Diversity Is Good For Business

Workforce diversity promotes innovation, customer loyalty and talent development

In 1947, legendary Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey’s bold leadership brought Jackie Robinson, an African-American and my childhood hero, to the major leagues. One of the first players to embrace Robinson was Hank Greenberg, a future Hall of Famer himself who, by the time Robinson broke the color barrier, was playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates. As a Jew, Greenberg had endured extensive anti-Semitic verbal abuse and death threats throughout his career so he knew firsthand the persecution and hatred Robinson would face. Greenberg advised Robinson that the best way to achieve victory was to beat his critics on the field.

 

Similarly, those who bear the burden of overcoming bias, racism or sexism in the business world due to their ethnicity, skin color or gender deserve the opportunity to compete on a level playing field. A diverse workforce will help create a more just, vibrant and successful workplace.
 
It’s also a sensible business practice in the 21^st century to embrace diversity fully at all levels of an organization. Diversity enhances a company’s reputation and public image. Diverse businesses attract top talent and more customers from all groups. Consider this: nationwide, minorities command almost $4 trillion in annual purchasing power, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia, which also found that minority consumer markets have grown faster than the buying power of white people since 2000.
 
A person’s gender, race, and ethnic background help shape their worldview and experience. It’s common sense that a wise corporate strategy would accept and welcome diversification into both the workplace and the boardroom as well and that companies would want their workforce to mirror their diverse customer base.

Some companies have already figured this out. One is Salesforce Inc., a software company based in San Francisco that topped Fortune’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2018. Salesforce’s chairman and CEO, Marc Benioff, is among those who signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion Pledge, an initiative launched by a group of business leaders in June 2017 that bills itself as, “the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace,” according to its webpage, with over 500 CEOs signing on. The pledge includes a promise to encourage dialogue about inclusivity and diversity in the workplace, create accountability systems, and implement and expand unconscious bias education, among other actions. (see www.ceoaction.com ).

The companies and CEOs taking the pledge also promise to share resources and what they’ve learned – yet another best practice to spread not only the why, but the how a business improved inclusiveness and how other businesses can, too.

Another company leading in this arena is Allianz, a German-based international insurance company, whose inclusiveness strategy addresses diversity in gender, age, disability, education, and nationality or culture. “Not only does the company promote acquired diversity – e.g., by employing people of different national origins and cultural exposure and by encouraging international rotations – it also shares its progress against all of its diversity goals, holds its managers accountable for delivery, and celebrates their successes,” researchers at McKinsey & Company wrote in their January 2018 report, “Delivering Through Diversity.”

Here are four compelling reasons for ensuring there is greater diversity in business:
 

 

 

 

 
With women and minorities increasing in number, purchasing power and clout, a smart, forward-thinking company will want to ride the diversity wave for many years to come. Besides that, it is the right practice to follow – a position I’ve taken for several decades.