Diversity in the Workplace

think forward think research Channel there's a structural problem with genocide which is that it tends to happen in places that are off the beaten path so not in what they do and reduce - ultimately we have to address society needs to acknowledge that learning is a lifelong challenge the Siddons challenge cherished beliefs most White's held dear at the DNA level we're all 99.9% the same all so individuals do matter and I think the quality of our individual leadership matters who is speaking for poor people 40 million Americans makes six dollars an hour who is speaking for them the only thing that one has after throwing everything overboard is the love that one can give leadership as a topic is a dynamic subject everyone seems to be familiar with the term leadership I have found however they getting two people to agree on its exact definition is difficult here are three definitions that I came across in preparing to meet with you one leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it that was Dwight Eisenhower - the difference between a boss and a leader a boss says go a leader says let's go 'i'm kelly from growing disciples in 1995 and third from an anonymous person a real leader faces the music even when he doesn't like the tune so there's a great deal of debate about leadership the quality is needed to be a leader or in my case the qualities needed to be a successful diversity leader so now in order to have a discussion about workforce diversity and leadership I want to talk for a minute about IBM's heritage because it serves as a company foundation we began hiring women and black employees in 1899 and that's documented the first disabled employee in 1914 hiring professional women in 1935 and creating an equal opportunity and minority suppliers program in 1968 now that 1899 reference when I'm talking to groups of our team I frame it for them as follows you hire women in 1899 as 20 years before women's suffrage he hire a black man in 1899 that's ten years before the founding of the n-double a-c-p in 36 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation that's an extraordinary historic point we were the first company in America to create a national childcare resource and referral program in 1983 and an elder care program in 1988 in the 90s we expanded our commitment to diversity in the global arena and throughout our history iBM has been acknowledged as a great place to work now while our heritage is unparalleled we must continue to focus on maintaining our leadership so that we can seen as an employer of choice not for the workers of today but for the workers of tomorrow and as IBM was becoming more reflective of the changing demographics of the marketplace so is our government and if you look at the evolution of women and minorities in the Senate and the house over the last 75 years you'll see a shift as people have become elected you'll even see three people in the house who were gay but there are other demographics we have 50 cities in America that have a hundred thousand or more people we're the minority population is the majority I believe we have 23 cities out of the top 50 cities in the country where the mayor is a woman or an ethnic minority and we have several state capitals where the room where the mayor is a woman or an ethnic minority that does not speak to the America I grew up in it speaks to the America I live in today and you could argue they're two different places but we've got to deal with the one we have today and we have to do it because we're it we're at war we're in an economic war and we're going to compete with countries that can produce more workers and more buyers of products than we can and we're not making the greatest possible use of our greatest asset our people we have a global diversity council at IBM and we've determined that there are six diversity imperatives we call them global imperatives that no matter where you are in IBM as a general manager you have to deal with these six imperatives we've said we will not allow you to say these don't work in my part of the world or in my country we have determined that they're if they're appropriate everywhere the first one is the global marketplace because we mark it we do business in over 170 countries the second imperative is the advancement of women 30% of our business is women the third is the diversity of our management team worldwide that means not just race and gender not just ethnicity not just sexual orientation not disability it means also people managing in countries other than their native country that does not mean Americans leaving here going to some other country it means people from all countries having a chance to go to another country the fourth is cultural awareness and acceptance and we have a couple subtopics under it ethnic minorities multilingualism and individual differences the fifth is the integration of people with disabilities into our workplace in our marketplace and the sixth is work-life balance and the work-life balance has three sub talk topics how do you attack the culture what do you do to support dependent care and how do you address the flexibility needs of your people now to intensify our leadership posture we've also begun begun a major focus on legislation employment legislation is no longer a us-centric issue in the year 2000 we started looking at this then we found that 38 remember I just said we do business in hundreds in more than 170 countries but we have people in 73 countries in the year 2038 of those 73 countries had some form of workforce diversity related legislation in the year 2001 60 of the 73 countries had legislation and in the year 2002 were up to 68 of the 73 countries that's pretty powerful because the expectation is that that legislation is going to help define the expectations of corporate conduct and behavior by the end of next year each of the 15 European Union member states must have legislation in place prohibiting discrimination in employment based on gender ethnic minority status religion or belief disability or sexual orientation and by 2006 they must also address age now in addition there is US legislation called amendment 508 which is an amendment to the u.s. Rehabilitation Act of 1973 amendment 508 mandates that all companies who are doing business with the US federal government must provide products and solutions that are accessible by the disabled and failure to comply could impact your ability to win a bid degree of accessibility is more important than cost and what we're seeing now is that several US states Japan and the European community are creating legislation modeled after amendment 508 this has already proven to be a battleground for billions of dollars worth of products because the government is a major customer the government buys a lot of products and if it spreads to some of the states or all of them and to other countries then disability legislation will become has become very important other new news the US Department of Commerce reported in the year 2001 that there were nine point seven million women and minority-owned businesses in the United States that's a lot of businesses now from an IBM perspective all of those companies would not be legitimate customers some of them are very small but we know now from dun & bradstreet that 22,000 women and minority-owned businesses in America have either 100 or more employees or generate 20 million dollars or more in revenue each year collectively they are a two hundred and fifty three billion dollar enterprise and a particularly interesting point is that 71% of that 22,000 businesses are located in 16 states and the 71% drives 76% of the 253 billion dollars in revenue that's a lot of business opportunity that also says companies owned by women and minorities are becoming an extraordinarily important component of our business opportunity a couple of years ago in preparing for a briefing for our senior management I asked my team to develop a different kind of chart I wanted to get a sense about women-owned businesses around the world and we developed a chart that listed I think it was 14 countries country name the percentage of businesses in each country owned by women profound data between 15 and 30 percent of the businesses in each country were owned by women from that piece of work I was able to say 60,000 businesses in Japan are owned by women what's important is that we understand that if you're in a technology company like the IBM company those companies are not going to run their businesses on the backs of napkins they're going to buy some company's technology do we want to compete for it see my vision about this workforce diversity thing is embodied in a concept the workforce diversity is the bridge between the workplace in the marketplace in 1996 we announced we were going to provide domestic partner benefits to our gay lesbian community I want to share with you the debate points that I took to our senior management I wanted to make it clear that at a debate about domestic partner benefits was not a debate about what people do in the privacy of their homes it was a debate about the marketplace and I made a statement that the gay lesbian community represented the highest blend of three things of any group that we had data on computer literacy disposable income and educational level which said this is a marketplace for a company that markets technology would you walk away from a marketplace of course I knew the answer was no we wouldn't the challenge was a challenge of leadership to find a way to communicate that this is about our business not about people's sexual behavior we needed to isolate one so we could talk about the other I mentioned to you that we created a minority supplier program in 1968 in the year 2000 we spent over 1.6 billion dollars with companies owned by women and minorities we became one of the ten introductory members of what is known as the billion dollar roundtable that is companies that spent more than a billion with minority-owned women-owned companies we replicated that in the year 2001 I would submit to you that you cannot spend a billion six with companies cutting the grass and sweeping the floors and if you're spending that kind of money with companies owned by women and minorities that means you have found companies owned by women and minorities that can influence your company that could help you win in your respective marketplace we have done that and it's very important now hopefully I'm convincing you that diversity is more than good corporate citizenship or just doing the right thing it's about creating business strategies that allow all people including constituency members to spend their money with IBM and feel good about it now with that as a backdrop the two questions I am usually asked about my profession are clearly about leadership first what attributes must an executive possess to be effective in corporations today and second how can a diversity executive work in the corporate boardroom but stay in touch with the various constituency groups and meet their needs and still remain creditable and effective these are good questions and there are many good answers answers I've been thinking about for many many years and I've arrived at one conclusion it's about passion and leadership for me success comes down to how the following questions are answered how do you exhibit leadership both in your personal approach to work and the policies you embrace for your company and second do you care about the outcome of the debates you engage in do you hate to lose I would say to you that my chairman Lou Gerstner the first time I presented to the IBM Board of Directors introduced me as the most relentless man you'd ever met in his life I hate to lose I'm very committed to honesty and integrity I won't cheat or lie my dad taught me that the beauty of telling the truth no matter how painful is you don't have to do it one time you know if to remember what you said so long as you keep telling the truth so I can't deal in lying because the things I do were there too controversial and there's too much debate but I'll stay up all night Dow thank you if all if it only requires not sleeping then then you better give it up because I'll not go to sleep to answer these questions I have drawn from the examples of two people that I have learned from and admired greatly the first example comes from professional sports the second example comes from business both are legends I'm talking about Jackie Robinson of the Dodgers in Tom Watson jr. of IBM life is not a spectator sport said Jackie Robinson who broke the baseball color barrier in 1947 if you're going to spend your life in the grandstand just watching what goes on in my opinion you're wasting your life he said and he lived as he believed I think that we have not done him justice because we've not talked enough about the other things he did besides play baseball while in the army from 1942 to 1945 before he played before he played for the Dodgers he challenged segregation at Camp Fort Hood as they went through military channels stating his cost to superior officers his protests led to the desegregation at the camp he also once faced and defeated court-martial proceedings after refusing to move to the back of an army bus when the driver gave the order his protest was legitimate and since Army Regulations prohibited discrimination on government vehicles all charges were ultimately dismissed he lays out a valuable lesson for diversity executives and perhaps for all of us our work is not for spectators but for those who thrive on change not for change alone but change that is a catalyst for improvement creating fairness where it doesn't exist moving organizations from separate but equal points of view to inclusiveness and migrating people from conflict to collaboration aspiring leaders can also learn from the leadership of Tom Watson jr. when it involved IBM he sought to live by his values as he led our company in his book of business and his beliefs Watson said if an organization is to meet the challenges of a changing world it must be prepared to change everything about itself except its basic beliefs as it moves through corporate life the only sacred cow at an organization should be its basic philosophy of doing business and he had three basic beliefs respect for the individual service to the customer and excellence must be a way of life one of the interesting things I talked about is that iBM has had eight CEOs and I have known and worked for seven of them I did not know mr. Watson's father and I asked Tom Watson in an interview I had with him in 1990 why he wrote one of America's first equal opportunity policies lawyers in 1953 September 21st 1953 to be specific asked him why did he write an equal-opportunity letter a year before the brown decision and 11 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the letter communicated his commitment to fairness and inclusion Tom jr. told me that he was negotiating with the governors of two states North Carolina and Kentucky to build plants at Raleigh and Lexington southern states he said Ted I told both governor's if there would be no separate-but-equal that I being I wanted the plants in those states for strategic reasons I was not prepared to negotiate on that point I did not think the governor's believed me I wrote the letter with a specific strategy in mind write a letter to my management team on my views on race in the workplace make the letter public so the governor's would know I wouldn't negotiate what happened sir both governor's sent word Tom manager people any way you want to but bring the payroll now that's a I believe an early example of show me the money because those two governors looked at Social Policy separate-but-equal and IB implant that was going to employ thousands of people and the payroll dollars and the accompanying tax dollars and voted for the money I think Tom Watson's leader letter his decision to write the letter was leadership I believe that every leader in my profession must be passionate about the people working for their company and passionate about their customers they must help all people involved in their business understand that workforce diversity can be that bridge between the workplace in the marketplace passion is contagious and when combined with leadership the equation as I believe very effectively but the most important quality for diversity leader is the ability to motivate others to be part of the overall leadership on the subject and see it as part of their personal day-to-day performance a leader must be able to draw others into the debate and be the catalyst who can convince others that helping to change the content and character of the workplace makes the team stronger and a better performer in the marketplace so why is leadership important in my chosen career the answer is simple our work is not done I believe there are three examples that frame our current challenges first we've not solved the problems of gender and race women represent more than 50% of the world's population but they're not 50% of our workforce and certainly have not achieved parity on our management and executive teams they are however increasingly becoming members of our executive teams and owners of their own businesses we must view them in a more important and inclusive context a workforce talent - context and as customers the issue of race has been a pivotal item in our nation since its founding today driven by immigration patterns the growing presence of people of color as citizens business owners and customers puts this issue on the social business and political agendas of many countries second the gay-lesbian workplace issue achieved legitimacy as a discussion topic in the last decade the driving force was to debate around whether or not to offer domestic partner benefits although approximately 145 of the fortune 500 companies now offer such benefits many companies don't while the domestic partner benefits issue is still a legitimate topic we need to move forward with the gay-lesbian debate we need to understand that it's no longer a gay lesbian debate it's now about gay lesbian bisexual transgender we have to ask ourselves do we have equivalent programs to attract develop and retain gay talent as we have done for women and people of color are we even hindered are we just saying well gay and lesbian people work here so we need to solve this benefits thing or do we see them as a part of our core business environment employees leaders and customers we must ask the same inclusion questions about our disabled community as our approach to disability anchored in sympathy or based on respect for the individual and a high regard for ability third a key emerging issue is the concept of being global whether in the 90s in the United States Europe the Asia Pacific region Latin America or Africa when I ask other company executives to take a hard look at their businesses I asked them to tell me what they see do they see a business that is limited to conducting its day-to-day operations in one country or do they have a perspective that crosses national borders what is the company's expectations regarding its business conduct in other countries do they have a commitment to ensure fairness in the treatment of women to disabled gays and lesbians ethnic minorities no matter where they do business are they taking steps to understand workforce diversity legislation in each country where they do business are they ensuring they comply with the requirements of the legislation do they understand that such legislation can serve to define the expectations of corporate behavior and conduct and to ensure that no country's businesses expect or tolerate bad behavior workforce diversity is a global topic a global workplace topic and a global marketplace topic and successful businesses will have a borderless view and an unyielding commitment to ensuring that diversity is a part of their day-to-day conduct success in my profession must also be measured as it pertains to a company's composition and its program content a management team must ask itself do we look like our customers at all levels of our business there are programs reflect an understanding of the demand for talent and a competitive worldwide marketplace is our business culture one that fosters inclusiveness and tolerance in each country where we do business and most important are we using workforce diversity issues to improve marketplace performance and grow shareholder value to be successful leaders of diversity must continue to look toward the future not the past and I believe diversity leaders play a key role in the process if we are to address the complex issues in the 21st century such as the continuing core issues of race and gender the growing issues of child and elder care the emerging issues of multiculturalism tolerance of religious practices and the full inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace then diversity professionals professionals and future business leaders such as the students in this room must lead we must lead because businesses cannot get there by themselves I know that these are tough issues I also know that the world is smaller today than when it was when I was a boy growing up in Springfield Mass but one thought has guided me during my lifetime my mom continues to tell me to always set high goals she says never reach for the mountaintop if you fall you may fall to the bottom of the mountain always reach for the stars if you miss you may land on the mountaintop we still have several mountaintops worth pursuing if reaching for the Stars will help our companies have the most diverse talented workforces we can assemble in our respective marketplaces then it is a goal our shareholders customers and employees deserve that we pursue as I conclude I believe that one element of my premise is held true that each generation will have their tenure of leadership roughly in ten year blocks of time and that view linked with a statement from Lyndon Johnson is very appropriate President Johnson said you will find meaning only by sharing in the responsibilities the dangers and the passions of your time and the 90s and the new millennium represent the beginnings of a new generation of leadership opportunities for clear messages around fairness talent and the marketplace we must keep our eyes on our core issues but move on to other issues whatever the issue or the time the critical ingredient is the need for leadership this is our time for the young people in the room your time is coming and consistent with Lyndon Johnson's statement we have to be engaged we need to provide workplace and marketplace leadership and our disadvantaged and underrepresented youth need to be able to look up and see people like them in positions of leadership a great black leader of Frederick Douglass once said without paying there is no progress we have seen enough progress to know what is possible and prevent our being intimidated by the possibilities of pain frankly there have been too many following for too long together let's lead

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Length: 29min 14sec (1754 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 14 2009