Many companies present a good story about their diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives. In annual reports and marketing materials, they regularly trot out images and statistics demonstrating the demographic breadth of their workforces, which is undeniably good from a social- and corporate-reputation standpoint. They also tout the business value of diversity and inclusion, but are they doing all they can to realize that value?
Many business leaders will respond that all different types of people in the company—their countries of origin, ages, genders, racial compositions, sexualities, and so on—mesh to generate a greater abundance of business ideas and solutions than would otherwise be the case with a homogenous group. There’s some truth in this supposition, but only if all those different people don’t feel they must curate their comments and ideas to suit the organization’s cultural norms.
Put another way, a project leader of a team composed of diverse individuals will not generate business value from these people unless they are completely free to express radical ideas that derive from their singular life experiences—to essentially be who they are. Otherwise, everyone can be expected to simply agree with everyone else.
The solution is to promote a workplace culture in which diversity of thought is extolled and rewarded as a successful behavior. The value of diverse people openly speaking up is creative friction—all those brilliantly different minds colliding with one another to spark a game-changing idea to increase revenue or solve some nagging business problem.
For underrepresented employees to feel free to be authentic, they must feel comfortable that their employers care about them and the issues that affect them outside of the workplace. Therefore, no longer can business leaders keep their social opinions stored away in their desk drawers. Employees increasingly want their employers to assert opinions on controversial issues affecting the organization, its people, and various stakeholders. These issues are ripped from today’s headlines—human rights, climate change, gun violence, the opioid epidemic, immigration, and workforce culture. Not knowing where the company stands on these issues, people may censor their input on work-related challenges because they might not know how they are perceived against the broader social backdrop.
According to this year’s annual Role of the Company survey by MetLife, 70 percent of workers think their companies should address social problems. In fact, more than half (51 percent) expect their employers to do just that. Remarkably, 85 percent said that “good corporate citizenship” is an important factor in choosing where to work.
A recent survey by the Institute for Corporate Productivity indicates that a company’s position on controversial issues is directly related to its ability to attract and retain key skill sets. Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of 500 business respondents said they wouldn’t work for an organization that disagreed with their beliefs. More than two-thirds (65 percent) of respondents also said they wouldn’t buy from the company.
Companies cannot address social problems without taking a stand. Nike has done just that, to the benefit of its social currency and bottom line. By making former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick the face of its advertisements, the company is sending a powerful message that it supports Kaepernick’s right to kneel during the National Anthem in peaceful protest against the oppression of black people.
More than 50 companies—representing over $2.4 trillion in annual revenue—signed a letter calling on the Trump administration to not roll back transgender rights. And over a dozen companies and counting have committed to so-called two-degree proposals, an outgrowth of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s determination that two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is the uppermost limit in global temperatures tolerable to the environment.
Other examples of companies speaking up and taking a stand on controversial issues are Levi Strauss & Co., whose CEO has come out strongly in support of measures to end gun violence; and oil and gas giants Exxon, Occidental, and PPL Corp. each passing landmark resolutions last year to disclose their climate-change risks in financial statements. It wasn’t long ago when the entire “oil patch” dismissed the reality of a warming planet and its likely causes.
Technology companies, in particular, have faced increasing pressure to act against those who push hate, division, or violence on their platforms. Apple CEO Tim Cook has told his employees he will be “unequivocal” in condemning hate and bigotry. “If we can’t be clear on moral questions like these, then we’ve got big problems. Doing what’s right—creating experiences free from violence and hate, experiences that empower creativity and new ideas—is what our customers want us to do,” Cook said.
In December 2018, Cook was awarded the Anti-Defamation League’s first-ever “Courage Against Hate” award. “I sometimes say that I worry less about computers that think like people and more about people that think like computers, without values or compassion, without concern for consequences,” he said in his acceptance speech.
Companies can do well by doing good. Certainly, this truism is evident in the growing number of institutional investors in support of environment, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Recent proxy votes by investors and shareholders indicate strongly their interests in companies taking a stand on such politically divisive issues as gun control, climate change, civil rights, the opioid crisis, wages, and healthcare. They understand that these decisions have bottom-line implications. Think about it: A company that reduces the burning of fossil fuels or its consumption of water for manufacturing purposes benefits the aims of sustainability, as well as expense reductions for the business.
Moreover, a company that stands up for ESG issues sends a resounding message of caring about people and the planet to a wide ecosystem of employees, customers and clients, prospective employees, third-party partners like suppliers and vendors, and their local communities. That’s a pretty big universe of people.
Expect more businesses to make a stand going forward. As Larry Fink, CEO of giant asset manager BlackRock, recently told The New York Times, the push for social responsibility is not a fad. “I’m not telling companies what their purpose should be,” Fink said. “But I do believe it’s up to the company to identify what their purpose is.”
Fink and other business leaders, such as Apple’s Cook, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, and Brian Moynihan of Bank of America, are taking stands that other companies in past would have blanched at, recently denouncing the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Businesses whose leaders fight change are in a losing battle. To expect diversity of thought without espousing equal opportunities for employees to be themselves is an impossible dream. Some will argue that diversity of thought should include allowing a platform for offensive and hateful speech. There is a difference between having different ideas about a project or strategy, and having different ideas about how people should be treated. This is where the company must state its position in the clearest possible manner. The message to those employees would be clear that they need to find another employer, or be open to change. Diversity of thought, as a recent article in Forbes stated, “teaches you how to welcome change in order to evolve.”
In this era of seeming intractable social problems, companies must evolve to become the responsible stewards we need them to be. The time has come for more business leaders to follow the courageous examples of Nike, Levi Strauss, and other companies in being crystal clear that this is who they are and what they believe in. Yes, it may upset some people, causing a loss of a few customers and employees. But the value is in the strong message it sends to the individuals who agree that the stand being taken is the right decision.
Speaking out for what is right will win business in the long run. A powerful message of equity and inclusivity is delivered to all those diverse people in the company that they, too, should stand up and be heard in meetings and on teams—igniting brilliantly outrageous game-changing ideas in the name of capitalism.
