Luke Visconti’s Ask the White Guy column is a top draw on DiversityInc.com. Visconti, the founder and CEO of DiversityInc, is a nationally recognized leader in diversity management. In his popular column, readers who ask Visconti tough questions about race/culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability and age can expect smart, direct and disarmingly frank answers.

Every business exists to make money. Profits are a return on equity. You see this in your own life as dividends at your bank. You put your money (equity) in the bank and they pay you a percentage of the profit they make (interest) when they reinvest your money in mortgages and car loans. Even not-for-profits must make money; without it, the work can’t be done.

Diversity management, properly implemented, drives profit. For most companies this shows up as decreased costs: Human-capital diversity efforts raise productivity, lower regrettable loss and increase recruiting efficiency. We call this Stage Two benefits. Human-capital gains are tangible, measurable and significant, but market-driven gains can quickly drive share price. There’s a reason why all of the Big Four accounting firms switched from having human-resources-based people to having revenue-driving partners be responsible for their diversity efforts over the past five years. There’s a reason why their CEOs have spoken at our events. It’s not about singing “Kumbaya,” it’s about profits.

Here are some “best practices” for diversity executives to successfully get budget:

1. You must stay close to the revenue stream. If your presentations aren’t full of facts and figures—if they don’t speak the language of business—you’re going to fail.
2. Don’t hang out with losers. Look closely at the people in your “consortium” or “council.” Do any of them have budget? You’re going nowhere if you share “best practices” with other people who can’t develop enough of a business argument to get budget from their respective companies.
3. Demand to be measured. Get concurrence on setting goals and the accountability to achieve them.
4. Being repetitively asked to prove “the business case for diversity” is a cue to find another job. Spending your life answering asinine questions from the obstinately oblivious isn’t going to ever be rewarding.

Let’s get back to “Kumbaya.” Success in diversity management is contingent on aligning values with actions. Diversity management is about building the ability to have strong, trusting relationships with people as they are—organizationally and personally. It’s about getting your organization to strip away the unproductive behaviors that block its ability to build meaningful relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

You can’t do that without an honest connection to the people around you both in your community and communities around the world. Now we’re talking about philanthropy and corporate citizenship. The most successful entrepreneurs I personally know are extremely philanthropic (see our article on Steve Colson, one of the biggest donors to the Rutgers Future Scholars).

DiversityInc Top 50 participants donate an average of 2 percent of their gross revenue, and nearly half of their donations go to multicultural groups. DiversityInc also donates 2 percent of its gross revenue.

Getting budget for your diversity program is directly relative to how your company values connect with the community. Philanthropy is an excellent leading indicator of corporate (and personal) intent. Diversity and profitability are about relationships. Making that connection is your key to getting budget for your diversity programs.

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An Ambitious Proposal

When the vice president for enrollment management at Rutgers University first presented his proposal for the Rutgers Future Scholars program to Rutgers Chairman Rev. Dr. M. William Howard Jr. and President Richard McCormick, he didn’t think it would ever get approved. “It was so expensive and ambitious,” recalls McAnuff. (Costs approached $2 million in 2011.) “But it only took them 15 minutes to review it and give the go-ahead.”

The Rutgers Future Scholars program, now in its fourth year, was designed to resolve an existing lack of urban-based students from lower-income families from Rutgers’ surrounding locales. Each year, 200 seventh-grade students are selected into the five-year college-prep program from the New Brunswick, Piscataway, Newark and Camden communities.

The students are supported with tutoring and mentoring and are given opportunities to attend educational events on campus to increase their exposure to the opportunities a college education can deliver. Graduating scholars who are accepted to Rutgers University are granted a full scholarship.

The program receives funding from multiple partners, which include DiversityInc and Merck & Co. (No. 16 in The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity), AT&T (No. 4), Target (No. 30) and Ernst & Young (No. 6). Additionally, DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti is co-chair of the Rutgers Future Scholars fundraising committee.

Watch our diversity web seminar on recruitment and read Rutgers Future Scholars Enhances Talent Pipelines With Corporate-Student Outreach for more on Ernst & Young’s partnership with Rutgers Future Scholars. Also read How to Get 150 Top-Performing Black and Latino Candidates Now for more more on recruitment.

Talent Development: A Blueprint for the Future

The ultimate goal, says McAnuff, is to increase graduation rates, which in turn will foster improvements within state and local governments. He cites that about half the Black and Latino boys in urban areas who drop out of high school often end up in the correctional system; an economic study on Rutgers Future Scholars estimates that every group of scholars that completes the program will save the state $40 million over the course of the students’ lifetime. Read the study at www.DiversityInc.com/RFSvalue.

“I do hope that one day we can make the argument to state and federal governments that we can demonstrate with results,” McAnuff says. “Because of our experience, we can actually write a national blueprint that is relatively inexpensive, where we can spend $2,000 a year per kid rather than $45,000 for someone in prison.”

Even though the oldest group of students is still in the junior year of high school, the program has already had amazing results: Of the more than 800 students in the program, 80 percent have maintained a B or better grade average, and 180 students report that they plan to apply to Rutgers in September.

“One argument in higher education is if you are open to more low-income or more diverse students, you are lowering academic standards,” says McAnuff. “At Rutgers, we’ve proven that incorrect.” He adds, “I’m happy to say after four years that none of the kids in the program has dropped out of high school.”

Nurturing Intellect Through Talent Development

While an interest in higher education and helping students realize success is something McAnuff fell in love with during his early career as a teacher, his passion for providing those opportunities for low-income students stems from his childhood growing up in Queens, N.Y.

“There was no middle ground: You went to college or you went to jail,” says McAnuff. “My next-door neighbor was my best friend until the third year of high school. He became a drug addict.”

He adds, “If you have intellect, you have a chance here. I want to make sure as many kids as possible have the opportunity to try.”

Competing against tough neighborhood environments proves to be one of the programs’ and scholars’ greatest challenges, says McAnuff. “I was really surprised how the deans jumped on board so wholeheartedly,” he says. “Many students are now graduating high school, many with college credit, which was unheard of before. The kids believe they can do it now.”

For more on talent development and diversity in education, read Talent Development: From Migrant Workers’ Son to CEO and Sam’s Club Gives Latino Students $100,000 in Scholarships.

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The Big Four professional-services firm, which must aggressively compete for new talent in its industry, opened the doors of its New York City headquarters this summer to 100 rising high-school juniors from New Brunswick and Piscataway, N.J. For two days, the students were able to discover firsthand what it’s like to be an accountant at Ernst & Young and the opportunities the profession can provide.

The students are members of the Rutgers Future Scholars (RFS) Class of 2017. The program’s mission is to increase the number of academically ambitious high-school graduates who come from low-income backgrounds by helping them meet college-admittance standards. RFS also provides scholarships to those who attend Rutgers. Students are accepted into the program in seventh grade from Newark, Camden, New Brunswick and Piscataway, N.J. Currently, there are about 800 scholars in grades 8–11.

Luke Visconti, DiversityInc CEO and co-chair of the fundraising committee for Rutgers Future Scholars, attended the event at Ernst & Young. He is also on the Rutgers board of trustees.

Scholars listened as Ernst & Young employees discussed their high-school and college experiences. The students talked to partners about what a career in accounting can offer—including potential salaries, clients and travel opportunities—and had interactive sessions that taught the students best practices in general business communication styles, leadership and goal setting. Ernst & Young even highlighted potential opportunities available to accounting majors at Rutgers University.

Most students, such as Jamira Riddick, were unfamiliar with the accounting industry before the event. Riddick loves math but didn’t want anything to do with it as a career. “I always thought accounting would be boring,” she says. “I didn’t even have knowledge about what accounting really was.”

The exposure worked on Riddick. “They made me think of accounting as something that could be fun; you just have to make it fun,” she says. If she becomes an accountant, Riddick would like to work at Ernst & Young.

Diversity in Accounting

The event was part of the firm’s efforts to diversify its pipeline of talent for future recruits and to diversify the ranks of accounting professionals overall. “We work with a lot of universities around diversity and inclusiveness. It’s really important to the firm,” says Gioia Pisano, inclusiveness recruiting leader at Ernst & Young.

Latinos comprise only 3 percent of the CPA profession, and Blacks account for only 1 percent, according to the American Institute of CPAs. Of new CPA hires, 4 percent were Latino, 4 percent were Black and just 1 percent were American Indian.

Aggregate data submitted by the Big Four accounting firms for The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity survey shows a similar lack of racial diversity in new hires, except for Asian Americans. The data shows 6.4 percent are Black, 5.2 percent are Latino and just 0.6 percent are American Indian. Asian Americans, in contrast, account for 21.1 percent of new hires at the Big Four. The Big Four are PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG, Nos. 1, 6, 8 and 22 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list, respectively.

“These young people are being exposed to organizations and corporations like Ernst & Young, interacting with professionals, engaging in conversations with them, which allows them to envision themselves in places just like this,” says Aramis Gutierrez, director of Rutgers Future Scholars.

Benefits to Students, Ernst & Young

The firm left an impression on all the students. “I think it’s wonderful that they’re giving high-school students like myself the opportunity to experience what goes on in the actual building,” says Zaire Gorrell, a junior at New Brunswick High School. “They’re actually giving us an opportunity to come here and learn, hands on, what you can do at Ernst & Young.”

Masiel Torres, a junior at New Brunswick Health Sciences Technology High School, was trying to decide between a marketing or accounting career, and she may choose accounting. “It seems like a very interesting job, something you grow in and where I can challenge myself every day,” she says.

Pisano says that, long term, Rutgers Future Scholars does more than just serve a good cause. It can help the firm deliver results to global clients. “Our clients are asking for diverse teams, and they know that diverse teams bring great solutions,” Pisano says. “It’s imperative that we go out and make sure that everyone is aware of the opportunities within accounting so that we can serve our global clients.” Pisano hopes that some of these students will eventually work for Ernst & Young.

Gutierrez agrees. “Ernst & Young benefits from just simply having the opportunity to be exposed to 800 individuals that we have in our program; it’s a pipeline of untapped talent that not many other organizations or corporations have access to,” he says. 

The 2011 summer visit to Ernst & Young was a first-time event for the firm. Ernst & Young has been a partner of Rutgers Future Scholars for two years, providing financial support for the program’s SAT-prep courses. In anticipation of the two-day event, Ernst & Young reps visited the scholars on campus to give a general overview about the company’s philosophy and mission. Scholars from Newark and Camden will visit Ernst & Young’s New York headquarters at a later date.

The Rutgers Future Scholars program selects talented seventh-graders from Newark, Camden, New Brunswick and Piscataway, N.J., providing college preparation and mentoring, as well as scholarships if admitted to Rutgers University. Currently, there are almost 800 scholars in grades 8–11. Individual and corporate contributions provide vital support for these worthwhile young scholars. For more information, contact aramis.gutierrez@rutgers.edu.

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Rutgers Future Scholars

Jamira Riddick loves math but didn’t want anything to do with accounting. “I always thought accounting would be boring,” she says.

The junior at New Brunswick Health Sciences Technology High School and a member of the Rutgers Future Scholars Class of 2017 visited Ernst & Young, No. 6 in The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity, for an event in the New York office. The day was for Rutgers Future Scholars and was intended to change the minds of these youngsters about accounting. Luke Visconti, DiversityInc CEO and co-chair of the fundraising committee for Rutgers Future Scholars, attended. He is also on the Rutgers board of trustees.

Scholars listened to interns discuss their high-school and college experiences, talked to partners in financial services about what a career in accounting can offer and had interactive sessions on communication styles, leadership and goal setting. The exposure worked on Riddick. “They made me think of accounting as something that could be fun, you just have to make it fun,” she says.

If she becomes an accountant, Riddick would like to work at Ernst & Young.

Over two days in July, the firm hosted nearly 100 Rutgers Future Scholars, bright seventh-graders from Newark, Camden, New Brunswick, and Piscataway, N.J., selected to receive college preparation and mentoring. After high school, students admitted to Rutgers University receive scholarships. There are more than 800 scholars in grades 8–10.

“We work with a lot of universities around diversity and inclusiveness. It’s really important to the firm,” says Gioia Pisano, inclusiveness recruiting leader at Ernst & Young.

Diversity in Accounting

The event was part of the firm’s efforts to diversify the pipeline of talent it can recruit from—and to diversify the ranks of accounting professionals overall.

Latinos comprise only 3 percent of the CPA profession, and Blacks account for only 1 percent, according to the American Institute of CPAs. Of new CPA hires, 4 percent were Latino, 4 percent were Black, and just 1 percent was American Indian.

Aggregate data submitted by the Big Four accounting firms for The 2011 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity survey shows a similar lack of racial diversity in new hires, except for Asian Americans. The data shows 6.4 percent are Black, 5.2 percent are Latino and just 0.6 percent are American Indian. Asian Americans, in contrast, account for 21.1 percent of new hires at the Big Four. The Big Four are PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG, Nos. 1, 6, 8 and 22 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list, respectively.

“These young people being exposed to organizations and corporations like Ernst & Young, interacting with professionals, engaging in conversations with them, allows them to envision themselves in places just like this,” says Aramis Gutierrez, director for Rutgers Future Scholars.

Benefits to Students, Ernst & Young

The firm had an effect on more students than Riddick. “I think it’s wonderful that they’re giving high-school students like myself the opportunity to experience what goes on in the actual building,” says Zaire Gorrell, a junior at New Brunswick High School.  ”They’re actually giving us an opportunity to come here and learn, hands on, what you can do at Ernst & Young.”

Masiel Torres, a junior at New Brunswick Health Sciences Technology High School, was trying to decide between a career in marketing or accounting, and she may choose accounting. “It seems like a very interesting job, something you grow in and something where I can challenge myself every day,” she says.

Pisano says that, long term, programs like this can help the firm deliver results to global clients. “Our clients are asking for diverse teams and they know that diverse teams bring great solutions,” she says. “It’s imperative that we go out and make sure that everyone is aware of the opportunities within accounting so that we can serve our global clients … Hopefully, some of these students will eventually work for Ernst & Young.”

Gutierrez agreed. “Ernst & Young benefits from just simply having the opportunity to be exposed to 1,000 individuals that we have in our program; it’s a pipeline of untapped talent that not many other organizations or corporations have access to,” he says.

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