While we continue to elevate the public discourse about, diversity, equality and inclusion, leaders need to urgently move into actionable solutions to address inequities across sectors, industries and geographies.
When it comes to shaping company culture, it’s crucial for businesses and organizations to create a culture of innovation and purpose, and to set a leadership example of inclusivity, diversity and equity. A diverse executive team is not only important because it facilitates a top-down approach that permeates the entire organization and adds value to all aspects of a business.
But it also creates an immense ripple effect in society when all people feel represented and included across positions of leadership. Thus, it’s vital to build an organizational culture where everyone has equal rights, equal pay and equal opportunities to thrive, lead, and succeed.
hen we have ‘diversity in the workplace,’ it means that our companies truly reflect many facets of the communities we serve including age, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, as well as differing cultural references, experiences, educational backgrounds, personality types, and physical abilities.
Diversity has a tangible impact on a company’s bottom line. According to the Center for American Progress, diversity is a key aspect of entrepreneurialism. It drives economic growth, captures a greater market share, helps our businesses avoid employee turnover costs, fosters an innovative workforce, and creates competitive economies in a globalized world. In that sense, a diverse organizational leadership is extremely important to building bridges across boundaries, and leaders must be able to ignite a collaborative spirit to foster innovation within their companies. But even when a company is vastly diverse, if unique perspectives aren’t being heard and if those different people do not feel a sense of belonging, the impact can be lost.
Therefore, we must cultivate inclusion simultaneously. Inclusion is when every single person is valued, heard, respected, empowered, and feels a true sense of belonging. It goes beyond tolerance to celebrating and elevating every person in the room. A report by Salesforce Research found that companies that actively make their cultures more inclusive are better positioned to achieve strong customer loyalty and boost employees’ engagement and productivity. Furthermore, a study by McKinsey showed that companies which are gender diverse are 21% more likely to outperform others; and those which are ethnically diverse are 33% more likely to outperform others. This study which was conducted on major companies’ financial performance according to gender diversity at senior levels reported high returns on equity correlated with greater diversity. In essence, women senior leaders and board directors are connected with better financial performance. McKinsey also found that $12T can be added to global GDP by advancing women’s equality. So cultivating equality is not only the right thing to do, it’s also smart because it has tangible economic impact.
Business leaders can identify DEI gaps by asking themselves critical questions such as:
- Of our company’s managers, how many identify as women?
- Of those managers, how many identify as members of a racial or ethnic group historically underrepresented in business leadership?
- Of our company’s board members, how many identify as women?
- Of those board members, how many identify as members of a racial or ethnic group historically underrepresented in business leadership? etc.
This initial assessment helps leaders take actionable steps to reshape their company’s culture, improve performance, and seize new opportunities to provide value. Furthermore, companies can be powerful platforms for social change, and leaders have a responsibility to look beyond profit to make positive impact on the world.
From my experience, holding my vision as former CEO of ID4A Technologies despite negative perceptions that profitability equates with low societal value, I scaled a high-growth industrial automation and manufacturing technology company while integrating greater causes in our business strategies and driving global economic, environmental and social impact. Creating a culture of innovation, inclusivity, diversity and equity within ID4A was as important for as creating a positive impact in the world. We leveraged our cutting-edge AI and automation technologies to increase efficiency, scalability, flexibility and productivity across the manufacturing cycle. We also guided customers with practical steps to eliminate labor exploitation, provide decent employment opportunities, create safer work environments, and invest in the up-skilling and training of their workforce. With my unique strategies, our company’s products and services resulted in creating sustainable operations and higher growth for customers, while helping them reshape more equitable organizations.
All being said, equality, diversity and inclusion are integral parts of moving an entire business forward, if not an entire society; and the most innovative and profitable companies of the future will be those who foster diversity and inclusion, maximize the potential of every employee, adapt to the unique needs of their customers, and operate with the full understanding of both the societal and the business value of equality.
