EX of Today, IN of Tomorrow - A Review on Diversity and Inclusion

Written by Bernadette and Ruby

Harvard Business Review published their analysis after interviewing 24 CEOs “who ran companies and corporate divisions that had earned reputations for embracing people from all kinds of backgrounds”.

The purpose was to understand three things:

1. why they had made diversity a strategy

2. how to make their goals a reality

3. what that meant to the organization and its practices

Canada is a country that prioritizes diversity and inclusion, but this also applies to a lot of businesses around the world as well. People with different cultural backgrounds provide businesses with fresh perspectives, preventing an organization from “becoming too insular and out of touch with its increasingly heterogeneous customer base”. In addition, this adds to an employee’s sense of belonging, thus, increasing their incentive to work better.

This also applies to gender roles, given that shockingly 4% of companies on the Fortune 500 list have female CEOs. The reason behind is due to the “exclusion from networks and conversations that open doors to further development and promotion”.

These problems encountered in the workplace calls for an inclusive culture - everyone, disregarding their gender, race, sexual orientation, and physical ability, is able to build their own rich career. However, without enforcement, this won’t be made possible. There are certain practices that companies should put in place:

• analyze metrics from questionnaires

• lead by example and hold managers accountable

• recruit and promote candidates from different backgrounds

• provide education and mentoring programs

• start a diversity task force for continuous promotion

After reading the article, Ruby and I were motivated to do the same when building our own conference. Moving forward, we will frequently gather feedback by people with different experiences, in terms of gender and culture. Their inputs will be key in helping us make our conference more inclusive where every participant gets to share their passion for business and learn together.

We will also be including a short session to discuss the importance of diversity and inclusiveness in the workplace to spread awareness of the problem, as well as how to handle it when they encounter them in their future workplace. This will be useful preparation for the future.

Together, let’s turn all these talk of inclusion into reality, so that everyone can achieve their dreams in a safe environment! We both look forward to meeting you all in our upcoming conference.