both a business imperative and area of strategic focus across our entire management team to ensure all employees experience being uniquely valued and are able to excel and succeed at their jobs. I’ve also made sure it’s a regular topic of review with our Board of Directors. This is a dynamic journey for all of us that will perpetually evolve as humanity embraces an ever-broadening definition of how society interacts with respect for one another. Our actions and commitments as a company change to support this evolution and the evolving needs of our employees. In support of this, we prioritize D&I skill building at all levels of the organization and we target relevant leadership training for management that cultivates their adeptness at exhibiting inclusive behavior without the subtle nuances of bias.
We also continually evolve our workforce policies, processes and employee benefits to ensure inclusion and equity in the workplace is effectively reinforced. In addition, importantly, our institutional support of our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) acts as a major influence in our journey’s objectives, as they influence our overall diversity and inclusion objectives while championing the unique voices, needs and aspirations of their members. Through our D&I Council and executive
leadership, together with the ERGs, we convert our objectives into functional execution every day.
While diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do, you have also stated that it is critical for driving better business results. Will you elaborate on how diversity and inclusion impacts business performance?
Three critical areas of business performance are profoundly impacted by practical outcomes of D&I initiatives. First, access to talent. Many things make a company successDino E. Robusto ful, but quintessential in my mind is talent. The greater your breadth of talent, the greater are your competitive advantages. Breadth of talent can be dramatically impacted by the breath of the sources of that talent. Second, customers are increasingly diverse as businesses expand across industries and geographies, and these customers value interacting with companies that support and appreciate their unique needs. Third, diversity of thought accelerates innovation and leverages ideas and conclusions to create smarter solutions, faster. Functional diversity of thought emerges from the diversity of people, each bringing different perspectives from their unique life experiences. Embracing diversity of thought by fostering a company where people freely collaborate and are encouraged to explore new and different perspectives creates increased opportunities to excel ahead of the competition. At CNA, we have evidenced repeatedly that diversity unlocks higher levels of business performance. It is not only the right thing to do, it is the way to succeed.
What are the keys to being effective in attracting and retaining diverse talent and how is CNA making sure that it is reaching a diverse talent pool?
CNA approaches the recruitment, development and retention of diverse talent as an imperative like our financial goals, and in fact, to help ensure our financial goals. We insist on developing diverse candidate slates and, although we invariably will meet with varying levels of success across geographies and functions, the exercise is a critical aspect of our recruitment framework. We target and align ourselves with organizations like the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, ASPIRA, and others to build a more diverse talent pipeline.
Talent acquisition is tremendously influenced by not only the search, but the reality of our internal workplace. Increasingly, diverse candidates interview the companies as much as the companies interview them. They are looking for proof that the company is a place where they see evidence of progressive success of people that share their values, aspirations, and needs. To that end, we’ve mobilized the entire organization around building institutionalized allyship through education, bold conversations and actions. We’ve launched new programs aimed to accelerate the development of our high-performing diverse talent. We’ve paired our more senior leaders with diverse talent for both mentoring and reverse mentoring. The reality of these actions resonates with candidates as much, if not more, than the recruitment pitch.
CNA serves a diverse client base. How critical is it for CNA’s workforce to mirror the diversity of its clients?
Our customers are a highly diverse group because we serve a variety of industries from healthcare to manufacturing, retail to construction, and from the smallest of entrepreneurs and single professionals to Fortune 100 companies in the U.S. and abroad. Within this broad spectrum exists an increasingly diverse set of customer employees. Most companies endeavor to succeed at D&I, and these customer companies value, and are even increasingly demanding, to interact with supplier companies that support and appreciate the unique, multi-dimensional needs of their employees.
How is CNA making sure that its diverse talent has opportunities to grow and lead within the company in order to retain this talent?
This is a major area of focus because increasing diversity in our leadership ranks requires disciplined and vigilant efforts. Those efforts start with me and my executive leadership team, and begin with routinely reviewing diverse talent across the enterprise. We thoughtfully plan for development and help initiate career moves that foster greater awareness of the employees’ talent through the execution of their goals. In turn, this highlights them as the top talent for broader, more influential roles in our structured succession planning processes across the organization. To further facilitate success, earlier this year we launched a Sponsorship Program for diverse talent, focusing first on our Black and African American employees, that fosters greater advocacy by influential talent in the company. Disciplined leadership commitment, vigilant succession planning, and sponsorship are emphasized by the entire executive team. We also readily seek input from our Employee Resource Groups on how we can further our progress.
What do you tell young, diverse talent about the career opportunities that exist in the industry?
Our industry is replete with opportunities for diverse talent, whatever their career stage, because as an industry we are increasingly united in our efforts to advance diversity and inclusion. From carriers to agents and brokers, we’re driving these changes together, creating large communities of diverse peoples. Very importantly, the property casualty insurance industry is one that is undergoing dramatic changes across the value chain as we expand our analytical technologies and develop new products and services to meet the evolving, sophisticated needs of our customers. We do so with a noble purpose because our business model, including our products and services, generate revenues from helping eliminate individual and catastrophic risks to our customers. This is an industry where your efforts generate a pride of execution. Diversity of talent enhances performance and is required for our industry to successfully evolve. When you have this in an industry, then you can rest assured you will be valued for what you uniquely bring to a company and the broader industry. I have been in this industry a long time and its value will persist for generations to come. Now more than ever, a diversity of talent, thought, and execution is needed. I can’t think of a better place for diverse talent to start and build or continue to grow a career.•
