Diversity Journal - Jan/Feb 2010

Also Featuring … Catalyst • Diversity Innovation: SHRM’s Global Diversity Readiness Index • MicroTriggers • Perspectives

samsclub.com

Volume 12, Number 1 January / February 2010

12.95 U.S.

$

PROFILES IN DIVERSITY JOURNAL

at&t North Carolina

January / February 2010 • VOLUME 12 NUMBER 1

AXA

best buy

burger king

chevron

citigroup

cdw

cdw

harris Bank

new york life insurance co

kpmg

kpmg

pitney bowes

unitedhealth group

vanguard

verizon

wellpoint

www.diversityjournal.com

AXA

Supporting diversity, from our stockrooms to our boardrooms.

At Sam’s Club®, we know important contributions can come from many different sources. That’s why we’re committed to recruiting exceptional candidates, regardless of their gender or race. We’re also committed to giving candidates the opportunity to advance—because those who work in the aisles of the Club may someday reach the halls of upper management. And after all,

sodexo

not only is promoting the success of a diverse workforce the right thing to do, but it strengthens Sam’s Club at every level.

also inside: SM

2010 Diversity Leader Award Recipients Habits of Highly Effective Diversity Training

What they did inspires us to get it done.

Madame CJ Walker, Entrepreneur

“All these innovators worked to provide greater solutions for others in ways “These amazing people

Walker developed and

never attempted before. In spite of

marketed a hugely

barriers, they lived without boundaries.

helped me get where I am

Their efforts influence my endeavors.”

today—dedicating my group

successful line of beauty

Yolanda Daniel, VP Internal Audit

products for women of

to attracting, retaining and

Dr. Mae Jemison, Astronaut

color. By 1917, she had

developing our incredibly

the largest

After volunteering as a physician in

talented resource of diverse employees.”

business in

the Peace Corps, Jemison joined NASA

Sandra A. Taylor, VP National Accounts

the United

and flew a mission on the space shuttle

Elijah McCoy, Transportation

States owned

Endeavour. Jemison’s advice: “The best way

McCoy invented an automatic

by an African

to make dreams come true is to wake up!”

lubricator for oiling the steam

American.

engines of locomotives that revolutionized the railroad industry.

Some say engineers would avoid using inferior copies of his invention by demanding “the Real McCoy.”

1872

1906 1881

1992 1988

2007 2005

2009 2008

Lewis Latimer, Lighting “I’m humbled to be on the same page

A gifted draftsman who once

with people who always pushed

worked for Alexander Graham

forward to benefit others. In my job,

Bell, Latimer invented a method for the production of

I work to help people see their

carbon filaments for the light

strengths and guide them to win.”

“Whatever niche in life you find

Littie D. Brown, VP Regional Sales

yourself, dare to make a difference

bulb in 1881. His innovation helped illuminate

in someone’s life. These pioneers did, and I’m determined to do the

the world.

Dr. Patricia Bath, Surgeon Bath, the first African American woman doctor to receive a medical patent, designed a device to help remove cataracts with a fiberoptic laser. She also co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness.

Her vision has helped countless others see.

same every day.”

African Americans have always been pioneers in industry. Using innovation, creativity and hard work to do things that have never been done before. That entrepreneurial spirit paved the way for Grainger’s African American leaders to always find innovative ways to help our customers get the job done.

Ernestis L. Duplessis, A company that making a difference VP Investor Relations in your world and the world around you.

To learn more about the power of diversity

Waste Management is a Fortune 200 company that is changing the world for the better. at Grainger, visit We are strongly committed to promoting diversity and inclusion and empowering our employees. We are working with the communities we serve to fuel innovative change— and we need your help. www.wmcareers.com From everyday collection to environmental protection. Think Green.

Think Waste Management. www.thinkgreen.com

“All these innovators worked to provide greater solutions for others in ways “These amazing people

never attempted before. In spite of barriers, they lived without boundaries.

helped me get where I am

Their efforts influence my endeavors.”

today—dedicating my group

Yolanda Daniel, VP Internal Audit

to attracting, retaining and developing our incredibly talented resource of diverse employees.”

Sandra A. Taylor, VP National Accounts

2007 2005

2009 2008

“I’m humbled to be on the same page with people who always pushed forward to benefit others. In my job, I work to help people see their strengths and guide them to win.”

“Whatever niche in life you find

Littie D. Brown, VP Regional Sales

yourself, dare to make a difference in someone’s life. These pioneers did, and I’m determined to do the same every day.”

Ernest L. Duplessis, VP Investor Relations

African Americans have always been pioneers in industry. Using innovation, creativity and hard work to do things that have never been done before. That entrepreneurial spirit paved the way for Grainger’s African American leaders to always find innovative ways to help our customers get the job done.

To learn more about the power of diversity at Grainger, visit

from the editor notebook J editors notebook

The Challenge Ahead

James R. Rector PUBLISHER

January, 2010. One year since Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States, thereby ending all racism in our nation and making the need for diversity training and initiatives obsolete.

Cheri Morabito

Wow. That impression has been mentioned enough times, in these pages and in other media, to not be an anomaly.

Rather, it is proof that the role of Diversity and Inclusion professionals, and the programs they lead, is far from being obsolete or dead.

Kenneth J. Kovach

EDITOR / CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Damian Johnson

MARKETING DIRECTOR

Laurel L. Fumic

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Alina Dunaeva

O verseas C orrespondent

Jason Bice

WEB MASTER C ontributing W riters

Instead, as you’ll see in the following pages, understanding that diversity goes beyond the pigeonholes declared by the EEOC, and teaching others what inclusion really entails, is more critical than ever before. Understanding and teaching others needs to become an ongoing process, not a one-time event; a habit, if you will.

The nature of Diversity and Inclusion in today’s workplace seems to be a concept that’s easy to grasp, yet hard to hold. Just when we think everyone’s on board with our initiatives and programs, someone invariably asks, “Why are we still doing this?”

And so we begin our Sisyphean task, pushing the concepts of diversity back up the mountain. Even when we think we are near the summit of understanding, someone, or something, will remind us that we will be working, and training, and talking, and including, for some time to come.

So, sit back and learn from the experts the best ways to identify and solve the challenges that are inherent in creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive environment. You are not pushing that boulder alone.

Cheri Morabito Editor

Melanie Harrington Linda Jimenez Eric C. Peterson Marie Philippe, Ph.D. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Commentaries or questions should be

addressed to: Profiles in Diversity Journal, P.O. Box 45605, Cleveland, OH 44145-0605.

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

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2

Pro f i les i n D i versit y Journal

January/February 2010

Angela Roseboro Craig Storti Michael L. Wheeler

contents

table of contents

Volume 12 • Number 1 January / February 2010

features

at&t North Carolina

On the Cover AXA

AXA

bestbuy.com

burger king

chevron

citigroup

cdw

cdw

harris Bank

new york life insurance co

kpmg

kpmg

pitney bowes

unitedhealth group

vanguard

verizon

wellpoint

24 Black Leaders Leading:

Celebrating Black History Month

Special Features 2 010 Diversity Leader Awards™

6

7 f rom the publisher: Community Building and Diversity 16 Diversity Innovation: SHRM’s Global Diversity

36

Readiness Index

24

16

abits of Highly Effective Diversity Training: H W.W. Grainger’s Recipe for Success!

perspectives 12 Culture Matters

Habits of Highly Effective

36

40 thoughtleaders

sodexo

DiversityTrainers

40 thoughtleaders2010

by Craig Storti

14 From My Perspective by Linda Jimenez, WellPoint, Inc. 18 Viewpoint by Melanie Harrington, AIMD 20 Reflections by Angela Roseboro, Fusion Group 22 Diversity Performance b y Michael L. Wheeler, OEStrategies Inc.

60 Last Word by Marie Philippe, Ph.D.

DEPARTMENTS 8 Momentum Diversity Who, What, Where and When

10 Catalyst Engaging Men in Gender Initiatives: Stacking the Deck for Success

59 MicroTriggers More Triggers from Janet Crenshaw Smith

4

Storti

Jimenez

Harrington

Roseboro

Wheeler

philippe

Pro f i les i n D i versit y Journal

January/February 2010

diversity leaders

Presenting

the

2010 Diversity Leader Award™ Recognizing the Communication Efforts of 38 Leading Organizations We are proud to present the Profiles in Diversity Journal 2010 Diversity Leader Award to the following companies and businesses who have taken the time in 2009 to share their voices and stories with our readers.

We recognize and celebrate these leaders who have a lot to say about diversity, and have said it in three or more issues in 2009! Their experiences in the world of Diversity and Inclusion serve as a beacon to others, and this award serves as a proclamation of their own commitment to diversity. Congratulations!

American Airlines

Eastman Kodak

Pitney Bowes Inc.

AIMD

Ford Motor Company

Royal Dutch Shell

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co.

Georgia Power Co.

SHRM

Bank of the West

Halliburton

Sodexo, Inc.

Best Buy Co., Inc.

Harrah’s Entertainment

Textron Systems Corporation

Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC

Highmark Inc.

Union Bank N.A.

Burger King Corporation

ITT Corporation

UnitedHealth Group

CA, Inc.

Ivy Planning Group, LLC

Vanguard

Catalyst

KPMG, LLP

Verizon

CDW Corporation

The Lifetime Healthcare Companies

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Chevron

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Waste Management, Inc.

Cisco Systems, Inc.

National Grid

WellPoint, Inc.

Deloitte

New York Life Insurance Co.

6

Pro f i les i n D i versit y Journal

January/February 2010

from the publisher

H

from the publisher

Community Building and Diversity

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t read about the explosive growth of social media— Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Their phenomenal growth is touted as evidence of the Web’s community-building ability. The interactivity of Web 2.0 technology is transforming the way we share information.

Well, we’ve been in the community-building business for 12 years now—an eon in technology time—and long before Twitter’s first tweet. And the community of sharing that we facilitate is not a virtual universe, but one made up of real flesh and blood individuals at the forefront of diversity.

How we built this community is at the core of our identity as a diversity magazine. Who we are and where we fit in the diversity world has everything to do with story telling. And I don’t believe any publication does it as well as we do.

When I first started talking to the pioneers of diversity, I heard stories of companies being transformed by a new culture of inclusiveness.

One after another told of how embracing diversity increased employee morale, opened new market opportunities, and broadened an organization’s reach. Yet their stories went untold. A scant few had the money to engage public relations practitioners in the hope of getting a mention in the business press.

Rather, the vast majority had their diversity lights hidden under the proverbial bushel basket.

I wanted their stories to be told, and I committed to producing opportunities for companies to share their work with others, free of an advertising commitment and unfettered by editors and PR

intermediaries. After all, if you want to learn how to make a great soufflé, would you rather talk to a food writer or a chef?

In every issue we put before you opportunities to tell your story the way it should be told, which you know better than anybody. We seek out today’s thought leaders and then give you free rein to share your expertise, learn from others, and, yes, even steal a good idea or two along the way. Sharing produces learning, which produces growth.

Why is it so important for you to tell your story through the editorial opportunities we give you?

The answer is quite simple: We need to constantly reinforce our message about the importance of what we do. Never assume that the public, or even everyone in your organization, is on your page.

Repetition and reinforcement are needed to keep diversity on the front burner where it belongs.

I urge you to contribute your stories to the sharing opportunities we give you in each issue.

If you haven’t yet joined the conversation taking place within the pages of Profiles in Diversity Journal, I hope you’ll consider doing so. Our 2010 editorial calendar is available on our Web site: www.diversityjournal.com. Let 2010 be the year of renewed commitment to tell your story—to shout it from the mountain top—in order to further advance the diversity gains made at your company or organization. We will be with you every step of the way.

James R. Rector Publisher

Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

January/February 2010

7

momentum momentum who…what…where…when

Kpmg’s Hopinkah Hannan Named National Managing Partner, Diversity and Corporate Social Responsibility

WellPoint’s Jimenez Is Recipient of CareerFOCUS Eagle Award Indianapolis, Indiana—Linda Jimenez,

NEW YORK CITY—KPMG LLP,

Chief

Diversity Officer

where she will help inform, influence and inspire college students preparing for corporate leadership.

DirectBuy Names Jancaric as Director of Human Resources

the U.S. audit, tax

and

and advisory firm,

President, Diver-

has

sity & Inclusion at

Buy,

WellPoint, Inc., was

improvement and

recently honored

furnishings

appointed

Kathy Hopinkah Hannan to the

Jimenez

Staff

Vice

MERRILLVILLE, Indiana—Directthe

home club

newly

created

as a recipient of the CareerFOCUS

with direct insider

National

Managing

Eagle Award™ for Outstanding Lead-

prices,

recently

Partner, Diversity and Corporate

ership Achievement, one of only 11

named

Nancy

Hannan

position

of

Social Responsibility.

recipients nationally.

Jancaric

Jancaric as its new

Director of Human Resources.

In her new role, Hannan will lead

The CareerFOCUS Eagle Award™

the firm’s diversity and corporate social

is one of corporate America’s highest

In this newly created position,

responsibility strategy and initiatives,

accolades in executive leadership

Jancaric will implement programs that

including fostering an environment

achievement. It recognizes Black/

relate to the human resource function

of inclusion that embraces diversity

African-American

Hispanic/

at DirectBuy’s Corporate Support

among KPMG’s partners, employees,

Latino professionals who excel in both

Center, UCCD, and Corporate Club

vendors and clients, as well as

corporate and community leadership.

locations. She will also institute state

community involvement, charitable

The award is presented to individuals

and federal training, development,

giving, environmental, pro bono, and

who practice principled leadership and

and other beneficial programs that

volunteerism programs.

whose records of performance uphold

will support company growth and

the highest standards of dignity,

employee satisfaction.

She will continue to co-chair KPMG’s Diversity Advisory Board,

and

integrity and honor.

Prior to joining DirectBuy, Jancaric

helping the leaders of the firm’s

As part of the award, Jimenez will

worked as a human resources director

national diversity networks, including

serve a two-year appointment to NELI’s

within the service and manufactur-

KPMG’s Network of Women of

Eagle Roundtable Advisory Council

ing sectors of Illinois, Indiana and

which she is a founder, to advance the

through which winners are instantly

Michigan

firm’s diversity strategy and results.

connected to a national network of

tions

She will also chair KPMG’s Corporate

leaders—all of whom are past Eagle

Aeromet

Citizenship Steering Committee.

Award recipients. She will also become

T.J.X. Corporation.

an advisor to NELI’s Corporate Bound Academy™ Leadership Challenge

8

Pro f i les i n D i versit y Journal

January/February 2010

that

with

included

R.S.I.

Industries

affilia-

Incorporated, Inc.,

and

Textron Names Strader President and CEO of Textron Systems PROVIDENCE,

Rhode

Island—

Textron

Inc.

has named Fred Strader President

Strader

of The Allstate Corporation. Estab-

said Gary Butler, ADP President and

lished in 2000, the award is given to cor-

CEO. “Women’s contributions at

porate legal departments and in-house

every level are critical in moving our

counsel that have proven dedication

global economy forward. By partner-

towards implementing outstanding

ing with Catalyst, we want to under-

diversity programs.

score ADP’s commitment to diversity

Mayes

joined

The

Allstate

and CEO of its

Corporation in September 2007 as

Textron

Systems

Senior Vice President and General

segment.

Strader

Counsel.

She

previously

served

has been serving as Chief Operating

in leadership positions at Unisys

Officer of Textron Systems since April,

Corporation and Colgate-Palmolive,

2008, overseeing the operations of its

in addition to Pitney Bowes.

five operating units.

Textron President and Chief Operating

ADP Executive Mitjans Appointed to Catalyst Board of Advisors

Officer Scott Donnelly. “Fred is a long-

ROSELAND, New Jersey—ADP®,

standing defense executive who has a

a leading provider

track record of leading organizations

of HR, payroll and

to new levels of growth by developing

benefits

ground-breaking programs.”

istration services,

Allstate’s Legal Department and CLO Coleman Mayes Recognized for Commitment to Diversity Outreach

has

Strader will report directly to

Washington, D.C.—The ACC (Association

of

Corporate Counsel) presented its 2009 ‘Matthew J. Whitehead, Coleman Mayes

Diversity

II

Award’

and inclusion on a broader scale.”

Sodexo, Inc. Announces Donatone as Market President and COO GAITHERSBURG,

Maryland—

Sodexo, Inc. has announced appointment

the of

Lorna Donatone as a company Chief

admin-

announced

Operating Officer, Donatone

and President of

the Education Market. Donatone is currently president of the company’s School Services Division (part of the Education Market).

that Rita Mitjans,

Donatone will oversee operations

Senior Vice Presi-

and strategic growth for Sodexo’s

dent, Corporate Marketing and Prod-

operations at college and university

uct Management, has been appointed

campuses and public school districts

to the Catalyst Board of Advisors.

and private schools in the United

Catalyst is the leading non-profit or-

States. Her focus will include driving

ganization working globally with busi-

growth for Sodexo’s emphasis on

ness and the professions to build inclu-

comprehensive service solutions in

sive workplaces and advance women

the education market, which includes

and business.

a wide range of services that build

Mitjans

to Michele Cole-

“Rita’s addition to the Catalyst

man Mayes, Senior Vice President,

Board of Advisors affirms her long-

General Counsel and Chief Legal

standing commitment to increasing

Officer, and the Legal Department

opportunities for women in business,”

on the company’s leadership position in facilities management services and foodservice and nutrition.

Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

PDJ

January/February 2010

9

www.catalyst.org

Engaging Men in Gender Initiatives: Stacking the Deck for Success

C

By Catalyst

Companies increasingly understand that they can reap significant benefits by eliminating gender bias, particularly through improved access to, and retention of, top talent and higher employee engagement. Achieving a genderinclusive, bias-free workplace is not easy, however. When it comes to diversity and inclusion efforts, men have a critical role to play, yet they too often remain an untapped resource.

A recently released Catalyst report, Engaging Men in Gender Initiatives: Stacking the Deck for Success, examines current diversity and inclusion (D&I) practices for elements that discourage male participation. Through a survey of men in leadership positions at companies with 10,000 or more employees, researchers sought to identify factors that can heighten or dampen men’s interest in acquiring skills to become effective change agents for gender equality at work.

Previous research has shown that increasing men’s awareness of gender bias represents an important first step in enlisting their support for organizational initiatives aimed at correcting gender bias. Positive employee pre-training attitudes are a critical success factor for D&I training. The research shows that men, in particular, may be prone to negative pre-training attitudes and that these prior conceptions or misconceptions can limit what participants learn in D&I training, blunting its effectiveness.

Survey responses suggested four major areas on which organizations should focus to counter pessimism embedded in men’s pre-training attitudes toward D&I programs: • Enlist the help of influential managers to win wider support and enthusiasm among men throughout the organization. The more respondents believed that the average manager in their organization would participate in the proposed D&I training, the more they expressed a desire to take the training themselves. Having influential managers invite other employees to participate, as well as having them deliver training content where appropriate, can help increase men’s confidence that training is valued and supported by management. This can help to improve their attitudes toward participating in training.

• Appeal to male employees’ desire to improve communities outside the business itself. The more respondents believed D&I training could help managers build skills that would allow them to better serve the communities in which their businesses operated, the more they expressed a willingness to sign up for the training. D&I practitioners

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Pro f i les i n D i ve rsit y Journal

January/February 2010

should appeal to men’s “higher” ideals of making the world a better place for communities as well as business by framing D&I as both a business and a social issue.

• Align training content and goals with participants’ job responsibilities. When men perceived the proposed D&I training as highly relevant to their current job, they expressed greater interest in participating in that training. Organizations should ensure that training programs deal closely and explicitly with participants’ day-to-day responsibilities and tasks, including opportunities to discuss and reflect on real-life job situations in which new skills can be applied.

• Ensure men don’t see D&I training as a zero-sum activity. The more men believe they will suffer job losses on account of efforts to increase gender diversity, the less likely they are to express an interest in participating in D&I training. Therefore, D&I practitioners must help dispel the belief that women’s gains within the organization mean losses for men. D&I practitioners should communicate the personal benefits men can gain from a more gender-diverse and inclusive workplace, and work to articulate the ways in which their efforts improve the workplace for both women and men.

D&I practitioners should build a multi-dimensional case for why employees should become more engaged in organizational efforts to increase gender diversity. Still, communications about D&I training should be credible and realistic, setting a reasonable expectation of what men should expect. Having unrealistic or overly positive expectations risks backfiring and engendering more negative attitudes when training falls short of expectations. D&I practitioners must be skilled at building a compelling case for D&I training—one that convinces employees of the value of training so that they participate willingly and enter into the process with positive expectations. PDJ

Founded in 1962, Catalyst is the leading nonprofit membership organization working globally with businesses and the professions to build inclusive workplaces and expand opportunities for women and business.

Visit www.catalyst.org to learn more about our work and download Catalyst reports. Visit www.catalyst.org/page/82/catalyst-e-newsletters to begin receiving Catalyst C-News, our e-newsletter.

© 2010 Lockheed Martin Corporation

B E T W E E N T H E C H A L L E N G E A N D T H E S O L U T I O N, T H E R E I S O N E IM P O R TA N T W O R D : H O W.

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

culture matters

Time for Brazil

By Craig Storti

I

In this issue, we complete our tour of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) with which we’ve kicked off the “Culture Matters” column. We have suggested that for a variety of reasons—their natural resources, their human resources, their potential as markets—these four nations loom large in almost everyone’s future. They will be key players in the global arena, and if you too aspire to play in that arena, knowing more about the cultures of these four nations will give you a leg up.

“Brazil is the country of the future,” Charles deGaulle once famously opined, “and always will be.”

For years it has been Brazil’s future, in the form of its abundant and undeveloped natural resources, and not its present— in the form of political, social, and financial turmoil—that has interested keen Brazil-watchers. But now, in 2010, Brazil’s future may have arrived at last. A photo of Rio graces the cover of The Economist even as this column is being written, with a headline proclaiming “Brazil takes off.” Inside, the lead article announces that “sometime in the decade after 2014…

Brazil is likely to become the world’s fifth-largest economy, overtaking Britain and France” [November 14th, p. 15].

There are many aspects of Brazil’s culture that outsiders need to be aware of if they seek smooth working relations and successful engagements with Brazilian colleagues and partners, but at the top of the list is surely the somewhat relaxed attitude toward time (sometimes called hora Latina in Spanish-speaking Latin America). While the laid-back Latin attitude toward time is something of a cliché, like all clichés, it contains a kernel of truth.

Attitudes toward time are influenced by a number of cultural factors, but there are two in particular to be aware of. The first is the concept of “locus of control” that we introduced two issues ago in our column on Russia.

We noted at that time that one of the dimensions on which cultures differ widely is the notion of how much control individuals have over what happens in life. The two extremes between which all cultures fall are the “internalists” who

12

Pro f i les i n D i ve rsit y Journal

January/February 2010

believe that what happens in life is mostly up to us, and the “externalists” who believe that many things in life are beyond anyone’s control. Internalists believe people can control most outcomes; externalists believe that we should do all we can to control outcomes, but we won’t always succeed.

Needless to say, internalists (such as North Americans) and externalists (such as Brazilians) think about schedules and deadlines in different ways: internalists believe schedules and deadlines can always be met because whatever happens, we can control the circumstances, hence the outcome. Externalists likewise make schedules and set deadlines, but sometimes they have to be changed due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control; occasionally things “just happen.” North Americans get quite exercised when schedules have to be adjusted and deadlines pushed back because, from an internalist perspective, there’s really no reason that should ever happen.

A second key factor influencing attitudes toward time, especially the importance of staying on schedule, is the whole notion of how much time we have available to us. In North America we don’t have very much time; it’s quite sad, but all we get is 24 hours in any given day, and that’s not nearly enough time for all the things we have to do. As a result, we are obsessed with using the limited time we have as efficiently as possible, organizing it in tight schedules that must be adhered to, come hell or high water. This is why being late is so serious in North America, because it means wasting people’s time, of which they don’t have nearly enough to begin with.

In Brazil (and much of Latin America), they have plenty of time. It’s the same solar system, of course, so as a matter of fact Brazilians only have 24 hours in their day too, but that’s not a problem because Brazil is what is called a “particularist” culture. Particularist cultures (as opposed to universalist cultures like the U.S.) divide the world into ingroup and outgroup, and they treat the former very differently from the latter. You have numerous obligations and responsibilities towards your ingroup—family, extended family, friends of family, and honorary “family,” such as trusted business associates—and no obligations or responsibilities whatsoever to the rest of the world, also known as the “outgroup,” who, of course, recognize no obligations or responsibilities to you.

Monochronic and Polychronic Types The terms in the trade for cultures that are more and less time-sensitive are monochronic and polychronic.

This construct is somewhat broader than the issue of schedules and deadlines discussed here, encompassing such additional topics as:

One effect of this ingroup/outgroup distinction is that particularists feel they only owe their time to the limited circle of people belonging to their ingroup; they are dividing their time among a small subset of people, in other words, so it feels like they have more of it. Universalists, as the term is meant to imply, do not make clear ingroup/outgroup distinctions and believe you should treat everyone equally; in a universalist culture, therefore, everyone ultimately has a claim on your time (as you do on theirs), so you feel like you have much less time. Even universalists have a pecking order—there are some people you call back before others, some people you will arrange to meet with before others, some people who get more of your time than others—but there is no one who has no claim on your time.

So what’s a time-obsessed, time-strapped North American supposed to do? The first step is to understand where Brazilians are coming from, and this article can help you with that.

That’s not to say that once you understand what’s behind the Brazilian view of time, you’ll suddenly calm down and no longer be bothered by it. You will still be bothered by it, still wish Brazilians didn’t act that way, but at least you will realize that they aren’t trying to bother you, that Brazilians have not deliberately adopted a different attitude toward time because they know it drives North Americans crazy. When you realize there is no intent behind behavior you find frustrating, it takes the sting out of the situation and helps you get over it more quickly.

Good. So now at least you’re not quite so upset. What next?

You need to find ways to engage with Brazilians that somehow accommodate their time sense and still allow you to meet your deadline. Here are four suggestions: • Be sure to model the behavior you’re looking for. In all of your dealings with Brazilians, be sure to meet their deadlines.

• Build some extra time into your schedule to begin with.

If you really need the deliverable by the middle of the month, worst case, then tell Brazilians you need it by the first of the month.

• Make sure Brazilians understand what the consequences of a missed deadline are in your culture. If you don’t, they’ll assume they know what a missed deadline means—i.e., what it means in Brazilian culture, which is, well…not very much, and, happens all the time. If Brazilians realize a

• Multi-tasking: monochronic types prefer to do one thing at a time/wait on one person at a time and give that person their undivided attention; polychronic types often do several things at once/wait on several people at once, dividing their attention.

• Lining up: monochronic types wait in line/wait their “turn” because they are used to being waited on one at a time; polychronic types vie for (and receive) attention en masse and do not generally line up.

• Parcelling out time: monochronic types may have to “make time” for you/may not always have time for you; polychronic types always have time for their ingroup.

missed deadline will be harmful to your best interests, they won’t want to cause trouble for you.

• Make it clear you’ll do anything you can to help them meet your deadline. This is key, because when things happen that are beyond their control, you can step in and exert your control.

As we said at the outset, much has changed in Brazil just in the last decade, and one of those things is a significant increase in foreign investment and multi-national joint ventures. Many younger Brazilians are used to working with northern hemisphere types and understand the time issue. So take everything we have said above with a grain of salt. Some Brazilians will have a “problem” with time, and others will be as time-conscious as any North American. In the end, deal with the Brazilians who are standing in front of you, not the ones you read about in places like this. PDJ

Craig Storti, a consultant and trainer in the field of intercultural communications, is the author of seven books. His latest, Speaking of India, describes the common cultural flashpoints when Indians work together with North Americans and western Europeans.

He can be contacted at: craig@craigstorti.com.

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from my perspective…

The Future of Diversity Training 2010 and Beyond?

By Linda Jimenez Chief Diversity Officer and Staff Vice President—Diversity & Inclusion WellPoint, Inc.

I

I’ve been a diversity practitioner for 13+ years and have been involved in some aspect of diversity training within each industry in which I’ve worked—property and casualty insurance, grocery retail, pharmaceutical, hospitality and healthcare.

Following the inauguration of our first black president I’ve heard many individuals comment that “diversity training” is no longer necessary. Really? We are living through an enormous explosion of change around diversity and inclusion, not only in the U.S., but also globally. And, in my perspective, we are still confronted by diversity tension from well-recognized “isms,” and new diversity dimensions based on our ever-increasing panoply of diversity.

Consider, for example, last year’s presidential election. The campaign included a woman, an African-American, and a white male over 70. The election process included many debates over diversity dimensions which illustrated that “isms” were still a part of the fabric of our society—either in the form of ageism, sexism, or racism. The focus during the election wasn’t always on the candidates and the requirements of the position or their qualifications for office. Do you remember the fierce discussions about Hillary “crying” on the campaign trail and the constant focus on her hairstyle and wardrobe? Do you remember the heated comments about Barack Hussein Obama, his middle name and the perceived race/ethnicity assumptions made around his name which prompted some to question his ability (and loyalty) to lead the United States? And, although I wasn’t a McCain supporter, as a baby boomer, I came to his defense when others questioned his age and indirectly his health to assume the role of President. Clearly we are not beyond assumptions and stereotypes based on race, age, and gender to forego diversity training altogether.

And, let’s not forget the 2007 firestorm started by Don Imus’ disrespectful and degrading racist and sexist comments and slurs attacking the Rutgers women’s basketball team. Did he really think a “mea culpa” that said we should all relax and

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“…not worry about some idiot saying something meant to be amusing…” was enough? It wasn’t, and his actions resulted in him losing sponsor support and ultimately his job. When individuals with a pulpit to influence millions make such startling comments freely, can we truly say we are done with diversity training and can fold up our tents and go home?

There are now four generations in the workplace, each with very different workplace expectations. Social networking is explosive and spreading internally and externally within our workforce, our workplaces, and our marketplace. Multigenerational diversity brings with it a focus on new technology (e.g., iPhones, BlackBerrys, IM’ing, texting, Tweeting, YouTube), a new language (“r u there?” “omg – did u c that?”), new workplace norms (e.g., earphones connected to an iPod to block out office noise while working in a cubicle), and a vast array of legal considerations (e.g., the dos and don’ts of social networking when used in the workplace).

Companies are doing business globally, and that makes cultural competence a strategic imperative. Being culturally competent means that a person understands, and is highly aware of, the process of adaptation and how much they might need to adapt their behaviors around different business functions. For example, when managing Chinese subordinates, should a U.S. manager maintain a participative-oriented style that encourages self-empowerment, or shift more to a hierarchical, directive approach more common to Chinese business?

From my perspective, the importance of diversity training, education, and awareness—fluid and adapting to the myriad of diversity dimensions that continue to evolve—remains a strategic focus for 2010 and beyond. For all the transformation and change taking placing within our workforce, workplace, and marketplace, we all have so much more to learn. PDJ

Linda Jimenez is a native of San Antonio, Texas, and attended the University of Texas at Austin where she received her B.A. with honors. She is also a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and has spent 20 years specializing in labor and employment law.

CAREERS AT SHELL The most successful problem solvers look at things differently and see solutions no one else can. Who would have thought to use fish protein to stop gas freezing in subsea pipes? One of our people did.

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“Shell provided me with the opportunity to handle challenges and manage issues in a dynamic refinery environment. I count it a privilege to be part of this globalized entity and I was convinced that my journey in Shell will be filled with continual learnings, growth and never-ending opportunities to contribute.”

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Jasmine Tiwari Senior Associate Researcher

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Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

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diversity innovation

SHRM Proudly Presents the Global Diversity Readiness Index (G-DRI) Eric Peterson, Manager of Diversity & Inclusion at SHRM, answers our questions about this exciting and useful new diversity readiness tool.

Q

&

Questions Answers

What is the Global Diversity Readiness Index and how can organizations benefit from it?

The Global Diversity Readiness Index (G-DRI) is a tool that ranks and rates 47 different countries along 39 separate diversity readiness indicators in the areas of National Diversity (how diverse the country actually is), Workplace Inclusion (how inclusive workplaces tend to be), Social Inclusion (how inclusive the society outside the workplace tends to be), Government Inclusion (whether or not the nation is governed by a diverse group of individuals), and Legal Framework (what laws exist to protect underrepresented groups or foster greater inclusion). For each indicator, the countries are ranked from first to last, and source information for all of the data is provided by the tool.

Organizations can use this information in a variety of ways. If an organization is buying from, selling to, or doing business in one of the nations included in the tool, it can provide a lot of quick and useful information about the population, their society, and their laws. If an organization is deciding to branch out globally, the G-DRI can be a great first place to explore the ramifications of moving into one nation versus another. And anyone interested in the global landscape can, quite frankly, have a lot of fun exploring the information provided by the G-DRI.

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Your Web site mentions that the Global Diversity Readiness Index (G-DRI) was prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Could you briefly explain who they are and what they do?

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is a subsidiary of the Economist Group, the publishers of Economist magazine.

They are the Economist Group’s research arm, and employ a cadre of “country managers” who are, essentially, subject matter experts in one or two countries.

Because of the wealth of both knowledge and experience that the EIU brought to the table, we were proud to partner with them to create this first-of-its-kind tool.

The G-DRI seems like a powerful tool that uses sophisticated statistical formulas. How user-friendly is this tool for those in the industry who may not be so comfortable dealing with formulas?

I am not a mathematician by any means, but the EIU essentially did all the math for us when putting the tool together. What you see when you click through the tool are the results of the statistical work, not the cumbersome process—and yet, for the statisticians out there, the tool is very transparent in terms of how these results were obtained.

The G-DRI Country Profiles of the United States and France

The G-DRI Section Rankings of the United States and France

Some of the G-DRI results for the United States seem to prove that we still have a lot of work ahead of us in the D&I industry.

Well, yes and no. On the one hand, the U.S. ranks number one in the category of Workplace Diversity. On the other hand, we’re first with a raw score of 80 out of 100, and when I went to school, that was a ‘B-.’ Also, our scores for the other categories are significantly lower. What this says to me is that in the United States, our workplaces are really leading the way for the rest of the American society—and that yes, there is still more to be done even at work.

But when using the tool, I have to remind myself that all of the rankings are relative—the real power of this tool reveals itself when you compare one country to another, or use the filtering feature to compare a nation to those in its geographic region or cultural cluster. For instance, the Minister of Culture in France recently made the comment that France was lagging behind its neighbors in the areas of diversity and inclusion, which angered many French citizens. With two or three clicks of a mouse, I was able to see that, while we see average scores for France compared to the rest of the world, most of Western Europe is indeed ahead of France in many significant ways. From there, I was able to link to even more information. When I was asked to comment on the Minister’s statement on SHRM’s website, I had a detailed and cogent reply at the ready after less than ten minutes of research.

South Africa, led the nation for many years during Apartheid.

It would have been impossible not to include this data; to do so would compromise the integrity of the entire tool. And yet, practitioners who use the tool are encouraged to seek out context for all the data they see here. The G-DRI is really meant to be a practitioners’ starting point, not the endpoint.

How trustworthy is the data that was used to compile the tool?

How can organizations find and use this tool?

The EIU, a research organization with a great degree of earned credibility, stands behind the data in this tool 100%. And yet, much of the data is what I call “context-free.” For example, in the indicator that measures the number of years that a racial or religious minority served as head of state, the clear winner is South Africa, because white men, a racial minority in

The G-DRI is available for download free of charge at www.shrm.org/gdri. For those who want to purchase the interactive version of the tool, which allows users to assign their own weights to indicators according to their organization’s priorities, a link to the interactive G-DRI is also available at that site. PDJ

Graphics are screen-captures of G-DRI tool.

Follow Eric on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EPetersonSHRM Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

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viewpoint

Profiling Is a Diversity Management Issue

By Melanie Harrington

T President

American Institute for Managing Diversity, Inc.

The issue of profiling has dominated the news recently. With the bombing attempt by a Nigerian national on a U.S.-bound flight on Christmas day, it has ignited another round of debates on the efficacy and value of profiling people who look a certain way, come from a certain place, or practice a certain religion. Whatever your feelings are about profiling, i.e., the reliance on a group of characteristics that are believed to be associated with a specific behavior, it is a practice in which all of us have engaged, either consciously or unconsciously.

Profiling is often done to exclude or segregate people based on a group of characteristics. Those who appear to exhibit the characteristics often find themselves stigmatized, humiliated, and in a constant battle to prove that they are the exception among the profiled group, or that the behavior associated with the group should not be attributed to them.

Some level of profiling is performed in business on a regular basis. We stereotype and categorize groups of people to figure out how to market our goods and services, make staffing decisions, track disparities among groups, and determine whether to give someone the benefit of the doubt. According to psychologists, much of our stereotyping is based on the slightest encounter and done unconsciously, in milliseconds. Although this automatic processing and instinctive tendency may, according to experts, be inbred, it causes us to apply broad assumptions based on limited information to a whole group of people.

Diversity experts sometimes refer to stereotyping as unconscious bias. Sondra Thiederman defines bias as “an inflexible positive or negative prejudgment about the nature, character and abilities of an individual and is based on a generalized idea about the group to which the person belongs.”1 No one is immune to bias, but as Dr. Thiederman also notes, not all biases are bad. Bias is an instinct that has persisted throughout human 1 Thiederman,

Sondra. (2003) Making Diversity Work, Dearborn Trade Publishing, A Kaplan Professional Company (2003).

2 A polycentric management approach is where subsidiaries are managed locally by local managers. A geocentric management approach applies to companies that use a global integrated business strategy and staffs business units and teams based on an alignment of the organization’s needs with the best global talent regardless of nationality or residence. Treven, Sonja, (2001) “Human Resource Management in International Organizations”, Journal of Contemporary Management Issues, Vol 6, No 1-2.

3 To be diversity challenged is to have difficulty making quality decisions in the midst of differences and similarities and their accompanying complexities and tensions.

Thomas, Jr., R. Roosevelt. (2005) Building on the Promise of Diversity: How We Can Move to the Next Level in Our Workplaces, Our Communities, and Our Society. New York: AMACOM (2005).

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evolution because we believe that we receive some benefit from it. In his book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell attributes some of the most successful and effective decisions to a quick sizing-up of a situation or person based on the thinnest slice of experience or information. However, he acknowledges that ‘thin slicing’ can go awry, resulting in harmful stereotyping.

Given the growing number of corporations with geocentric and polycentric global business strategies,2 and a new generation of workers who are intent on bringing their “whole selves” to work, including all their differences and similarities, bias, or thin slicing gone awry, can result in a substantial cost to an organization. It is a cost in litigation fees, damaged reputation, lost market share, poor employee morale, low productivity, and ineffective staffing decisions, to name just a few examples.

But to commence interactions with people, markets, or organizations across the globe, one must start with some assumptions. Therefore, how do we effectively manage our profiling tendencies?

First, prior to acting on the assumption, you must be clear about your diversity challenge3 or your bias. Second, you must understand what is driving your bias. Dr. Thiederman states that you should examine the secondary gains and benefits that you derive from believing in your bias. Third, examine the cost and validity of your bias. Fourth, improve your understanding of the groups that are the subject of your bias and develop what Dr. Thiederman calls “kinships” among those in the group.

Fifth, remember that any number of things can trigger a return of our biases. In these instances, Dr. Thiederman suggests that you “fake it ’til you make it.” Sometimes a verbalized intention will foster a desired behavior and eventually a change in attitude.

Profiling is short-cut, millisecond decision-making. It is true that in the fast-moving world of business, the willingness for, and capability of, making quick decisions is a valuable skill, but only if the decisions are good ones. As the marketplace climbs out of this historic global recession, perhaps we should assess the cost of our biased judgments and invest time in wiser, diversity-capable decision-making.

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

Thanks to you, Danielle and her family can celebrate a strong past and a healthy future.

In recognition of leaders, past and present, WellPoint joins in the celebration of National African-American History Month.

WellPoint is committed to simplifying the connection between health, care and value. Whether it’s engaging members to make healthy choices or helping physicians communicate culturally sensitive information with patients, we are helping eliminate health disparities and improve the lives of the people we serve and the health of our communities.

Better health care, thanks to you.

Visit us online at wellpoint.com/diversity EOE

© 2010 WellPoint, Inc. All Rights Reserved ® Registered Trademark, DiversityInc Media LLC Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

January/February 2010

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reflections

Reflections of a CDO: Six Warning Signs of a Troubled Diversity Initiative

By Angela Roseboro

T

Managing Partner Fusion Group

Throughout my career as a diversity practitioner, I have had the opportunity to support organizations that understood and leveraged diversity, as well as companies that were in the beginning of their diversity journey.

Over the years, I have noticed some common patterns that have the potential to impact the longevity and success of an organization’s diversity imitative.

“The Right Thing to Do” Diversity Initiative

I don’t think anyone will argue that diversity isn’t the right thing to do. Although it is an honorable reason for a diversity initiative, a social strategy may not be sustainable in the long term. In an era where innovation, global markets, and consumer loyalty are drivers to business growth, a comprehensive diversity strategy can prove to be the ‘X’ factor that distinguishes good companies from great ones. Organizations that approach diversity as more of a ‘feel good’ initiative will not only miss out on true business opportunities but, during recessionary times, also find that diversity initiatives are at risk of being cut back or cut out altogether. As one executive pointed out very recently, “Diversity is important, but it’s just not a priority right now.”

Diversity Efforts Are Not Aligned to Business Objectives

Positioning diversity as a key business objective is vital to a successful diversity initiative. The first document I ask to see when developing a strategy is the company’s strategic priorities.

Knowing the goals and objectives of the organization enables me to understand how diversity might impact (directly or indirectly) business performance. Organizations are often motivated by the bottom line; if diversity is perceived as not adding any business value, it will be difficult to gain support, commitment, and momentum throughout the organization.

Diversity Is Not Implemented as a Change Management Strategy

When creating or redefining a diversity initiative, it is important to keep in mind that a successful implementation will require both organizational and individual change. Two things I know for sure about change—it is never easy and there is a natural resistance against it. In some aspects, creating the diversity strategy is the least difficult phase; getting a company to adopt 20

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and embrace it proves to be the most difficult. Companies that implement diversity as a short-term program may have some quick success, but these results will not be sustainable over the long term.

Lack of Accountability Systems

A primary derailer of a diversity initiative is lack of accountability. Each layer of the organization must not only have diversity goals, they must also be accountable for the results.

Diversity goals that are tied to both reward and performance systems are key to operationalizing diversity principles throughout the organization, ensuring that diversity becomes an expectation rather than option.

Middle Managers Are Not Engaged Early in the Process

Middle managers are the soldiers of the organization, responsible for executing the organization’s strategic priorities.

Additionally, for most employees, managers are the ‘face’ of the organization, and often influence how employees feel about the company. If managers don’t fully understand the business case for diversity, and don’t feel accountable on an individual and/or organizational level, the diversity strategy will not be adopted by the businesses/functions, no matter how sound it may be.

Human Resources Is Not Active in the Implementation

In most organizations, the Office of Diversity reports in to the Human Resource function. We automatically presume that diversity and human resources is a natural fit; yet that is not always the case. HR owns most of the people processes and accountability systems, while the Office of Diversity wants to ensure the policies are inclusive, and to integrate diversity principles into those accountability systems. In order for a diversity initiative to be fully successful, not only must there be a strong collaboration between the Office of Diversity and Human Resources to achieve the organization’s diversity objectives, but HR leadership must also be an active and strong champion of diversity efforts.

As a CDO, my primary goal is always to ensure that my organization is in the best position to capitalize on the benefits of diversity and inclusion. Recognizing the potential warning signs allows me to address barriers and create an approach that not only overcomes the obstacles, but also accelerates our progress. PDJ Angela Roseboro is managing partner of the Fusion Group, an employee performance consulting firm.

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EOE M/F/D/V

diversity performance

Diversity as Business Strategy

By Michael L. Wheeler

D

Chief Executive Officer OEStrategies Inc.

Diversity is the most important performance factor of the 21st century. As a global demographic business fact, it matters at every business interface—in the marketplace, the talent pool, across global operations, and within our communities. It matters in how we lead people, work as teams, innovate for product development— and ultimately, it influences the profitability and sustainability of our organizations.

Define Diversity and Inclusion as Actions:

• Respecting differences, • Valuing uniqueness, • Maximizing individual and team potential, and • Synergizing collective talents, experiences, perspectives.1 Taking Diversity beyond a static statistic or a compliance function to an action-oriented strategic opportunity for inclusion is the start to Diversity as business strategy.

Know Your Business Goals and DPFs:

Once you have a solid definition, identify the Diversity Performance Factors™ (DPFs) for each business goal and objective. DPFs are the issues, challenges, opportunities, and dynamics that come into play as a result of differences based upon primary or secondary dimensions2 such as race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and so on.

Differences can result in misunderstandings, complexity, and conflict, and are all too often the basis for exclusion and discrimination—barriers to goal achievement. Conversely, differences provide new and fresh perspectives; they link us to the global marketplace, drive innovation, and help us come up with better solutions—enablers for goal achievement.

When we explicitly identify DPFs relative to goals and objectives, we can then create proactive interventions and tactics that help ensure that Diversity’s strengths are indeed leveraged for business performance enhancement. The following chart shows examples:

Business Objectives

• Expand International Markets OR • Improve Productivity

Diversity Performance Factors

Barriers • No representation of target markets on team—missing critical perspectives • ISMs—racism, etc.

• Phobias— homophobia, etc.

• Exclusion • Cultural Conflicts • Lack of cultural competence • DPFs not identified • Low morale, sabotage, low productivity

Tactics/Interventions • Link Diversity to marketplace, innovation, product development • Inclusion of Diverse Perspectives • Team building interventions • Recruit diversity • Tap into ERGs • Zero tolerance policies • Diversity Education/ Conflict Management • Include DPFs in business planning • Communicate success stories

Results

• More effective teams • More effective market expansion • Fewer faux pas • Improved image • Improved sales • Avoidance of losses • Engaged, motivated, committed employees • Ideas tapped into • Nice place to work • Greater innovation

Create a Strategy:

1. Build: Recruit and build diverse teams throughout the organization in all levels and functions.

2. Include: It is one thing to recruit diversity and build diverse teams; it is another to welcome, engage, and respect differences. It’s practical—ask, listen, act, end exclusion.

3. Lead: Leaders need to model inclusive and respectful behaviors, inspire, and proactively ensure the essential tactics for leveraging Diversity. It’s cultural competence.

4. Leverage: Explicitly and actively seek out and include diversity in product development, planning, decision making, marketing, and more!

Measure Success:

Qualitative and quantitative, implicit and explicit, and process and results metrics need to be put into place.

The current problem, in part, is that we are not typically considering DPFs in how we measure processes, results, and business success. Demonstrating the value of Diversity to the bottom line is important, but that is not enough—we must believe it and feel it and be committed to it.

Diversity is a fact. What we do or do not do relative to that fact will ultimately determine our success in today’s and tomorrow’s global economy. PDJ

notes: 1 Adapted

from a definition by 3M—a company known for innovation, success and Diversity.

2 Based upon Loden and Rosner’s Dimensions of Diversity Model.

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Michael L. Wheeler is a strategic management consultant, author, and entrepreneur specializing in workforce diversity and organizational effectiveness. Visit www.oestrategiesinc.com for more information.

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FreddieMacDiversity.jobs careers with impact

This is the time of year when we traditionally pause to remember the great, influential African-American leaders who have made their mark in the world, and the legacies of those who pioneered civil rights in America.

But we must also remember and celebrate the contributions of those African Americans who have made their mark in the business world. They do not have a national platform from which to share their ideas and thoughts; they have a much smaller stage from which they can use their influence to help develop strong and talented teams and organizations. Their personal histories give them the experience and knowledge to lead those who are fortunate enough to listen to and learn from them.

And so we share with you the experiences and advice of these leaders, so you may also learn from what they know.

Cynthia G. Marshall

President

AT&T North Carolina Who in your family had the most impact on your success? My mother, Carolyn Gardner, who put a Bible in one of my hands and a math book in the other. She gave me my personal and professional foundation and helped me realize that I have an obligation to use this life the Lord has given me to benefit my community and other people. Through her, I learned that no matter the obstacle, there is always a way to deal with it through faith, determination, hard work, and a positive spirit. She taught me that how we live is far more important than where we live or the things we have, and finally: people matter, and that’s all that matters.

Headquarters: Dallas, Texas Web site: www.att.com Primary Business: Telecommunications Employees: More than 285,000

What is your definition of leadership? There are four key aspects of leadership—focusing on results, interpersonal skills, personal capability and motivating in a time of change—all of these around a core of unquestioned character. Leadership is providing the direction and motivation that enables your team to both do the right thing, and achieve results the right way. When you succeed, people come away feeling good about what they did, how they did it and why they did it. Managers do things right; leaders do the right things.

What are the personal and professional risks a leader should take? First, a leader has to be willing to risk

his or her job for the sake of integrity. You have to be willing to be the voice crying in the wilderness for what is ethically and morally right. I’m blessed to be at a company where integrity is the center of all we do; there are examples in corporate America where that has not been the case. Second, a leader has to put it on the line and go to bat for his or her people. Sometimes policies or practices need to be changed to accommodate people, or to include diverse thinking, and you’ve got to fight to make that happen.

Again, I’m fortunate because this is not only accepted, but encouraged at AT&T. I’ve taken those risks and have been rewarded every time.

What is your most rewarding career accomplishment? Leading the effort to get our company into the long-distance business in California has been the highlight of my career. It was an intense effort over several years that drew on everything I had ever done in my career. That project epitomized everything you talk about in achieving business success: extreme teamwork, overcoming obstacles, flexibility, planning, fighting external and internal battles without making enemies, achieving the win/win solution when possible, maintaining credibility, knowing your stuff, valuing relationships, and perseverance. It engaged all the organizations in our company, in addition to our competitors and policy makers, with the end result being a positive outcome for everyone, especially customers of our industry.

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Celebrating Black History Month

Tracey Gray-Walker

Black Leaders Leading

Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company Who is/was your most influential leadership mentor and why? One of my first managers. A demanding leader,

she has an amazing ability to motivate and lead people toward her vision, always encouraging people to be their very best. She has a unique ability of making each team member feel vital to the success of the entire team, while giving everyone opportunities for advancement.

Who in your family had the most impact on your success? My grandmother. She was a very warm and caring person with a strong presence. Her high expectations and love were equally valuable and both added to my life and success. She always encouraged me to shoot for the moon, but made it clear that reaching the clouds was okay, as long as I always did my best.

What is your definition of leadership? The ability to influence and engage others to get things done. Motivating

and instilling in people the desire to follow and support a vision. It’s playing multiple positions as needed, with the ability to leverage the strengths of the team to maximize its full potential.

What is your most rewarding career accomplishment? Early in my career I wanted to leave accounting and enter

marketing, but I didn’t know anything about marketing. I was not prepared for the journey. Eventually, I was given the opportunity to enter the field and learn the required skills. I knew I had accomplished my goal when people started telling me how good a marketer I had become. That meant a lot, because I went from not knowing to knowing; from knowing to leading.

What was the defining moment in your life in which you understood your leadership? The day my son was

Headquarters: New York City Web site: www.axa-equitable.com Primary Business: Life insurance, annuities and investment products and services Employees: More than 11,000 employees and sales personnel

diagnosed with Autism. It was on this day that I learned what it was to lead a team of professionals and to act as an advocate. My son’s life and well-being were in my hands and I was responsible for leading the team to a solution around his educational needs. After a great deal of research and negotiation I was able to leverage the resources and gain consensus around a schooling placement.

If given the chance, would you do anything differently? I would have started off focused on others and not myself. I could have been a more successful leader sooner had I learned earlier in my career to put the needs of others first.

Tim Mackie, CLU, ChFC

Executive Vice President and Branch Manager

AXA Advisors, LLC Who is/was your most influential leadership mentor and why? The late Darwin Davis, who had an exceptional

career at AXA Equitable. Darwin was a great husband, father, and friend, and highly respected in the workplace and community. Darwin was an example of success for African Americans and he encouraged people of color that success was possible, but you have to want it and you have to work for it. He taught me that there is no obstacle you can’t tear down, break through, or jump over.

Who in your family had the most impact on your success? My father, mother, and wife supported me with

unconditional love and encouragement. I was raised in a small community in New Orleans. Both of my parents were active in the church and our community. They taught me the importance of prayer, education, respect, to fear no one, and to stand up for what was right. My wife and I made a vow to walk this road together, and we haven’t looked back.

What is your definition of leadership? Leadership is much more than management. It is the ability to lead a

group of individuals effectively, and help to make them and the organization successful, while maintaining strong principles and ideals. Leaders should have values that are consistent with high moral and ethical standards, and they should know how to motivate others effectively.

What are your most rewarding career accomplishments? Becoming an officer in the United States Air Force and being able to lead, serve, protect, and defend the United States of America for 20 years. Being promoted to executive vice president and branch manager for AXA Advisors and moving to Detroit, Michigan, to mentor new financial professionals.

Headquarters: New York City Web site: www.axa-equitable.com Primary Business: Life insurance, annuities and investment products and services Employees: More than 11,000 employees and sales personnel

What advice can you provide for young leaders? Have a vision. Set goals and write them down. Have courage and believe in yourself. Know your purpose and values, and be able to articulate them. Join a professional organization. Interact with positive people and rid yourself of toxic people. Become fluent in another language. Learn about different cultures. Eat healthy. Incorporate exercise into your daily routine. Read.

Never stop learning.

What are the personal and professional risks a leader should take? Believe that each goal is attainable. You can’t be everyone’s friend. Encourage others to live a life that is ethically and morally correct. Be ready to lead the pack.

Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

January/February 2010

25

Celebrating Black History Month

John Thompson

Black Leaders Leading

Senior Vice President and General Manager, BestBuy.com

Best Buy Company, Inc. Who is/was your most influential leadership mentor and why? Dick Gray, my manager at General Electric Company, was the “king of accountability” and believed that integrity was what you did when no one was watching. Therefore, being a self-starter, anticipating issues, and developing alternatives were lessons I learned early, and lessons that I’ve never forgotten.

Who in your family had the most impact on your success? My mother taught me not to be afraid of hard work and that if you truly explore options, you will always find a path worth paving. I took my first job at the age of 14 and quickly began to recognize the impact that those around me had on my life. It was during this time that I realized the importance of developing my personal brand identity in a way that demonstrated consistency and personal integrity.

What is your definition of leadership? Along with a focus on hard work and integrity, the definition of leadership embodies both an ability to ask great questions and a willingness to embrace input as a patient and thoughtful listener. This act of leadership is never-ending, and the journey it requires must be taken as a marathon and not a sprint. Positions of leadership come with an enormous set of responsibilities, and deeply rooted in that responsibility is an affirmative obligation to put the interest of the enterprise, its shareholders, and the constituents you serve front and center.

Headquarters: Richfield, Minnesota Web site: www.bestbuy.com Primary Business: Consumer electronics

This requires you to look beyond merely what’s in front of you, but to future opportunities, strategically sorting priorities and pushing forward as a progressive thinker. Great leaders not only have a genuine passion to achieve, but also an understanding of the personal sacrifices that sometimes come with that passion.

No one can be molded into a leader absent of their own personal drive to succeed, so being prepared for opportunities and recognizing them as they appear becomes a key component to becoming a successful leader. Owning and protecting your personal brand displays to those around you that you are strong enough to stand in the face of adversity, stick to your convictions and focus on engaging others towards results.

Employees: 155,000 worldwide

Richard Coats

Division Vice President, Franchise Operations

Burger King Corporation Who was your most influential leadership mentor and why? I once worked with a gentleman named Alan Houston, a senior executive who inspired me because of his commitment to do the right thing.

The company we worked for expected high year-over-year growth and he was the first executive I saw who was willing to create the right balance between short-term and long-term results, even if it meant not hitting the target immediately. I developed my philosophy from working with him: Do the right thing, not just the right now thing.

Headquarters: Miami, Florida Web site: www.bk.com Primary Business: Fast food hamburger restaurant Employees: Approximately 27,000 corporate- and companyowned restaurant employees in the U.S.

Who in your family had the most impact on your success? Without a doubt, my mom had the biggest impact on me. I grew up in a single-parent home and there were challenges. She always told me not to let anybody look down on me because of my financial situation or cultural background. She instilled in me a strong work ethic and the belief that I must be responsible for my future, and that society doesn’t owe me anything. She was a religious person, and her sense of values and constant support gave me strength of character that I carry with me today.

What is your most rewarding career accomplishment? Being able to take a number of under-performing work groups and turn them into high-performing teams. I’ve been in turnaround situations where I was told to get rid of certain people, or ‘clean house.’ I took a different approach. Through clear communication, people development, goal-setting, and recognition, those same teams were able to do things no one thought they were ever capable of. I’m a big believer in people. If you provide them with a combination of strong leadership, great training, and the right tools, you will make a difference. Most employees want to win, and when you create that environment, they will win.

What’s the worst fault a leader can have? Every leader has some ‘blind spots,’ but the biggest opportunity I’ve seen is when leaders don’t

recognize that their teams want to be held to high standards. They want to be accountable and they want to perform at the highest level.

Many leaders believe personal popularity can motivate their team to a different level of performance. The problem with that approach is if your primary lever is personal influence, then the moment you do something unpopular, you neutralize your ability to lead. I try to maintain a more formal, professional relationship with my team. The focus stays on the results we need to deliver and a high level of accountability, which positions them for greater rewards. Some leaders think that holding people to high standards will not endear them to you, but I have found it be to just the opposite.

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Pro f i les i n D i ve rsit y Journal

January/February 2010

Celebrating Black History Month

Black Leaders Leading

Joe Laymon

Vice President, Human Resources

chevron Corporation Who is/was your most influential leadership mentor and why? Don Zrebiec, former Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Xerox. Don taught us the importance of goal setting, resource allocation, flawless execution, and relentless pursuit of excellence while treating others respectfully.

Who in your family had the most impact on your success? My mother, who was a tireless worker, humble citizen, and loving Mom, but fearlessly defensive of her children and friends.

What is your definition of leadership? Having the ability to get others to perform at levels unachievable

without your inspiration.

What is your most rewarding career accomplishment? Assisting three of my direct reports to become the

most senior HR leader in other companies.

Headquarters: San Ramon, California

What’s the worst fault a leader can have? Lack of integrity.

What advice can you provide for young leaders? Have clear, measurable objectives, the appropriate resources

to achieve them, a fair amount of time to deliver them, and a periodic inspection of your progress, all the while surrounding yourself with folks who are smarter than you.

What are the personal and/or professional sacrifices to being leader? A leader builds into her/his schedule

time for family, friends, and non-work interests. Many leaders intentionally avoid the development of friendships with direct reports, thus missing potentially great friendship opportunities.

Web site: www.chevron.com Primary Business: Energy Employees: 60,000

What was the defining moment in your life in which you understood your leadership?

In 1981, when most of my New York team posted to relocate in order to continue to work for me when I was promoted to a new position in Virginia.

If given the chance, would you do anything differently? Yes, although I have always volunteered and given back to the communities where I have worked and lived, I would do even more if given another opportunity.

Norman L. Wright

Executive Vice President; Director, Citibank Client Services

Citigroup Inc. Who in your family had the most impact on your success? My mother has been the most influential person in my life. I grew up in inner-city Philadelphia, in a primarily single parent household—my mother raised my sister and me. As I entered my teenage years, I clearly remember my mother telling me that I would soon face a critical choice in my life. Give in to the temptations of “the street” and increase the risk of a life, and potential, unfulfilled, or stay focused on the path of education, enlightenment, and a spiritual center that could absolutely lead to a full and enriched life. And the magic of Mom wasn’t lectures, punishment, or a rule book. She quite simply established a compelling vision for our futures, made it clear that failing to pursue one’s full potential is a tragedy, and modeled a level of class, dignity, humility, and spiritual connection that has been foundational to my journey ever since. I’m often asked where I learned to connect with people... where I picked up my intellectual curiosity... why I appear to have an endless capacity to work and engage... etc. All of these learnings and life skills came from Mom. I may have lost her in 1993, but the blessings of having her in my life still flow each and every day.

Headquarters: New York City

Web site: What advice can you provide for young leaders? My experience has convinced me that being an effective leader is www.citigroup.com highly dependent upon a few key dimensions: Connect, Engage, & Be Real: It’s absolutely critical to know your people beyond a superficial level.

Primary Business: Be interested in who they are, where they’re going, and their unique needs. And close the distance between Financial services you and your team. Invite them in and be real.

Employees: 280,000 Be Professionally Credible: Whatever your business, know your craft inside-out. Be strategic in your thinking, intimate with your details, and crystal clear in your business plan.

Be “Present” In Every Interaction: There is amazing power in truly focusing on your team when engaging.

Practice being 100% in the moment—listening, connecting, acknowledging. And try this goal: have your people feel like they are the only person on earth in the moment, and that their issue/concern is the only thing on your mind that day.

Have an Inspiring and Actionable Vision: Help your people understand that they’re engaged in meaningful work, and you’re on a journey to an important place.

Master the Art of Communicating: Be prepared, be intelligent, be relevant—while simultaneously being real and human. And understand that each moment represents an opportunity to reinforce a message and drive behaviors.

Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

January/February 2010

27

Celebrating Black History Month

Melissa Donaldson

Black Leaders Leading

Senior Manager, Inclusion Practices

CDW Corporation Who is/was your most influential leadership mentor and why? There are several mentors that have influenced

me along the way. I enjoy speaking with a variety of leaders from varying walks of life to understand their journey, challenges, successes, and insights. Some came along earlier in my career, others much more recently, but all have helped me work through a series of speed bumps and triumphs that I’ve encountered throughout my career. I believe it takes a village to grow a career, and I have definitely called on the village when I needed sound counsel. I’ve been blessed to have had access to so many brilliant leaders who have graciously given their time just for me.

What is your most rewarding career accomplishment? My most rewarding accomplishment is getting executive buy-in on a strategic plan which I developed, resulting in a promotion and new role for myself.

What’s the worst fault a leader can have? The worst fault a leader can have is thinking that they have all the answers and refusing to listen to or value the expertise and perspectives around them. No matter how accomplished one can be, no one truly has seen it all. Leaders who pretend to know everything and only trust in themselves become a liability to the organization, and a saboteur to their own careers.

Headquarters: Vernon Hills, Illinois Web site: www.cdw.com Primary Business: Technology Solutions for business, government and education Employees: 6,150

What advice can you provide for young leaders? Be patient. Be open. Be available. Be a student. New leaders need to understand the political landscape of an organization and how to get things done ethically, efficiently and accurately. Moreover, they need to refrain from making assumptions about the capabilities of team members without fair and objective analysis. Blind spots can be lethal.

What are the personal and professional risks a leader should take? Leadership comes with inherent risks, including unwanted exposure when something doesn’t go according to plan. Leaders need to be willing to step outside their assigned role and take on a less desirable assignment with major value potential for the company.

Leaders who take appropriate and educated risks find out their range of skills, bringing them closer to reaching their full potential. Leaders have to possess strong and accurate self-insight in order to confidently ride the waves of success and setbacks, both by-products of risk-taking.

John S. Smith

Senior Director, Coworker Services (HR)

CDW Corporation Who is/was your most influential leadership mentor and why? Throughout my career I have had two very influential mentors who were instrumental in my leadership growth. The first would be Ms. Hayes, a high school teacher and coach, and the second Dr. Pierson, a college administrator. Ms. Hayes helped push me to excel beyond my personal limits, and recognized my ability to lead a team and inspire peers to follow.

She taught me the basics of leadership through tough love and helped me direct my energy and passion into a desire to lead and achieve, accepting no excuses. On the other hand, Dr. Pierson showed me the value of focus, the importance of determination and perseverance, and the essence of professionalism and respect.

Both of these people have provided me with principles paramount to my role as a leader today.

Headquarters: Vernon Hills, Illinois Web site: www.cdw.com Primary Business: Technology Solutions for business, government and education Employees: 6,150

Who in your family had the most impact on your success? My father has had the most impact on my success.

He was a man of few words, but had a spirit that brightened cold, dark winter days. Born in 1922, he was blessed to have achieved a fifth grade education. He worked cotton fields to support the family, fought in WWII and then traveled north to secure a job with Chrysler Automotive. Growing up, my father often said, “Boy, do right by people,” and “Be a good citizen,” and I now understand what he meant. He was teaching me how to lead, be responsible to others, and hold myself accountable for my actions. I remember one semester in college my tuition payment was short, and we had no money. Regardless, my father drove to the college and set down a mound of rolled coins in the accounting office. He always taught me to be humble. That event not only helped me remain in school, but to fully understand why my success is due in great part to his lessons.

What is your definition of leadership? Simply stated, my definition of leadership is setting a compelling course of action, and inspiring others to follow. Recently, I developed a leadership definition for teens that read, “Leadership is setting a standard by living a set of moral principles that defines your aspirations/beliefs, and challenges all fears, threats, and apprehension, inspiring others to follow.”

What was the defining moment in your life in which you understood your leadership? As a student leader in college, I often spoke to freshmen about achieving success at the university, and always shared that a student should never leave college because of the lack of money. One day, a student approached me and said “John, my grandmother always told me when people have helped you, let them know how.” She continued, “Because of your freshman lecture, I am still in school today.” This student had faced financial challenges that nearly resulted in her dropping out of school. At that moment, I realized the impact of personal leadership and the accountability that comes with it. That was a defining moment on my leadership journey.

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Pro f i les i n D i ve rsit y Journal

January/February 2010

Celebrating Black History Month

Yasmin Bates-Brown

Black Leaders Leading

Executive Vice President, Community Affairs & Economic Development

harris BANK What is your definition of leadership?

I believe that leaders emerge from many diverse backgrounds, sets of circumstances, and for varied purposes.

The commonalities they all possess, however, include the vision to see what needs to happen to reach a goal, and the ability to recognize what success looks like when that goal is accomplished. More importantly, they can influence and rally the troops to want to follow them. Anyone can enforce rules, but it takes a special person to motivate people to truly want to help you achieve success. Much of being a leader also involves serving as a role model for those who come after you.

Who in your family had the most impact on your success?

Many people have served as role models in my life in one way or another. My grandmother, uncle, and sister, though, had the greatest impact on my success. My grandmother instilled in me the basic moral principles of honesty, integrity, and the Golden Rule that continue to guide my actions even today; my uncle became a doctor during a time when discrimination prevented many minorities from pursuing higher education, and he proved that goals can be achieved through hard work; and finally, my sister, who, despite our growing up in a home where we never felt welcome, set her sights on college, graduated from law school, and is now very successful in her own right as a Boeing executive.

Their examples continue to drive me to reach my full potential, and I try to reciprocate that for others. I bear the title of “leader” not as an elite badge of honor, but rather as a reminder of the responsibility I have to those who will one day take my place in the world. It is imperative to keep the cycle going.

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois Web site: www.harrisbank.com Primary Business: Financial services Employees: 7,000

What is your most rewarding career accomplishment?

As a leader, my most rewarding accomplishment is the creation of Harris’ Neighborhood Lending Program (NLP)—one of the first programs of its type in the country. This program became the model for other major banks to develop inner-city lending programs. Through the NLP, thousands of housing units, small businesses, and special purpose projects received critical rehabilitation funding. It’s my proudest accomplishment because it’s a win-win—it was a goal of the bank to establish the program, and it helped improve the quality of life for many citizens in our communities. Those win-win projects are what keep me energized and motivated to keep working hard to lead the next generation in achieving their most rewarding accomplishments, too.

Lance A. LaVergne

Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer

New York Life Insurance Company Who in your family had the most impact on your success? One of the biggest influences in my life, and a major contributor to my success is my father. As long as I can remember, he has always tried to instill in me qualities that are essential for good leadership. My father grew up the son of a sharecropper in rural Louisiana, and ultimately became a family court judge after a 23-year career in the military. He always stressed to me the importance of having a goal and a vision, as well as the importance of hard work and dedication toward the achievement of those goals.

What is your definition of leadership? The interesting thing about leadership, is that it can manifest itself

in so many different ways. Oftentimes, great leadership is situational, where a particular style is required for a given situation. I do believe, though, that universally, good leaders must be decisive but not autocratic, confident but not arrogant, and have the courage of their convictions.

What’s the worst fault a leader can have? One of the most dangerous qualities in a leader is hubris. To be

a leader, people must be willing to follow you. In order to generate “followership,” a good leader must have the ability to engage those he or she seeks to lead, and provide a vision and direction that they can support.

What advice can you provide for young leaders? Leadership starts very early in one’s life, and isn’t simply defined

by running large organizations or enterprises. Each of us has an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in the way we conduct and direct our own affairs, and over time, the scope of whom and what we lead will grow. An additional hallmark of great leadership is good judgment, and good judgment is developed over time. If one recognizes early on that we have an opportunity to lead ourselves and lead others, we can actively work to develop sound judgment that positions us for future leadership opportunities.

Headquarters: New York City Web site: www.newyorklife.com Primary Business: The largest mutual life insurance company in the United States Employees: 8,830 (domestic) as of January 1, 2009

What was the defining moment in your life in which you understood your leadership? I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity

to lead numerous projects and teams—some very successfully, others not so. Each of those experiences has taught me something and has helped shape and define my style. In looking back over all those experiences, that thing that has brought the most satisfaction is the fact that many of the people with whom I have worked have gone on to experience their own levels of personal and professional success. For me, that is a mark of true leadership.

Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

January/February 2010

29

Celebrating Black History Month

Adrian J. Anderson

Black Leaders Leading

Tax Partner

KPMG LLP Who in your family had the most impact on your success? Many family members have supported me throughout my career, and enabled me to achieve success. If I had to point to one person, though, it would be my grandfather, Steve Spann, who had the greatest impact on me. He instilled in me a good work ethic at an early age, and had me working side-by-side with him every summer. On the days he didn’t have me working with him on many different chores, my grandmother had me clean the house from top to bottom before I was allowed to socialize with friends. My grandparents always said, “You don’t get anywhere in life sleeping all day!” As a result, I strongly believe if you work hard and work smart, you can accomplish anything—if you set your mind to it and have a plan on how you will achieve it.

What is your most rewarding career accomplishment? Being admitted to the partnership at age 35. I had

given myself a goal to achieve this level of career success by the age of 40. Something else that stands out in my career was having the opportunity to spend two hours discussing diversity issues in the corporate environment with Spike Lee.

Headquarters: New York City Web site: www.us.kpmg.com

What’s the worst fault a leader can have? Overlooking those who have helped you achieve your success.

Primary Business: Big Four Accounting firm providing audit, tax, and advisory services

I strongly believe that leaders who don’t give credit when credit is due will not be effective during difficult times. A simple, meaningful “Thank You!” can go a long way when you need your team to really step up.

What advice can you provide for young leaders? LEARN TO LISTEN! I can’t emphasize this enough. Listening

Professionals: 20,700 U.S.

will give you the ability to gain insight into what an individual is really thinking. I’ve learned over the years that people will always express their true feelings if you really listen to them. Also, never assume that you—or even the most senior people on your team—have all the answers. The best ideas often come from the people you’d least expect. I also recommend that you know your own strengths and weaknesses, and surround yourself with a team that complements you.

What are the personal and professional risks a leader should take? Leadership is all about making progress, so you must be willing to change so you can succeed. Also: A leader should not fear failure. Failure is an opportunity to learn, and it only becomes a setback if you don’t learn from it.

If given the chance, would you do anything differently? Yes, I would have pursued my football career before turning to corporate America. I was pretty

good in my day!

Lynne C. Inman

Advisory Director

KPMG LLP Who in your family had the most impact on your success?

Like many leaders in the African-American community, I have to credit my mother for having the most impact shaping me to be the person that I am today. My mother was a high school graduate who cleaned houses for a living. She instilled in my brother and me the importance of taking pride in everything you do, and doing it to the best of your ability at all times. She knew the importance of education and worked to help us to understand that there were great opportunities awaiting us, but we would have to work hard to reach them and achieve our personal goals. There have been times when I’ve stumbled, but I’ve learned and grown from every experience. My mother passed away 21 years ago, but I know that she would be pleased that I still hold true to the values that she instilled.

What’s the worst fault a leader can have?

Headquarters: New York City Web site: www.us.kpmg.com Primary Business: Big Four Accounting firm providing audit, tax, and advisory services Professionals: 20,700 U.S.

Not communicating in a timely manner, or not at all. As a leader, you will sometimes find yourself in situations that require you to make decisions you know will not please everyone. Communicating such decisions is not always an easy task, especially during challenging times, but people still want and need to know that they are important to the organization, and that their contributions are valued. Good leaders communicate in bad times as well as good, and that communication helps to instill trust and loyalty throughout an organization.

What advice can you provide for young leaders?

You have one chance to make a first impression. Always try to treat others in the same manner in which you wish to be treated. Also: Be prepared, be on time, and don’t be afraid to take chances.

What are the personal and/or professional sacrifices to being leader?

The more we progress in our professional careers, the more difficult it can become to balance professional responsibilities with personal time for family and friends. We all understand the meaning of the term, “work/life balance,” but actually achieving a true balance between your work life and your personal life becomes more difficult with each promotion. That said, it is very important to make time for ourselves, and to unplug, relax, and recharge when we have the opportunity to do so. You have to take care of yourself, and recognize your limits.

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Pro f i les i n D i ve rsit y Journal

January/February 2010

Celebrating Black History Month

Vernon Veira

Black Leaders Leading

Vice President, Internet & PC Software Development

Pitney Bowes Inc. Who in your family had the most impact on your success? My father had the most influence on my success.

When I was growing up in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, I would work with my father in our family-owned grocery store. He taught me how to run a business, about finances and most of all, the importance of hard work in achieving professional goals. His confidence in me, and the respect that I earned from the elders in the village by working in the store, helped shaped my view of the world. My father has truly been a driving force in my life and has always been there for me.

What is your definition of leadership? A leader is someone who inspires others and gains a following.

He or she is secure enough to empower employees with autonomy and personal responsibility. In addition, a leader isn’t afraid to fail and learn from mistakes. The best leaders use these experiences to improve and enhance their leadership capabilities.

What is your most rewarding career accomplishment? When I came to Pitney Bowes, which was a traditional

hardware company, my job was to drive software development. I put a department together, which previously consisted of disparate groups, and I provided leadership that empowered managers to do their job. At the same time, I had to communicate to senior management about the new capabilities and assets that these software solutions and opportunities provided the company. Although challenging, this experience was really rewarding for me.

What advice can you provide for young leaders? Follow the path less traveled. You will emerge as a prolific

Headquarters: Stamford, Connecticut Web site: www.pb.com Primary Business: Mailstream technology Employees: 35,000

leader with a variety of skills and experiences upon which to draw if you take risks. Don’t be afraid of failure; learning from your mistakes helps you develop stronger leadership capabilities. Be disciplined in your preparation, stay abreast of what is happening in your industry, and be prepared for the next challenge.

What was the defining moment in your life in which you understood your leadership? A defining moment in my life was leading a team to build a new mobile workforce solution. It came at a time when the company I worked for was under immense pressure to perform and resolve its service assurance issues. As the leader, I empowered the team, and challenged them to outperform and excel in their areas of expertise. The program was very successful and we all grew from this experience.

Steve Dunmore

Division Vice President, Facility Solutions, Sodexo Health Care Division

sodexo What is your definition of leadership? My definition is centered on creativity. Creating an atmosphere for my team to excel is my ultimate goal. The right environment ensures that my entire team is aligned and focused on achieving sustainable results. Team members must feel comfortable thinking “outside of the box”, and shouldn’t be fearful of voicing opinions to assist in the decision process. This creativity extends to how decisions are made. Ethics and long-term organizational benefit always trumps short-term gain.

The creativity to ensure that I deal constructively with perceived failures includes those times when ‘failure’ results from taking ‘smart risks.’ These should be rewarded and viewed as learning experiences. This all goes back to creativity—the atmosphere the leader creates to ensure that all team members are free to think and communicate openly. This enables teams to work at their optimum.

What is your most rewarding career accomplishment? Leaving a very successful career at Ford Motor Company

to join my wife and baby daughter in Chicago ended up being the best career accomplishment I’ve made. I had been commuting back and forth between Detroit and Chicago, and Ford wanted me to move to Atlanta for a great career opportunity. I made what was perceived by many to be a huge career sacrifice by choosing to turn down that opportunity. It was the best decision for my family and ultimately led me to Sodexo. It made me realize the importance of balancing all aspects of life to truly excel in a career. It’s a lesson I have never forgotten and I believe has contributed to the success I have had thus far in my career.

What’s the worst fault a leader can have? Not trusting the team and believing that the leader must micromanage

Headquarters: Gaithersburg, Maryland Web site: www.sodexo.com Primary Business: Comprehensive service solutions Employees: 125,000 in North America, 355,000 Globally

the team to be successful. I believe the best compliment a leader can receive is when people talk about the team’s success in terms of the individuals that make up the team vs. the success of the leader. Some leaders are uncomfortable with this, but not me.

I believe the more recognition that is lavished on my team members, the more successful I feel as the team’s leader.

What advice can you provide for young leaders? Again, the best advice I can give is to define your success based on the overall success of your team.

Your team should have the experience and confidence to make their own decisions, take risks, share their opinions, etc. And, especially critical in today’s complex business environment, instill a strong sense of ethics in your team. Create an environment where team is first and ethical behavior is the hallmark. Instill this by living it day in and day out.

Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

January/February 2010

31

Celebrating Black History Month

Rita Johnson-Mills

Black Leaders Leading

Senior Vice President, Customer Account Management, AmeriChoice

UnitedHealth Group Who in your family had the most impact on your success? I would have to say that my mother was the most impactful person in determining my success and who I am as a person. Growing up in rural Missouri on Medicaid and welfare, one of 12 children, the odds were against my succeeding. But my mother, a single black female, demonstrated day-in and day-out that if you have the ‘will,’ you can break away from the cycle of poverty. She made sure that we were in school daily, studied, and got a good night’s sleep. I often wondered how many meals she missed so that we might eat. She remains my hero and source of inspiration.

What is your definition of leadership? Leadership encompasses various aspects. Leadership is the ability to

influence an outcome in a positive manner. Leadership demands that the destination is always in clear view and the leader must possess the necessary skills to motivate and encourage those under her leadership toward that end result. True leadership is displayed in the ‘bad’ times, when all odds are against you and the outlook appears bleak. Leadership is also the ability to bring out the best in those around you, to lead them to the optimal result given the present circumstances.

Headquarters: Minnetonka, Minnesota Web site: www.unitedhealthgroup.com

What’s the worst fault a leader can have? To be too far removed from the team and its customers. Good leaders keep a close pulse, and make decisions affecting their team, with full knowledge of the impact on both the team and the customer. When a leader totally removes herself from the daily operations of the team, it is impossible to lead that team effectively and meet the needs of the customer.

Primary Business: Diversified health and well-being Employees: 75,000

What advice can you provide for young leaders? Knowledge is the key to your success. Never think you have all the answers. Appreciate and take advantage of the knowledge that others bring. You have to know your business, your environment and your team. You might have the general leadership skills, but knowledge is one thing that turns an average leader into a great leader. Take the time to learn as much as you can about your business. Before making decisions, take the time to learn as much as possible about the issue. Know your team, their strengths, weaknesses and the value they bring.

What are the personal and/or professional sacrifices to being leader? The biggest personal sacrifice for most leaders is their time. Time is often

divided unevenly in favor of one’s profession. In addition to the hours leaders are required to put in during the day, time away from work is often spent in study, preparation, planning, and consideration of the daily demands of their career. The casualty in this is often the family and friends of leaders who do not find the balance between work and life.

Gregory Davis

Principal, Fixed Income Group

vanguard Who is/was your most influential leadership mentor and why? If you believe in the truism, “To whom much is given, much is required,” then I would definitely say that my boss, Ken Volpert, is my most influential leadership mentor. Over the last 10 years, Ken has displayed his strong work ethic, his commitment to putting his staff first, and his always finding time to give back to the community and help those in need. As a trusted counselor, he consistently demonstrates his mantra of always keeping his employees’ best interests in mind. His advocacy for me over the years has provided advancement opportunities that would have never unfolded without him. My success at Vanguard is greatly attributable to his highly effective leadership skills.

And he is much more than a boss; he is a mentor, a role model, and a friend.

Headquarters: Valley Forge, Pennsylvania Web site: www.vanguard.com Primary Business: Investment management Employees: 12,500 in the United States

Who in your family had the most impact on your success? I am extremely fortunate to be blessed with a great family; they have been a primary driver of my success. In addition to having provided continual support and encouragement throughout school, my parents instilled unwavering morals and values that continue to guide me. My older brother taught me what it means to dream, to put plans in place and to ultimately become successful in corporate America. My wife remains steadfast by my side and provides me with encouragement, guidance, and support along the way. And let me not dismiss the contributions of my children, who inspire me to be a better man every day. Without this team of support, I would not be where I am today.

What is your most rewarding career accomplishment? Two years ago I was presented with a phenomenal growth

opportunity to lead Vanguard’s bond indexing efforts with the team I was originally hired into as a trader.

I went from managing several individual portfolios to managing a team of six portfolio managers and six traders who manage 28 bond index portfolios with over $130 billion in assets. This new role allows me to utilize many of the leadership skills I learned from my mentor.

What’s the worst fault a leader can have? In my opinion, there are two big faults a leader can have. First, there is the shortcoming of being unethical/ untrustworthy. Leaders who engage in this behavior compromise their employees, their organizations, and ultimately themselves. Employees who lack faith in their leaders are less likely to perform to their greatest potential, which exhausts morale and the overall performance of the firm. And then there is the weakness of being self-serving. Leaders who are selfish and always put their own needs above their employees often find themselves derailed. Without a highly motivated and engaged team it is difficult for a leader to be successful.

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At Vanguard, diversity is about more than color.

At Vanguard, we know diversity is more than just labels or gender or the color of someone’s skin.

We believe in an unwavering commitment to inclusiveness that resonates through every level of our team.

Diversity at Vanguard means: • Respecting the variety and differences among people across all communities and creeds.

• Putting programs in place to foster connection in the workplace—including monthly awareness activities, diversity councils, and training activities for everyone from senior management to new hires.

• Partnering with national professional organizations representing minorities and women.

• Actively recruiting and promoting a diverse workforce.

Most importantly, we value our employees for being themselves and for what they contribute.

Because in an environment that champions the unique value of each individual, diversity represents unlimited potential.

To learn more

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

Vanguard is an Equal Opportunity Employer. © 2010 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Celebrating Black History Month

Mike Millegan

Black Leaders Leading

President, Verizon Global Wholesale

verizon Who is/was your most influential leadership mentor and why? I’ve been fortunate to have been mentored by some very successful and influential business leaders. However, my leadership journey was stimulated long ago by my mother, and a man named Harlan Jones. My mother always affirmed my capacity to do more than I thought possible; I never wanted to let her down. Harlan shared a simple but profound truth with me.

“You will go far in life once you learn to get out of your comfort zone.” To this day, I don’t set limits on my capacity to be successful in whatever I do. I embrace and step into my learning zone every day.

Headquarters: New York City

What is your definition of leadership? I boil it down to what I call the 4 Cs: Courage, Confidence, Collaboration, and Credibility. The Courage to stand and move forward regardless of circumstances; Confidence in your ability to create and leverage a vision that your team can embrace and see their success in that space; recognizing that true success comes from Collaboration with others; and the Credibility you earn by consistently demonstrating the ability to make the tough decisions, while exercising humility and compassion when needed.

Web site: www.verizon.com

What advice can you provide for young leaders? My advice is to start by dreaming big, a goal that’s worthy of

Primary Business: Providing voice, data, and entertainment services

your best efforts. Next, learn how to influence decisions and business direction. Embrace assignments that are foreign to your background; they enhance the breadth and depth of your experience set. And remember, integrity is your true currency. Without it you lose your bearings and, ultimately, your credibility.

What are the personal and/or professional sacrifices to being a leader? Finding ways to effectively manage family and work commitments means constantly shifting and juggling priorities. I always share with folks that you have to be comfortable with who you are, identifying your priorities and sticking to them.

Employees: 230,000

What was the defining moment in your life in which you understood your leadership? I was heading the FiOS initiative in Fort Wayne, Indiana. That commitment required that our sales and volunteer teams go door-to-door to introduce our service and sign up new customers. I decided to lead the team in that effort. With the temperature hovering around 15 degrees, about 100 of us went out and had a very successful day signing up new FiOS customers. It affirmed my earlier lessons in leadership and the power and capacity of diversity.

Tracy Nolan

Vice President, Pharmacy Solutions

wellpoint, inc.

What is your definition of leadership? Leadership is the ability to create and maintain an environment that enables others and/or processes to achieve their maximum potential in a given effort or common cause. Leadership is tangible, measurable and can be cultivated. Many corporations have patterned their leadership development programs after the military and have experienced significant gains in critical metrics such as productivity, turnover rates and revenue.

An environment where positive leadership exists is a fertile ground for forward thinking (strategic planning), risk mitigation and innovation. In a time when most companies are struggling to determine ways to improve service, cut costs, match programs/offerings with clients and exceed financial goals, creating an environment where everyone understands how and why they add value is the great tool that enterprises must utilize to achieve these collective, and sometimes competing, goals.

Headquarters: Indianapolis, Indiana Web site: www.wellpoint.com Primary Business: Health benefits Employees: 42,000

What’s the worst fault a leader can have? Lack of humility is a terrible fault. If you support the notion

that leadership is about creating the right environment to succeed, then it’s also important to realize that leaders need to be selfless and possess a high degree of humility. Humility is the foundation of serving others and acts as a moral compass in most situations. Humility offsets the self-serving, siloed, or zero-sum behaviors that are so often destructive. Humility is also the road to a greater cause… something everyone can see, aspire to, and rally around.

What advice can you provide for young leaders? Stay humble and focus on serving. A clear focus on performance/

service is the great equalizer… the results usually speak louder than any rhetoric and also serve as the single point of truth. The purpose of any business is to serve…. keep service as the most important thing.

Be technically sound but understand a leader’s job takes you from the strategic to the tactical on a daily basis. Be mindful of when you need to be either or both.

What are the personal and/or professional sacrifices to being leader? The badge of leader never gets taken off. As a true leader develops over a lifetime, the expectations of outstanding results (and supporting others) never go away. In fact in some cases, due to need, exposure, and other outside forces, the expectations increase. The most successful leaders embrace their never-ending responsibilities and make the expectations a way of life—something that drives them, rather than shackles them. So embrace those responsibilities, share your experience, and ask for support from loved ones. And most of all, stay humble.

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OUR COMPANY

>

THE SUM OF ITS PARTS

BE WHO YOU ARE. CREATE WHO WE’LL BE. UnitedHealth Group is working to create the health care system of tomorrow.

One that will work better for more people in more ways than ever.

A goal of this magnitude requires transformative ideas from a collective of diverse talent.

At UnitedHealth Group, our commitment to diversity is clearly visible in the high-performing people we hire, in the health care services we provide, and in our dedication to social responsibility. We support and applaud the efforts of those who work to promote fairness, equality and opportunity.

Uniting our individual efforts and abilities toward our common goal, we’re making a difference.

Learn more about us at unitedhealthgroup.com

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

Habits

Highly Effective

of

What do you do with your diversity programs after the workshops and seminars are finished? Many organizations believe that once the training session is held, diversity and inclusion will follow. But Diversity Trainers know that the real business of building diversity programs is in

DiversityTraining Experiential Diversity Education

A

W.W. Grainger Makes Training a Habit, Not an Event African-American author Dr. Maya Angelou once said, “People will forget what you say… and people will forget what you did… but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

W.W. Grainger, Inc. has taken those words to heart in designing inclusion and diversity training programs that feature experiential education integrated into the very way the company does business.

“We call it ‘action learning,’” says Kim Cysewski, Grainger’s VP of Human Resources.

“That’s because people are far more receptive to valuing differences and translating that to our customers when they can experience it directly, rather than being told or shown.”

Recipe for Success

The most recent example came during a teambuilding exercise for the two hundred members of the U.S. leadership team, and it all centered around making a pizza. Teams were formed to develop a pizza product for one of seven different groups—African Americans, Asian Pacific Islanders, Latinos, Women, Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and Millenials. They were armed with demographic information about 36

Pro f i les i n D i ve rsit y Journal

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each group, they had an opportunity to do on-site research with representatives of the different audiences, and their results were judged by members of Grainger’s employee affinity networks, called Business Resource Groups (BRGs), representing each constituency.

The exercise, called “Recipe for Success,” was conducted in the Grainger headquarters’ campus cafeteria and required each team to determine the ingredients and appearance for the pizza, create its package design, develop a 30-second advertising spot, and deliver it in an appropriate way. And then they had to execute their plan, all in the space of three hours.

Rave Reviews

“This was a fabulously successful education program,” Cysewski says. “People not only had fun, but they learned more about how to build relationships with other people, understand their unique needs, and collaborate to deliver distinctive products attractive to them. And this is exactly what we’re working to achieve in our actual business.”

Mike Zeller, Grainger’s Director of Territory Sales, made a clear connection to the work he does every day. “This exercise really helps us to think about the customer and how to put them first. That way, we can figure out how we can reach them by being more relevant to them.”

managing them after their inception. Diversity Training needs to become a habit—not just an event. Habit, by definition, is an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it becomes automatic. Make diversity training a habit in your organization, and diversity awareness will automatically follow. W.W Grainger has, by concentrating on training activities that continue to build a constant awareness of diversity. Discover their “Recipe for Success!”

And Erwin Cruz, an Enterprise Architect and Vice President of the Asian Pacific Islander BRG, observed that the work teams also enhanced their understanding of inclusion and diversity. “We saw the teams ask the right questions to ensure that they understood their customers and were creating a product for that particular market.”

Grainger leaders participating in Recipe for Success

Integrated Education

This exercise, which gave business leaders a true feel for the value of inclusion and diversity, is one example of Grainger’s habit of integrating this important concept into the business, according to Chere Nabor, Chief Diversity Officer. “Integrated education is the cornerstone to bring inclusion and diversity to life in the organization,” Nabor says.

“Where diversity training is typically an event that is included at specific times—like employee orientation and then later as a person enters management—we leverage every training opportunity along the continuum to increase awareness among our employees.”

This means inclusion and diversity is threaded throughout Grainger’s training curriculum, encomNabor passing sales, customer sevice, compliance, brand, supply chain, product knowedge, leadership, several talent management programs, and employee development.

“Inclusion and diversity is becoming a conversation we deal with every day as a matter of habit,” says John Lawson, Director of Grainger’s

Training/Development department. “The appreciation of diversity that makes us unique in the marketplace is aligned and embedded in every training and education program.”

Dedicated Trainer Liaison

That alignment is ensured by a dedicated team of training staff who have immersed themselves in the inclusion and diversity culture, and they ensure that these principles are incorporated into every other training course.

They include Mary Fasone, training program manager; Mahelet Senbetta, training designer; and Naticia Anderson, training delivery manager.

“We participate in each of our BRGs, as well as outside seminars and courses in inclusion and diversity,” Fasone says. “We bring all this information together to incorporate it into all of our training programs.”

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37

Senbetta sees it as a “tremendous opportunity” to integrate inclusion and diversity into everything as a matter of habit.

Anderson sees her immersion into inclusion and diversity as an aid to her personal development, as well as a strong component to use in delivering her sales training courses. “When you build people’s knowledge of diversity, you enable them to work better with our diverse customers.”

E-Learning for All

them to create the appropriate training and development programs,” Marshall says.

“At the same time, they bring an insight into our business and an understanding of emerging markets, so they can contribute to the company’s growth as well.”

Nabor adds that the company’s recent BRG Summit was an exceptional tool in educating the organization on the value of inclusion and diversity. “There is a lot of power that is amplified all the more from bringing everyone together.”

Nabor also points out that, while educating managers Suits and Corporate Ladders through leadership training is important, Grainger has also developed a diversity e-learning program, “A Business ImSuits and Corporate Ladders perative,” available to every person in the organization. $ 99 97 96 95 94 93 91 92 98 r “Employees can go online and learn about Grainger’s ne win 0 0 object Instructions How to play the game: 1 And finally, to demonstrate how inclusion and diversity commitment to inclusion and diversity through an interac$ contributes the$ 84 company’s success, Nabor tive training course that’s available right at their desktop,” 82 to 83 90 85 89created 81 setup 86 87 88 “Suits and Corporate Ladders”—a board game that she says. ? ? leverages concept of76squares a popular children’s game71as an In addition to this formal e-learning program, employ79the78 77 the 75 74 73 72 80 All about educational tool. ees also converse with each other through a Twitter-like Players landing spaces that program called “Yammer,” an in-house, online communica62 70 61 63 on 64 colored 65 66 67pick68up cards 69 contain quotes and facts and figures about inclusion and tion facility. There are as many as 340 threads posted on a Contents ? diversity.

When they advance up a54ladder, they earn weekly basis, according to Lawson, who says it brings people Winning thebogame 59 57 56 55 53 52 51 58 60 nuses, talent stars and promotions—and when they hit from the geographically dispersed company together, and ? ? $ a chute, the business is punished by47fines, lawsuits, or also provides a link for members of the BRGs. To collect the most Talent Stars and Diversity Dollars or $ 50 41 42 43 44 45 46 48 49 Instructions object be the first player to reach the #100 “Winner” bonus square.

How to play the game: lost business. 1. Roll the dice to decide which player goes first. The player For 2 to 4 playersResource Groups Business with the? highest number goes first. Feel free to use the spinner learn that $ Position the gameboard so that all the players can easily “People are often surprised when they Suits and Corporate Ladders is a game designed wheel as an alternative method.

Grainger’s BRGs are similar to manysetup other companies’ divermove their pawns from square to square. Everyone chooses 39 37 36 35 34 33 31 38 32 40 to share the business advantages of an inclusive workforce. a pawn to play.

Any extra pawns are out of play.

Chosen pawns every experience included onthe wheelthe cards is somePlayers are shown the potential rewards for implementing 2. Each player should take turns spinning to determine start off outside of of the board area near square #1. Get ready for fun! sitythe bestnetworks, but they areup thedistinctive in that each them practices of inclusion and diversity as they climb the number of spaces to move forward. Follow the numbering ladders of Limitless Growth. The pitfalls of Stagnant Growth on the board and be mindful of the board’s path! thing that actually happens inzigzagcorporate America,” serve as consequences for unwise decisions. $ is open to anyone whoAllisabout interested in 21 30 23 29 22 3. Remember, 24pawn must land on a26 27 28 your green or orange the squares Nabor says. “We’ve by doing is a square in orderfound to climb up the that ladder or falllearning down the board.

Although thisgaining game is based oninsight “the luck of the spin”, into a particular group.

Take a brief moment to look over the gameboard.

The squares are numbered players should not be discouraged! The main goal of the ? in tool.” from 1 to 100. Players’ pawns will move back and forthvaluable across the board an game is to ensure a wide range of outcomes that will help upward and zig-zagInclusion fashion. The squares are color coded to indicate which Nichole Marshall, Grainger’s to build awareness of the objective, strategies, and values 11 12 19 17 16 15 14 13 20 action should be taken.

Please note the following: of inclusion and diversity.

Indeed, 18 experiential education is the key to and Diversity Manager, is advisor to the If you land on a green square, follow the ladder upwards and place your pawn ? ?all aspects of integrating inclusion and diversity into on the square where the ladder ends. A person will be waiting there holding either BRGs, which were formed a hand.year stars or aabout dollar sign in their Make sure to pull a Limitless Growth card from 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 be shy-Contents the deck. It will provide you with an explanation for your reward. Don’t PDJ Grainger’s business. cards must be read aloudown to the group! Collect your reward(s) and place the ago, guiding them as theyallcardselect their * Gameboard Winning the game back in the deck--on the bottom, text side up. * Pawns for navigating board * Spinner with plastic arrow and develop programs relevant to leaders If you happen to land on an orange square, you must draw a card from the * Deck of “Limitless Growth” cards The game can be won using one of two ways: “Stagnant Growth” deck. No frowning! Move your pawn down the pitfall to the * Deck of “Stagnant Growth” cards square and place it next to the person standing there with their arms thrown up their own interests and needs. * Deck of “I & D Factoids” cards 1. Be the first person to collect the most points for Talent Stars in confusion. Pay the penalty and place the card back in the deck (see above). * Diversity Dollars and Diversity Dollars when the game time expires. * Talent Stars “Employee development is a comBlue and White squares are neutral. If you land on either, please draw a card from * Pair of dice Points are tallied in the following manner: the “I & D Factoid” deck which offers general factoids about Inclusion and Diversity. ponent for each BRG, soAgain, Iall partner with used cards should be returned to the bottom of the deck, face up and 100 points per $1,000 held To collect the most Talent Stars and Diversity Dollars or be the first player to reach the #100 “Winner” bonus square.

For 2 to 4 players

Suits and Corporate Ladders is a game designed to share the business advantages of an inclusive workforce.

Players are shown the potential rewards for implementing the best practices of inclusion and diversity as they climb up the ladders of Limitless Growth. The pitfalls of Stagnant Growth serve as consequences for unwise decisions.

?

2. Each player should take turns spinning the wheel to determine the number of spaces to move forward. Follow the numbering on the board and be mindful of the board’s zigzag path!

?

?

Although this game is based on “the luck of the spin”, players should not be discouraged! The main goal of the game is to ensure a wide range of outcomes that will help to build awareness of the objective, strategies, and values of inclusion and diversity.

1. Roll the dice to decide which player goes first. The player with the highest number goes first. Feel free to use the spinner wheel as an alternative method.

Position the gameboard so that all the players can easily move their pawns from square to square. Everyone chooses a pawn to play. Any extra pawns are out of play. Chosen pawns ? start off outside of the board area near square #1. Get ready for fun!

3. Remember, your pawn must land on a green or orange square in order to climb up the ladder or fall down the board.

Take a brief moment to look over the gameboard. The squares are numbered from 1 to 100. Players’ pawns will move back and forth across the board in an upward and zig-zag fashion. The squares are color coded to indicate which action should be taken. Please note the following:

If you land on a green square, follow the ladder upwards and place your pawn on the square where the ladder ends. A person will be waiting there holding either stars or a dollar sign in their hand. Make sure to pull a Limitless Growth card from the deck. It will provide you with an explanation for your reward. Don’t be shy-all cards must be read aloud to the group! Collect your reward(s) and place the card back in the deck--on the bottom, text side up.

* Gameboard * Pawns for navigating board * Spinner with plastic arrow * Deck of “Limitless Growth” cards * Deck of “Stagnant Growth” cards * Deck of “I & D Factoids” cards * Diversity Dollars * Talent Stars * Pair of dice

?

?

If you happen to land on an orange square, you must draw a card from the ?

“Stagnant Growth” deck. No frowning! Move your pawn down the pitfall to the square and place it next to the person standing there with their arms ? thrown up in confusion. Pay the penalty and place the card back in the deck (see above).

The game can be won using one of two ways:

1. Be the first person to collect the most points for Talent Stars and Diversity Dollars when the game time expires.

Blue and White squares are neutral. If you land on either, please draw a card from the “I & D Factoid” deck which offers general factoids about Inclusion and Diversity.

Again, ?all used cards should be returned to the bottom of the deck, face up and reshuffled for re-use as necessary. ?

?

?

Points are tallied in the following manner: 100 points per $1,000 held 200 points per Talent Star OR

Diversity is everyone's business!

2. Be the first player to reach or surpass the #100 “Winner” bonus square.

?

?

?

?

?

?

© 2008 designed by Kim Love www.groupmemory.com

reshuffled for re-use as necessary.

Diversity is everyone's business!

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Pro f i les i n D i ve rsit y Journal

January/February 2010

200 points per Talent Star OR

2. Be the first player to reach or surpass the #100 “Winner” bonus square.

Gameboard designed for Grainger by Kim

Love of GroupMemory.com

Diversity is Our Competitive Advantage.

We, at ITT, are committed to building a workforce that mirrors the world in which we do business. With operations in over 60 countries and customers on seven continents, ITT is well positioned and making a difference on a global scale. As we continue to grow, we look first to create an environment where our talented employees can succeed and make the world a better place through their unique contributions.

We embrace diversity, which includes but is not limited to race, religion, gender, disability, nationality, age, sexual orientation, and ethnic background. Our culture, work practices and programs enable an inclusive and innovative workforce and workplace resulting in premier performance in the global marketplace.

www.itt.com/careers We are an equal opportunity employer m/f/d/v.

The “ITT Engineered Blocks” symbol and “Engineered for life” are registered trademarks of the ITT Corporation. © 2006

thought leaders Originally intended as

a short-term solution to the economic reality

thoughtleaders2010

of budget cuts for travel and education, our ongoing series, thoughtleaders, was a way to bring the seminar and conference speakers directly to you. It has evolved into a dynamic forum for the ideas and opinions of leaders in the field of Diversity & Inclusion. Your enthusiastic response to this feature is a testament to your dedication to learning about current trends and best practices in the field. We are proud to continue this series in 2010.

What would you like to learn from our thoughtleaders? Send your suggestions to damian@diversityjournal.com

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders

Creating Knowledge Through a “Leaders Teach” Approach

By Victoria Jones, DM

T

Diversity Officer Vice President Apollo Group, Inc.

The Solution

The Problem

Why it Works

Educating a workforce on principles related to diversity and inclusion when there are limited training resources available.

A leaders teach approach allows for powerful three-way learning:

Diversity and inclusion represents a competitive advantage for Apollo Group. It reflects the essence of our innovation, creativity, skills, and capabilities because it is embodied in our students, staff, and faculty. Diversity and inclusion awareness is a key component in developing the best work environments in any industry. It all starts by creating— and then maintaining—a workplace environment that fosters fairness and mutual respect, and one that encourages diversity. When I was asked to successfully educate the entire Apollo Group workforce of more than 60,000 on principles related to diversity and inclusion, I determined that a “leaders teach” approach would be our solution.

What is a Leaders Teach Approach? How Does it Work?

A leaders teach approach is founded on teaching by facilitators, or “coaches,” who are leaders within the company and have been educated on diversity and inclusion principles.

We have been using this approach successfully for the past three years and have trained over 27% of staff. Just recently, we engaged in a full day “Coaches Conference” where we collaborated with senior vice presidents and campus directors to discuss best practices in diversity and inclusion. It went very well and we had over 65 leaders participate. These coaches will now be able to engage others in our workforce and bring awareness to diversity and inclusion.

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1. The facilitator learns; 2. The facilitator delivers; and 3. The facilitator learns from participants and increases his or her own knowledge.

The success of our solution is also recognized and valued by our senior leadership. The work at Apollo Group is driven by the Four Pillars of Values, founded by our Chief Executive Officers, Chas Edelstein and Greg Cappelli, with diversity positioned as a vital factor in the Job of Choice pillar. In addition, Fred Newton, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, includes diversity as a key component of his center of excellence function in the HR organization.

The focus and investment on diversity by senior leadership has significantly helped us in bringing awareness to diversity and inclusion principles within our company.

Fundamentally, I don’t feel that any company-wide initiative is going to be successful without the buy-in of leadership.

Having our leaders invested in the learning and dispersion of diversity and inclusion principles helps broaden organizational knowledge and we are proud to be a leading example of its success. PDJ Apollo Group, Inc. and its main subsidiary companies (University of Phoenix, Inc.; Institute for Professional Development, Inc.; Western International University, Inc.; College for Financial Planning; Insight Schools, Inc.; Aptimus, Inc.; Meritus University, Inc.; and Apollo Global) are engaged in the business of operating and managing institutions of higher education programs for working adults.

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleader Aligning Workplace Flexibility to Business Productivity

By Anna Pintsov Vice President, HR Innovation AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company

W

Workplace flexibility is a topic that is discussed almost on a daily basis. As our workplaces become more inclusive, we must continue to refine our flexibility programs. During these tough economic times, some employers have answered the call by instituting new programs to meet demand. In addition to responding to employee needs, providing flexibility can be a great way to reward, engage, and retain employees. It can also improve customer service.

Despite these benefits, many companies still struggle with the business case for workplace flexibility. Too often it is viewed as an accommodation rather than a business driver. Connecting flexibility to productivity is key to gaining executive acceptance and support. We all respond to data, and productivity data is quite compelling when it comes to making the case for flexibility.

It is only when flexibility becomes linked with business performance that companies will be able to grow and sustain a culture of flexibility.

There are a number of ways that companies can align their flexibility programs to business productivity.

Team-Based Programs

These programs focus on delivering business results through the use of flexibility. Flexibility is offered to all members of a team regardless of their individual needs. When initiating a team flexibility program, the team determines productivity improvement goals in advance, and works collectively to reach their goals while participating in flexible work arrangements. This approach can be highly successful because it empowers employees to take ownership of their work. A teambased flexibility program can also help identify inefficient processes and generate innovative solutions to improve performance. Such programs can significantly

decrease absenteeism and overtime costs, and measurably increase employee engagement while improving customer service.

Employee and Manager Toolkits Focused on Productivity Improvements

Many of us have toolkits to assist managers and employees in setting up a flexible work arrangement.

Toolkits should include guidelines on how employees can track productivity while using flexibility. Focusing on measuring productivity will assist employees in using data to support the business case for flexibility.

Employees will no longer need to justify the request for flexibility with personal reasons; rather, the justification will be better business results. Measuring productivity will help assure managers that flexible work arrangements maintain or increase work efficiency.

Flexibility Tracking

Once a process is in place to track flexible work arrangements, we can start to analyze the data related to performance and link it to flexibility. We can also measure changes in employee engagement and customer service. Finally, tracking data assists with the measurement of culture change.

Flexibility is here to stay. Demand will continue to increase as greater numbers of Gen-Y employees, who want more control over how, when and where they perform their work, continue to enter the workforce.

Tying flexibility to productivity allows employees the freedom to be their most efficient while reassuring managers that the job is getting done. However, flexibility must be woven throughout a company’s culture if it’s going to help the company successfully attract and retain talent, and sustain long-term productivity results. PDJ

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Opting In

By Lorelie S. Masters Partner Jenner & Block, LLP

M

Much has been written about why women lawyers leave law firms in disproportionately high numbers. Much less has been written about why women lawyers stay. To understand why women lawyers leave law firms in disproportionately high numbers, it is crucial to understand why lawyers, regardless of gender, stay.

While I was in law school, and in the early years of my career, I faced the question of why I wanted to be a lawyer.

Although this question has fallen out of favor, the assumptions that underlie it continue to dog women. Women lawyers want what all lawyers want: a challenging career, success, status, recognition of one’s efforts and talents, personal and professional satisfaction, the ability to provide for oneself and one’s family, and the opportunity to make a mark in one’s community.

Women law firm partners have much to gain—and offer—if we “opt in.” I have found that a long tenure in a law firm gives me a seat at the table, a place from which to attempt to effect change on a most immediate and personal level—in my own firm. I can voice my views on the future of my firm, and, on a very “local” level, the future of the legal profession, by having, and keeping, my seat at the table. I can serve as a role model for those who follow, and, similarly, I can learn from the accomplished and enthusiastic women lawyers who come to our firm today.

With the support of my firm, I can, and do, participate in issues important to my hometown, Washington, D.C., and represent individuals pro bono. I can applaud the successes of my colleagues, and, from the vantage point of more than two decades of practice, appreciate the impact that one dedicated lawyer, or a group of like-minded lawyers, can have on important issues of our time. I can help provide guidance and mentoring to the women lawyers who follow me, both of which were sadly lacking when I took my first law firm job two decades ago. I can offer a sympathetic ear

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to my women colleagues when they face a difficult legal issue, or personal obstacle, as they navigate their careers.

It is important for those of us who have “opted in” to make this case to our younger women colleagues: you can achieve great success, recognition, and satisfaction in a law firm.

You can rear happy and successful children with the support of your colleagues and family. And, as shown by the many successes of my women colleagues at Jenner & Block, you can make a lasting, significant impact on the law and our society.

As partners who have “opted in,” we should encourage our firms to ensure a level playing field for all lawyers and encourage those who follow us to continue to voice their concerns to effect constructive change in our law firms.

Doing so will help ensure that more women will follow our lead and create more role models and more positive change for our daughters and our society.

Research shows that empowering women leads to stronger families and more successful children and communities. Greater numbers of successful women lawyers, supported by their law firms, can help not just women lawyers achieve success and satisfaction but, with their focus on the greater PDJ good, can help all women pursue their dreams.

Lorelie S. Masters, a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Jenner & Block LLP, focuses on advising policyholders and representing them in disputes with their insurers. She served as President of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia and currently serves on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession, co-chairing its Women of Color Subcommittee. Under her direction as President in 2007-2008, the WBA’s Initiative on Advancement and Retention of Women published the second of its nationally recognized reports, “Creating Pathways to Success for All” (available at www.wbadc.org).

About Jenner & Block LLP Jenner & Block was founded in 1914 and is known for consistently delivering outstanding results in corporate transactions and securing major litigation victories for clients from the trial level through the United States Supreme Court. Jenner & Block’s approximately 470 attorneys; located in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C.; offer substantial experience in a broad range of legal areas (www.jenner.com).

[ Bank of the West ]

WANT TO WORK FOR A TRULY GREAT BANK?

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

www.bankofthewest.com

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

© 2007 Bank of the West. Member FDIC.

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Training a Commitment to Diversity

By Clare Kinahan

A

Vice President, Human Resources KBR

As Vice President of Human Resources for KBR, managing global diversity is what I do each day. Being from the U.K., I bring, perhaps, a unique perspective to my work, having been in Houston at KBR’s corporate headquarters for just over a year now. I view my role as a catalyst for embracing and enhancing KBR’s commitment to global diversity.

At KBR, we know our success is as strong as our relationships with our employees and the customers we serve globally.

cultures and traditions should be at the forefront of our business discussions. I know I am mindful of this in my work and KBR’s commitment in this regard is steadfast.

From a global learning and development perspective, KBR’s Human Resources department has created an employee diversity training program. The primary objectives of the training include: recognizing the importance and benefit of valuing diversity in our organization, learning how to understand different cultures and recognizing their benefit to our workplace.

We use the ‘ATM’ Model to dovetail the training: Ask peoKBR conducts business in over 45 countries and em- ple about their preferences and expectations, Tell people about ploys just over 57, 000 employees worldwide. Of course with your preferences and expectations, and Measure intent. By numbers like that, it is not looking at the components difficult to see that global of culture and how they diversity is at the very heart We use the ‘ATM’ Model to dovetail the influence behavior, KBR of our daily business. KBR is is better positioned to training: Ask people about their preferences a global player in its indusmaintain its success in a try. The best way to ensure and expectations, Tell people about your diverse marketplace. we meet the needs of our Managing diversity preferences and expectations, and clients is to understand the is both challenging and cultures in which they reside.

Measure intent. rewarding and from This in turn demonstrates where I sit, I know of our ability to deliver quality its vital importance services which meet the specific needs of our clientele. and that it contributes to KBR’s overall success. At It is not enough, in the 21st century, to say that a KBR, we understand diversity as representing differences and company recognizes and appreciates global diversity. similarities in awareness based on perspectives, knowledge, I think your employees and your organization have to skills and on-the-job behaviors of individuals and groups. embody that commitment. In my role, I constantly work to We view valuing diversity at an employee level to be an provide innovation and strategic execution in not only our individual’s ability to see positive aspects in characterishiring practices, but offer that same counsel and guidance tics, backgrounds and attitudes that are very different from to our business unit leadership in dealing with their clients their own. and customers.

One of KBR’s core values is an unwavering commitment I think the challenge in achieving success with global to the communities in which we live and work. This is a diversity management lies within relationship maintenance. commitment at the heart of my daily work, for we It can sometimes be very easy for us to focus on the are only as successful as the knowledge and recognition day-to-day business in our organizations and bypass we impart to celebrate the richness and diversity of the the key component of dealing with the audiences a com- ever-changing world in which we live.

PDJ pany serves. A recognition and appreciation for the varying

“

”

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A look back as we go forward On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. said, “Something is happening in our world.” In 2010, these words have fresh meaning — reflecting mountaintops reached and new hopes born.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina celebrates Black History Month. In honoring the past, we appreciate the present and find inspiration to create our future.

An independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. U6809, 1/10

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders The Diversity Opportunities of Today – It’s Generational

By T. Hudson Jordan

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Director, Global Diversity & Talent Strategies Pitney Bowes Inc.

Diversity within an organization has evolved over the years to encompass the many ways in which people differ from one another.

Early diversity conversations may have focused solely on race, while today, the term diversity encompasses a range of factors that influence how individuals interact and propel companies to success. Increasingly, the conversation about diversity is one about generations.

Do you work with someone of a generation different than your own? The answer to this question is a resounding yes for most of the workforce. Today, there are up to four different generations working side-by-side within large organizations. Key characteristics of each generation, including how they approach work, work/life balance, and employee loyalty, among other aspects, vary greatly. These differences can become a problem if they become negative generational stereotypes. This can cause conflict among teams and departments, hampering productivity and morale in the workplace.

Many factors in the workplace support fostering inclusion, where team-based decision-making is the norm. And, similar to other differentiating characteristics among individuals, a multi-generational workforce requires awareness, increased communication, and an inclusion strategy to make productive use of generational differences.

Awareness

Generalized characteristics are often associated with each generation. Awareness of these characteristics can help employees better understand an individual’s actions and motivations, but it’s important not to reinforce stereotypes, either positive or negative.

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Having sensitivity to these characteristics can help managers and employees better structure their work interactions and policies to increase productivity.

Communication

Arm managers and employees with the communication skills necessary to resolve disagreements before they turn into conflict. Because generational differences can deal with an individual’s personal values, generational disagreements within the workforce are often emotionally charged. Once a situation turns into a conflict, it is much more difficult to mitigate such intense feelings among employees.

Inclusion strategy

Incorporate generational opportunities into a company’s diversity and inclusion strategy. The number one message of any inclusion strategy should be to respect differences. Without an inclusion strategy, the workforce will be left without the right resources and tools to effectively deal with their differences.

Increased awareness, communication, and an inclusion strategy will help organizations address how various generations can work together. Although each generation has its own preferences in how to work, adaptability and flexibility are needed to help organizations leverage the differences created by such diversity.

The move to a more dynamic management style will enable greater collaboration, creating an inclusive environment. Inclusion represents opportunity for growth, new knowledge, and global community.

A team-oriented culture will also spur the cross-fertilization of ideas, resulting in innovation that earns your company a competitive edge. PDJ

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Making a Difference

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By Angela Agostino, CHRP

Pitney Bowes has a long history of encouraging volunteerism to help build healthy communities.

Volunteering in the communities we live and work in offers an opportunity for employees to develop technical, leadership, and team-building skills. It also has the added benefit of building morale and helps attract and retain the talent that fuels our workforce.

In 2008, Pitney Bowes Canada partnered with various local organizations to launch a pilot mentorship project to a select group of managers to mentor new Canadians. The pilot afforded our managers the opportunity to enhance their leadership skills by seeing talent through the eyes of culturally diverse groups.

This experience enriched their understanding and appreciation for cultural differences as our workplace becomes more and more diverse in culture and thought.

During National Volunteer week in April 2009, Pitney Bowes officially extended the Mentorship program to its employees in major Canadian cities.

This rewarding program matches Pitney Bowes employees with skilled immigrants within similar occupations. As a mentor, employees help a skilled immigrant by sharing their knowledge of the Canadian work culture, providing feedback on their occupation and accessing networks. The relationship flourishes with interaction in person, online, over the phone, through referrals to network members, conferences, shadowing and other learning opportunities. The mentor works with their mentee to decide the relationship focus, pace, meeting locations and times.

Each mentor-mentee pair is supported by a dedicated mentoring coach, training and resources to manage an effective relationship. Pitney Bowes facilitates and hosts information sessions, the mentor/mentee training and ‘meet-and-greet’ ceremonies at its offices.

Director, Human Resources Pitney Bowes Canada

Coaches were provided by our partners, ALLIES,* and local organizations, such as the Toronto Region Immigration Employment Council (TRIEC), the Edmonton Region Immigration Employment Council (ERIEC), the Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia (ISS of BC), and the Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association (MISA).

As a mentor myself, the experience was extremely rewarding to be part of a new Canadian’s success in finding gainful employment in Canada. Our Executive Sponsor, Bill Checkley, vice president, Pitney Bowes Management Services, notes, “Playing your part in this process is a challenging, yet very enriching, experience. I have felt the angst of being a new Canadian on my arrival to Canada, and I have been rewarded with the joy of helping a new Canadian find employment. I encourage you to help those seeking assistance and also experience the rewards of mentoring.”

Our partners, ALLIES, and local organizations are key to our success in creating a diverse and inclusive culture. By the end of 2009, over thirty employees across Canada will have successfully completed the program. We are looking forward to launching this program nationally in 2010.

As we have learned at Pitney Bowes, volunteerism supports diversity and inclusion and helps us learn from each other and appreciate each other’s differences. I leave you with my favourite saying: “We are not different than each other; rather, different like each other.” PDJ

*Assisting Local Leaders with Immigrant Employment Strategies Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders The Evolution of Our Diversity Journey Diversity Business and Leadership Summit

By Texanna Reeves

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Vice President, Diversity Sodexo

Despite a year of economic uncertainties, Sodexo remained steadfast in its commitment to diversity and inclusion. It is that commitment that drives our ability to identify and develop the best talent, create an inclusive culture where our workforce can thrive, and deliver outstanding services to our clients and customers. It is also what differentiates us as an organization and establishes our competitive advantage in the marketplace.

To ensure that our employees continue to grow and benefit from diversity and inclusion and to introduce our commitment to our clients, Sodexo launched a professional development conference exclusively dedicated to diversity and inclusion. Over the years it has evolved into a premier event that draws hundreds of employees and clients annually.

“

The Diversity Business and Leadership

Summit was a significant milestone in the evolution of our diversity journey because it addressed an on-going challenge—how to offer employees additional

training

around

diversity

and inclusion that goes beyond

”

the essentials.

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The creation of the day-long Diversity Business and Leadership Summit was a significant milestone in the evolution of our diversity journey because it addressed an on-going challenge—how to offer employees additional training around diversity and inclusion that goes beyond the essentials. The Summit began with an attendance of less than 100 managers but has expanded to over 500 participants including managers, clients, potential clients and vendors.

The Summit provides workshops and learning labs focused on building skills, knowledge, and awareness around different dimensions of diversity. The Summit also features subject-matter experts, industry speakers, panel discussions, presentations, and networking opportunities.

For clients, the Summit offers Sodexo an opportunity to differentiate our value and demonstrate the rich array of learning experiences we offer as part of our diversity consulting services.

It is important to note that a significant factor in the success of the Diversity Business and Leadership Summit has been executive involvement, including the ongoing commitment of our CEO George Chavel.

Members of Sodexo’s executive team are executive sponsors for our eight employee network groups and champion many diversity and inclusion initiatives including the Summit, Cross Market Diversity Council, Spirit of Mentoring and Flexibility Works.

The numbers speak for themselves. Survey results after the 2009 Summit indicated 99% of attendees found the Summit valuable, and 93% of employees who attended felt more connected to the organization.

In addition, 98% of clients and employees felt the Summit provided them with a new skill or increased their knowledge base relative to diversity and inclusion. PDJ

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Why America Shouldn’t Fear Globalization

S

Some of my fellow Americans are concerned about how globalization will impact the prosperity of the United States. They are leery of global competition for jobs and the offshoring of some U.S. jobs to other countries.

While I can understand why some would be threatened by this, the U.S. as a whole stands to benefit from what’s happening. In fact, with our rich tradition of innovation and our domestic experience with diversity, few countries are better positioned to turn globalization into an opportunity for continued prosperity.

All throughout American history there are examples of how diversity has helped power the country’s innovation and our ability to continually re-invent our economy. As a nation of immigrants and descendants of immigrants from all backgrounds, America has brought together waves of people whose very differences have often sparked creativity and collaboration that have led to transformative innovations. From the diverse scientific team who put the first man on the moon to the more recent collaboration of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, we have seen that amazing things can happen when people from different backgrounds work together— new ideas and perspectives emerge and interesting combinations of talents converge with often unexpected results.

Our experience in the U.S. should teach us that diversity is a good thing. It has been a source for our resiliency during changing times and the heart of the vibrancy that has defined American culture and ingenuity.

Globalization represents just the latest test to America’s resiliency. Thanks to technology innovation, we now have the ability to not only communicate across borders, but to collaborate and collectively solve problems.

But globalization also presents a new and sometimes uncomfortable status quo for some Americans—one that is marked by global competition for jobs and growth.

By Gerry Murphy President SunGard Brokerage & Clearance

This doesn’t mean that America should fear globalization. In fact, our country has much to gain by embracing it. Globalization isn’t just about more competition from overseas. It also means new opportunities for the U.S. to be competitive—new markets for U.S. goods and services and new access to global capital, talent and opportunities for growth.

The success of the U.S. will hinge on our ability to adapt to the changes globalization brings, including new innovations and greater diversity of labor from around the world. We should expect that there will be some resistance. Innovation, after all, disrupts the status quo and can render some jobs and even entire industries obsolete. For example, in 1920, 2.1 million Americans worked for railroads. Since then, with significant advancements in transportation and communication technology, that number is down to about 200,000. Yet, it is undeniable that the U.S. economy has prospered over this period and that millions of jobs were either created or shifted to new industries.

Likewise, American businesses must adapt and apply the lessons learned from the U.S. experience with diversity to the global stage. A truly “global” U.S. company is no longer one that just has operations in other countries. To be competitive in the era of globalization, U.S. businesses must continue to foster respect and understanding for individual differences and even greater collaboration between employees around the world. This “managed inclusion” is what transforms diversity from a potentially disruptive—even divisive— element into an asset that strengthens global customer relationships; attracts the best talent from everywhere; encourages productive collaboration; and powers further innovation. PDJ

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Awareness and Communications: Keys to an Inclusive Workplace

By Susan LaChance Vice President, Employee Development and Diversity United States Postal Service (USPS)

T

The Postal Service

is one of the leading employers of minorities and women. When looking at gender, 40% of our workforce are women. When it comes to race and ethnicity, the Postal Service employs 40% minorities.

With more than 618,000 employees, our diversity does not end there. Like most U.S. businesses in the last two decades, we have dramatically changed the way we define and discuss diversity in the workplace.

Diversity extends beyond gender, race, age, education, disability, religion, sexual orientation, background, and family situations. Our challenge is to build a workplace where everyone feels valued and respected.

To meet that challenge, last year our Diversity and the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) functions were merged into one department, now known as the Office of EEO and Inclusiveness.

Our Office of EEO and Inclusiveness aggressively messages EEO laws and remedies. It also provides timely and cost-effective informal complaint processing and proactive prevention while managing diversity business and inclusive workplace strategies.

Rather than intervention, our goal is prevention.

From our top managers down to our frontline supervisors, we make sure they understand the importance of open, one-on-one communication. They also understand that including and engaging employees translates into a more cohesive, productive work environment.

For the Postal Service, the key to an inclusive workplace is communication and awareness: Our highest leadership communicates our organization’s expectation and commitment to have an inclusive workplace.

• To our employees, the perceived lack of communication is often a key issue when employees seek counseling. As such, we partner with managers and front line supervisors to open the lines of communication and eliminate any perceived barriers or misunderstandings.

• When a dispute does arise, our counselors engage parties early in the process to determine underlying issues and encourage early case resolution.

• We educate our employees and managers on everyone’s responsibilities for a harmonious, harassment-free workplace.

Training and messaging is tailored to address relevant topics to clarify rights and responsibilities throughout the organization.

• We established trained, objective fact-finder teams to research allegations of inappropriate behavior, when needed. These teams provide management an opportunity to employ corrective measures to lessen or prevent hurt feelings and quickly end alleged abuse.

Has it paid off? Absolutely, and it continues to deliver dividends.

Informal complaints have dropped 8.5%. Additionally, over the last several years, we’ve reduced the number of formal complaints through mediation and counseling services.

This past year, we focused on proactive prevention initiatives and met with senior leadership to apprise them of how they perform from an EEO perspective.

During the informal process, more than eight They understand the downside is lost productivity, out of ten complainants who filed an informal unscheduled absences, and unnecessary complaints. complaint opted for mediation, resulting in a 76.5% resolution rate. PDJ 50

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Beyond Sensitivity Training: Building a Diversity Training Program

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

You may have heard the adage that training is a process and not an event. As you build a diversity training program, you must go beyond basic ‘sensitivity training’ and a problem-oriented approach, and aim for a deeper level of organizational change.

In the best diversity training programs, raising awareness, although important, is not the ultimate goal. It’s the beginning of a process to build understanding, cultural competency and the skills to prepare employees and managers at all levels to understand and own their role in attaining the organization’s diversity and inclusion goals.

Effective diversity training programs are aligned with business strategies. They improve relationships within the company and with customers. They don’t just address problems such as discrimination and sexual harassment, and they provide knowledge and develop skills that lead to business opportunities and optimized talent.

Whether you’re just beginning to create a company-wide diversity training program, or you’re working to strengthen an existing initiative, keeping the following points in mind will help ensure that you transcend sensitivity training:

Training is a process. One class does not make a diversity training program. As with leadership development learning, managing diversity is a journey that includes a long term commitment to building your knowledge and developing and applying skills and abilities, such as intercultural communications, self awareness and managing differences. To bring about real change, you need a robust program covering a broad spectrum of topics, and tailored to your company’s objectives. Your suite of courses might cover topics such as defining diversity, the business case for your organization, managing different generations, and how to attract and retain a diverse customer base.

Integrate diversity training. In addition to offering stand-

alone D&I classes, diversity concepts should be integrated into other corporate training programs. For example, it’s important to include cultural awareness content in behavioral interviewing courses for managers. Some people are reserved about taking credit for individual achievements because of their cultural background or personality; managers need to be aware of how cultural values and norms can impact communication as they assess job candidates. Diversity concepts and scenarios are also particularly relevant to courses related to sales and customer service.

Go for a hybrid long-term approach. The most ef-

fective diversity training programs include a hybrid or blended approach— combining instruction, led in a traditional classroom setting, with the use of the latest technology; making presentations through “webinars” or developing interactive, self-paced online training programs.

Include everyone. Employees and managers at all levels should

complete a stand-alone class emphasizing what diversity means to the organization and how it relates to business strategy.

Training should also stress that all employees—not just management—are responsible for creating an inclusive environment and enhancing service to customers.

Choose trainers carefully—and train them well. Many or-

ganizations use internal trainers, employees, and/or managers to deliver diversity training. It’s crucial to create and use criteria that ensures the trainer will have the appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities, along with a reputation for working well with people of all backgrounds, and the ability to create an environment in which employees can speak candidly without fear of retaliation. Trainers need to be more than simply passionate about the work of diversity and inclusion to train others and deliver the message. Passion is one prerequisite, but a selected list of knowledge, skills and abilities should also be applied.

These steps are all part of making a commitment to create a comprehensive diversity training program that not only addresses business risk, but also uncovers business opportunities. Effective diversity training is crucial to success in today’s multicultural marketplace. At its best, it can help create a positive environment in which people from all walks of life work as a team— with everyone focused on doing their best and doing what’s best for the company. PDJ Tisa Jackson, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion for Union Bank, N.A., has more than 13 years of experience in this field, as well as strategic human resources management, community development and organizational development. She is founder of the Professional & Technical Diversity Network (PTDN) of Greater Los Angeles, a diversity consortium comprised of companies committed to diversity and inclusion. Union Bank, N.A., is a full-service commercial bank providing an array of financial services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, and major corporations. The bank has 337 banking offices in California, Oregon, Washington and Texas and two international offices. Union Bank is a proud member of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG, NYSE:MTU), one of the world’s largest financial organizations. Visit www.unionbank.com for more information.

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thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Bring It!

I

By Alfred J. Torres Vice President, Talent Management and Diversity Verizon

I consider this one of the key elements of our employment value proposition—the opportunity for employees to bring their unique talent, skills, knowledge, and passion to a work environment that embraces all of who they are.

For me, the employment value proposition is more than your “total rewards” package. It’s also about how you define your brand in the minds of employees and applicants alike. Your message must be distinctive and compelling; bridging the internal and external worlds.

Externally, we are recognized as one of the companies that lead the pack in many diversity best practices.

We tailor our recruiting efforts to ensure we optimize candidate sourcing opportunities. Internally, we have a robust set of ERGs and diversity councils, senior leaders who embrace and understand the value and capacity of contribution that diversity presents. We offer relevant training programs and have a robust supplier diversity program. We also have employee demographics that we are proud of. However, we had some work to do to extend the conversation about diversity in a manner that was simple, inclusive, and straightforward, and also spoke to our employment value proposition.

“

The “Bring It” campaign was part of our response.

There are several key aspects that make this campaign successful. First, it defines diversity broadly and inclusively. Second, it focuses employees and potential applicants to view diversity as an opportunity that drives employee contributions and business results— shifting the discussion to how we fully leverage the diverse experience, backgrounds, and viewpoints of our employees. Space they already own.

Third, we use photos of actual employees in the branding campaign—and of course they represent different gender, race, and ethnic groups. They also represent different geographies, lines of business, and other dimensions of diversity. The use of real employees created a buzz throughout the company as people recognized coworkers featured in the campaign. It also enabled employees to see themselves as part of the diversity mix.

Leadership. Innovation. Results. That’s what we want all of our employees to bring every day. I believe it is a value proposition that every employee can embrace and see success for themselves, as well as the enterprise. PDJ

Leadership.

Innovation.

Results.

That’s what we want all of our employees to bring every day.

”

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Bring It!

Your Talents. Your Ideas. Your Passion.

Thu, Verizon, Marketing

At Verizon, we want you to bring your diverse talents, experiences, backgrounds, and viewpoints to work.

It’s your smarter leadership, bolder innovations, and faster results that will move our business forward at the speed of FiOS! So, bring it in and bring it on – bring your diversity to work at Verizon!

Verizon Diversity Leadership. Innovation. Results.

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Inclusive Leadership in a New Era

By L. Mecole Brown Vice President & Chief Diversity Officer Wal-Mart Stores, U.S.

D

Diversity is built on a tradition of strong leaders—a spirit that guides us today to break new ground, meet challenges head-on, and propel to the next level of excellence. It is a time to celebrate our accomplishments—and a time to develop a vision on elevating diversity in a new era of inclusion.

Diversity has evolved from a compliance initiative to a cornerstone of a high-performing culture based on inclusion—it’s about harnessing all the differences employees bring to the workplace.

In this transformation, it’s no longer enough to be “diverse” in the sense of numbers and data, stand-alone programs and initiatives. It’s time to move beyond a “check-the-box” mind set, and build a truly inclusive work environment that leverages unique talents, ideas, styles, geographic origins, perspectives, and backgrounds.

While diversity is valuable in that it gives opportunities to individuals, inclusion is what allows organizations to thrive and grow. Looking ahead, it will be an important factor that will separate those organizations that succeed from those that don’t.

“

While diversity is valuable in that it gives opportunities to individuals,

inclusion is what allows organizations to

”

thrive and grow.

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Becoming Ambassadors of Diversity and Inclusion

To help our organizations succeed in the future, we all must take a renewed leadership role as ambassadors of diversity and models of inclusion.

This requires vision, influence, acting as a change agent, and being truly authentic. visionary. Be passionate and intentional to create a culture of leadership that leverages diversity of thought. Build diversity and inclusion in the leadership competency model to drive desired cultural behaviors. Diversity and inclusion must live inside, not run alongside, the business.

Be

Be resourceful and get everyone engaged. Enhance people’s career experience by developing them and equipping them with opportunities to maximize their talent.

Be influential.

Be a change agent. Just because something has worked in the past doesn’t mean it will work now. Think in new ways. Be willing to swim upstream. This allows you to leverage differences and encourage collaboration and innovation.

Be real in the way that you invite and welcome all employees to bring their ideas to the table. When you are authentic, people feel valued. When you honor individual differences and empower others to be authentic, they can make their greatest contribution to your organization.

Be authentic.

A Vision for the New Era

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. We’ll only reach our potential when we begin taking the steps to propel diversity to a new standard of inclusion. Each and every one of our people has unique gifts to share. It’s up to us to build an environment where they are willing and able to do so. With collective efforts, we can build high-performing teams with an innovative mindset and a collaborative spirit. PDJ

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Dealing with Generational Issues

By Denise Houser

F

For the first time in American history, four different generations are working side-by-side in the workplace. As you may know, the four groups are: Traditionalists—born before 1946 Baby Boomers—born between 1946 and 1964 Generation Xers—born between 1965 and 1980 Millennials (Gen Y)—born between 1981 and 1999

Remember (if you are old enough), when veteran workers were the bosses and younger workers did what was asked of them, no questions asked? There were clear and definitive rules for how the boss was treated and how younger workers treated more senior workers.

But those rules no longer apply. Job roles and the rules associated with them are being rewritten daily.

Generational differences can affect every aspect of the workplace, including recruiting, building teams, dealing with change, motivating, managing, and maintaining and increasing productivity. Think how generational differences might create misunderstandings, high employee turnover, and difficulty in attracting employees, and gaining employee commitment.

In fact, research clearly shows that many issues formerly ascribed to loss of employee loyalty and work ethic are actually generational in nature.

Indeed, 65% of respondents in a survey say that generational gaps make it hard to get things done.* They cite a lack of communication coming from the tension between “that’s the way we’ve always done it” and “let’s change it because we can change it.”

As well, the survey responses pointed to differences in a generation’s values such as work ethic and dress codes, differences in workforce shifts, and the problem of retaining multi-generational talent.

Director, Talent Management Waste Management, Inc.

In short, the potential for collision, conflict, and confusion between the generations has never been greater.

So, what are some ways to mitigate the generational issues in the workplace? Let me suggest the following: • Understand the characteristics of each generation.

Misleading stereotypes are pervasive, and they can divert attention away from the strengths that each generation brings to the table.

• Learn how each team member prefers to communicate when a group of employees begins working with each other.

• Establish expectations. Use the appropriate motivation for each generation, which can bring out their strengths. For example, Baby Boomers generally have a teamwork ethic, and Traditionalists have a can-do attitude. Generation Xers are usually motivated by work when they are given freedom to be more creative and have flexibility in their job.

Millennials (Gen Y) seem to be a combination of the above.

• Train appropriately. Each generation learns in its own way. Whereas Baby Boomers learn from various formats, the technology-intensive Gen Xers prefer computer-based training.

In summary, by recognizing the power of these four generations, and what each brings to the workplace, you can have a more respectful, communicative and productive workforce. PDJ

References for this article include: * Lancaster, Lynne C.: Stillman, David. When Generations Collide: Who They Are, Why They Clash, How to Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work. HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 2002.

Sago, Brad. “Uncommon Threads: Mending the Generation Gap at Work,” Executive Update, July 2000.

Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

January/February 2010

55

thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders thoughtleaders Building a Diversity Focused Organization

By Carter A. Beck Vice President, Counsel, Legal & Commercial WellPoint, Inc.

W

When my boss, the General Counsel of WellPoint, Inc., came to me in late 2008 with the idea of initiating a legal diversity team, I have to say that I was somewhat confounded about how we would accomplish this and who would want to participate on the team. To my great surprise (and relief ), there was tremendous interest in setting up a team, and we were able to easily populate the team with approximately a dozen associates.

WellPoint has had, for many years, a strong focus on diversity, and developing our diversity marks in all facets of our business, whether it is in the associate workforce, or in the supplier or customer sides. That’s what I think provided a strong and influential basis for me to work with the team’s co-leads to create a new legal diversity team, known as the Diversity Forum.

The team is populated with a diverse cross-section of legal associates, including by race, age, gender, ethnic background, and job function.

We have rounded out our first year of the Forum, having accomplished much in 2009. We attended and presented at various conferences where diversity was a focus. We worked with the StreetLaw program in several cities in collaboration with law firms that represent WellPoint. We also initiated a number of training and learning opportunities for the WellPoint legal staff.

Our focus for 2010 is even more ambitious. We have been able to establish a budget allowing us to increase our efforts and make greater strides to improve diversity within the WellPoint legal department and develop stronger connection points outside of the company.

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One of our efforts is focused on developing talent pipelines among diverse organizations, including secondary schools, colleges and universities. One of the challenges that confront us, as well as many other corporations and law firms, is the shrinking body of diverse law students. Law schools have reported decreases in African-American applicants over the past few years, and only slight increases of other ethnic- or race-based individuals. This means that the law school graduate pool is quite small and there is, understandably, great interest and competition from many entities to hire these law school graduates.

It is our hope that, with some of our pre-collegebased and law school-based programs, we can learn more about current and future law school students to better ascertain what types of employment they will be seeking once they graduate. Additionally, getting the WellPoint name “out there” and making ourselves known to students is a great way of creating connection points and helping to develop those diverse talent pipelines that we desire.

I would strongly encourage other corporations and law firms to consider creating a legal diversity team. It is a fulfilling endeavor and you might just be surprised by the amount of interest and enthusiasm there is among your associates. I know I was.

And I’m happy to report that, with our General Counsel’s strong support, my job as executive sponsor for our Diversity Forum is nothing short of invigorating, challenging and delightful. PDJ

CHEVRON, the CHEVRON HALLMARK and HUMAN ENERGY are registered trademarks of Chevron Intellectual Property LLC. Š 2009 Chevron Corporation. All rights reserved.

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Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

January/February 2010

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advantage

advertiser’s index Bank of the West . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 43

New York Life Insurance Co.. . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Verizon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

www.bankofthewest.com

www.newyorklife.com

www.verizon.com

Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC . . . . . . . . . . .45

PepsiCo . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 5

W.W. Grainger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inside Front,

www.bcbsnc.com

www.pepsico.com

www.grainger.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . pg 1

Chevron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Royal Dutch Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Walmart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back Cover

www.chevron.com

www.shell.com

www.walmart.com

Freddie Mac. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Sodexo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Waste Management. . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back

www.freddiemac.com

www.sodexousa.com

www.wm.com

ITT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

UnitedHealth Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

WellPoint . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 19

www.itt.com

www.unitedhealthgroup.com

www.wellpoint.com

Lockheed Martin . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 11

Vanguard . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 33

www.lockheedmartin.com

www.vanguard.com

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January/February 2010

stories

microtrigger stories

editors notebook

Have You Experienced These Kinds of Triggers?

By Janet Crenshaw Smith

Un-collaborated Efforts

“

The Monday Morning Question

MicroTriggers are those subtle

I am a mid-level manager

at a tech firm. I’ve been in my role for nearly three years, so

behaviors, phrases and inequities

“

Since I’ve been in the

workforce, I’ve noticed that colleagues always ask ‘how was

I’m always baffled as to why

that trigger an instantaneous

your weekend?’ I know it’s polite,

I have to carbon copy (CC)

negative response. Here are some

but the conversation never truly

my director in order to get a response from one of

samples for you to consider.

my colleagues.

goes beyond a response of ‘great, thanks.’ Far too often, I find myself getting cut off when I begin going

“Teamwork is highly

into detail. I just think it’s very

encouraged in the office, but I’m not sure this colleague,

pretentious…why ask, if people don’t really care? Call me

in particular, understands the concept. Like me or not,

tough, but I’d be happy with a simple ‘good morning.’”

we’re all paid to get a job done, not be friends.”

—Nathaniel Benjamin, M.B.A.

—Sandra Larson, M.P.A. New Year, Old Habits

The Name Game

“

My supervisor likes to assign nicknames. I’ve never

been a fan of nicknames in the workplace, but it’s grown on me. I have noticed, however, that not everyone has a nickname. I’m not sure if it has to do with the age of some staff members versus others? Or, if it’s a reflection of the relationship my supervisor has with each employee. I just hope I’m not on the bad end of the joke.”

—Jason Steele, M.B.A.

“

During the first week back from the holiday break,

my team participated in management training. As part of the course, we learned about office etiquette, and how to make the most of team interactions.

“An important item that was addressed during the training was usage of BlackBerries during meetings (one-on-one and otherwise). What was hilarious was that by the end of the week, leadership was back to their usual BlackBerry habits. During team meetings, they were checking emails and answering calls. So much for training.

—Candice Baptiste, M.P.A. PDJ

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

Prof iles in Div er s it y Jou r na l

January/February 2010

59

last word

Corporate Diversity Training: Is Yours Meeting 21st Century Needs?

By Marie Y. Philippe, Ph.D.

R

Corporate Vice President, Culture and Organizational Effectiveness The Lifetime Healthcare Companies

Regardless of culture, whether it is a culture of innovation, or one focused on accountability, most companies also desire an inclusive environment. Embedded in the culture-management strategy is typically the diversity training staple. This is indeed best practice.

However it is important for us to ask if the training is keeping up with the way in which our employees work, and if it enhances workforce engagement and effectiveness, thus meeting the ever-changing business needs of our young century.

Let’s consider just a couple of points as you re-evaluate your training strategy.

Is your definition of diversity keeping up with the evolutionary social construct? Twenty-five years ago, diversity training was referring primarily to race and gender. From there grew the basic ‘seven elements of diversity.’ Through the knowledge- and experience-sharing of various practitioners, diversity training grew to a type of national convention of over seventeen dimensions.

The expansion of these dimensions continues to redefine diversity for true inclusion. Consider family composition statistics of the fifties and sixties, when housholds were mainly comprised of heterosexual couples with children living at home, compared to the 2010 forecast of 60% of households being childless and, of the 40% with children, roughly 10%-12% being led by samegender couples and over 27% by single parents. Or, consider the evolution of states without any particular ethnic majority, as the demographics of California and New York are expected to reflect by mid-century.

Voluntary vs. Mandatory Training. The business case for inclusion implies the necessity for every employee to be onboard with the concept of diversity. However, reality has taught practitioners that the imposition of diversity training has not led to the desired embrace, despite the 100% attendance rates. Many companies have adopted, for good reasons, affirmative defense, for example: the stance that all people managers should submit to mandatory training. True, this is invaluable knowledge for leadership, and a great liability reducer.

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Pro f i les i n D i ve rsit y Journal

January/February 2010

The other question to ask should be about effectiveness and goodwill creation. Forced training has taught many how to be more subtle about discriminatory practices and behaviors in the workplace, but has created, in some cases, levels of resentment manifested through increased violence in less controlled social circles.

Voluntary training is more likely to result in longterm, sustainable behavior change. The encouragement for self motivation in Diversity training participation emerges from the employees witnessing their leaders walking the talk of inclusion and leading by example. This modeling by leaders both increases the effectiveness in successful business outcomes and creates the desired culture with new behavioral norms.

Further, in this digital age, training of any sort can be had at any time, anywhere, at anyone’s convenience.

This is not an endorsement of electronic diversity training, although various interactive models can be quite effective in teaching the business case, the legal aspects, and workplace basics. For the real learning to occur, the depth of dialogue on sensitive issues and human interactions is a must, as it creates the optimum balance of understanding at the intellectual and emotional levels.

Of course, you would also want to specially assess the evolution of your audience, paying attention to the needs of your workforce, changing demographics, the impact of social media in your communication strategy, the sophistication of multicultural markets, and the commitment to sustainability in your measures of success.

Through a successful implementation of self motivated diversity training, employees work more collaboratively, seek solutions respectfully from different perspectives, and perform better overall. The company will undoubtedly experience financial gains derived from increased efficiency, while the company’s internal culture and public image will also be enhanced. PDJ

Marie Y. Philippe, Ph.D. is well known for her leadership contribution in corporate culture transformation through strategic diversity initiatives and organizational change management.

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

What they did inspires us to get it done.

Madame CJ Walker, Entrepreneur

“All these innovators worked to provide greater solutions for others in ways “These amazing people

Walker developed and

never attempted before. In spite of

marketed a hugely

barriers, they lived without boundaries.

helped me get where I am

Their efforts influence my endeavors.”

today—dedicating my group

successful line of beauty

Yolanda Daniel, VP Internal Audit

products for women of

to attracting, retaining and

Dr. Mae Jemison, Astronaut

color. By 1917, she had

developing our incredibly

the largest

After volunteering as a physician in

talented resource of diverse employees.”

business in

the Peace Corps, Jemison joined NASA

Sandra A. Taylor, VP National Accounts

the United

and flew a mission on the space shuttle

Elijah McCoy, Transportation

States owned

Endeavour. Jemison’s advice: “The best way

McCoy invented an automatic

by an African

to make dreams come true is to wake up!”

lubricator for oiling the steam

American.

engines of locomotives that revolutionized the railroad industry.

Some say engineers would avoid using inferior copies of his invention by demanding “the Real McCoy.”

1872

1906 1881

1992 1988

2007 2005

2009 2008

Lewis Latimer, Lighting “I’m humbled to be on the same page

A gifted draftsman who once

with people who always pushed

worked for Alexander Graham

forward to benefit others. In my job,

Bell, Latimer invented a method for the production of

I work to help people see their

carbon filaments for the light

strengths and guide them to win.”

“Whatever niche in life you find

Littie D. Brown, VP Regional Sales

yourself, dare to make a difference

bulb in 1881. His innovation helped illuminate

in someone’s life. These pioneers did, and I’m determined to do the

the world.

Dr. Patricia Bath, Surgeon Bath, the first African American woman doctor to receive a medical patent, designed a device to help remove cataracts with a fiberoptic laser. She also co-founded the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness.

Her vision has helped countless others see.

same every day.”

African Americans have always been pioneers in industry. Using innovation, creativity and hard work to do things that have never been done before. That entrepreneurial spirit paved the way for Grainger’s African American leaders to always find innovative ways to help our customers get the job done.

Ernestis L. Duplessis, A company that making a difference VP Investor Relations in your world and the world around you.

To learn more about the power of diversity

Waste Management is a Fortune 200 company that is changing the world for the better. at Grainger, visit We are strongly committed to promoting diversity and inclusion and empowering our employees. We are working with the communities we serve to fuel innovative change— and we need your help. www.wmcareers.com From everyday collection to environmental protection. Think Green.

Think Waste Management. www.thinkgreen.com

Also Featuring … Catalyst • Diversity Innovation: SHRM’s Global Diversity Readiness Index • MicroTriggers • Perspectives

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Volume 12, Number 1 January / February 2010

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PROFILES IN DIVERSITY JOURNAL

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Supporting diversity, from our stockrooms to our boardrooms.

At Sam’s Club®, we know important contributions can come from many different sources. That’s why we’re committed to recruiting exceptional candidates, regardless of their gender or race. We’re also committed to giving candidates the opportunity to advance—because those who work in the aisles of the Club may someday reach the halls of upper management. And after all,

sodexo

not only is promoting the success of a diverse workforce the right thing to do, but it strengthens Sam’s Club at every level.

also inside: SM

2010 Diversity Leader Award Recipients Habits of Highly Effective Diversity Training