The Wave

What is this Diversity thing?!

A few days ago, I was sitting at a swanky association dinner in a nice hotel in La Jolla chatting with an attorney, a chief financial officer and a number of  other corporate officers - all white people - when one of them asked me what I do.  I replied "I'm a  diversity expert."  Blank faces...none of them, not one, knew what  I was talking about.

To be honest, I'm pretty used to that response.  So, I launched into an explanation of what diversity is and how its important to their corporate bottom line.  Again, blank faces.  After I explained it, they understood it from an intellectual point of view, they just didn't see why they should pay any attention to it.

Now, when I started doing this work in 1993 in New York City, diversity was a relatively new concept in the corporate world.  So, the blank stare and an intellectual disconnect was completely understandable.  But here we are almost 15 years later and some pretty powerful people in San Diego still haven't a clue about diversity and really have no interest.  That saddens me, and troubles me.

It would be easy to say "this is a conservative town," with a lot of small and medium size businesses led by people who really aren't paying attention to diversity.  This is not the sophisticated East Coast or Bay Area.  But then, I recall a conversation I had last year with the head of HR of a major corporation in the metro NY area who said, "I've been a member of a large human resources association for over 15 years and we have never had a meeting or annual conference in which diversity was discussed."  What?!!

So, although it galls me somewhat, I have to realize that we really haven't come a long way, baby.  People - very intelligent, accomplished business executives - are still asking "what is this diversity thing."  Oy.

Where Are We Now?

Recently a client, the head of operations of a large corporation, asked me "where is corporate America right now on diversity compared to a few years ago?"  It's a reasonable question, especially given that I was trying to provide him a direct business link between diversity training and his company's bottom line.  My answer was of the "do you want the good news or the bad news or both?" variety.  He said "both," so here goes.

The Good News: many American corporations have made some positive steps forward in talking-the-talk about diversity and inclusion.  And a very select few - Pitney Bowes comes immediately to mind - have a real, workable diversity business strategy in place wherein profits and productivity are directly impacted by diversity and inclusive workplace efforts.

The Bad News:  repeat of the above.  There are many companies talking-the-talk, but very few are really walking-the-talk.  Sure, lots of companies have done some surveying, training and even set up a diversity council/task force made up of the usual women and people of color.  But very few senior executives (and let's be honest, the vast majority of these are straight white males) see diversity and inclusion as really good for their businesses.

And here's the skeptic in me... I'm pretty darn certain, although of course I can't prove it, that there are plenty of big companies that are paying PR firms and advertising agencies to pump up their diversity efforts in a very public way while maintaining the "good old boys club" status quo behind the scenes.

What The Heck Is Diversity?

I can't tell you how many times potential clients have asked me: "How do you define diversity?" I wish I could give them a simple answer, but I can't. Instead, I play a little trick and hit the question right back across the net to them, saying: "Before I answer, why don't you tell me what you think it is?"

By doing this, I'll get a good sense as to where they are on what I call "the diversity continuum."  Basically, lots of people are still stuck in the old definition of diversity, i.e. "race and gender differences."  That's unfortunate, but understandable, since the diversity training industry and the media have focused on those two issues for a long time.

But if their answer is more sophisticated, say "It's all the unique things that each of us bring to the table at work that will help make the company more successful," then I can respond at their level.

The bottom line for me on diversity is this: if you define diversity as broadly as possible, and you link that definition to a solid business case for diversity, then more people at your company are likely to "buy into" the concept of diversity.

Gregg Ward, The Diversity Guy