BAD

Did Komen’s Lack of Board Diversity Cause Its Crisis?
The nonprofit breast-cancer-prevention group decided to defund Planned Parenthood, then flip-flopped after public outrage. Its CEO ended up resigning.

Lowe’s Muslim Publicity Gaffe Serves as Case Study of What Not to Do
The home-improvement chain caved in to an anti-Muslim group and stopped advertising on a reality show featuring Muslims. The public outcry was significant.

Chick-fil-A Caves on Funding Anti-Gay Groups But Is It Enough?
The flip-flops from the food chain have cost it several contracts and public support.

GOOD

Lessons on Values From Ellen & jcpenney
jcpenney CEO Ron Johnson stood up quickly and very publicly for the choice of lesbian Ellen DeGeneres as company spokesperson after anti-gay One Million Moms launched a campaign to have her removed.

Ask the White Guy: Decision Making, Clarity of Values & What to Do When It Goes Horribly Wrong
When progressive corporations found out their local representatives in Tennessee supported anti-gay legislation, they were horrified and reacted swiftly to try to reverse the decision. It was too late, but their public statements were forthright and they have subsequently made sure this won’t happen again.

The post Diversity Crisis Communications: What to Do When Scandals Erupt appeared first on DiversityInc.

Instead, they suspended him for three games, fined him $50,000 and sent him to anger-management classes. They only fired him after ESPN aired the video, which went viral and prompted demands for Rice’s firing from everyone from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin to basketball star LeBron James.

DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti, a member of the Rutgers Board of Trustees and of the Rutgers Board of Governors Standing Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, said he was never informed about Rice’s anti-gay slurs or the fact that the video existed. He said he had been told there was a disciplinary issue, which was addressed with the suspension. DiversityInc General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Transformation Practices Lora Fong also is a member of the Rutgers Board of Trustees and also was uninformed about Rice’s specific transgressions.

“Had I known what he said and did, I would have urged Rutgers to fire him on the spot,” Visconti said.

One of the clips was broadcast on ESPN’s Outside the Lines last night. It was part of a series of clips compiled by retired NBA player Eric Murdock during practices from 2010–2012. Murdock was Rice’s Director of Player Development. All of the video, demonstrating prolonged verbal and physical abuse of players and frequent use of the anti-gay slur “f - - - - t,” were shown to Pernetti in November.

In a statement issued today, Barchi took responsibility for not initially firing Rice:

Coach Rice’s abusive language and actions are deeply offensive and egregiously violate the university’s core values.

When video excerpts of basketball practices were reviewed last fall by Athletic Director Tim Pernetti, he immediately notified me and sought the advice of internal and outside counsel. The university hired an independent investigator to look into this matter thoroughly. Based on the external investigator’s findings and recommendations, Tim and I agreed that Coach Rice should be suspended, penalized $75,000 in fines and lost salary, ordered to undergo anger management counseling, and put on notice that his behavior would be closely monitored. Tim Pernetti also made it clear to Coach Rice that there would be zero tolerance for additional infractions. Tim kept me fully apprised and I supported his actions.

Yesterday, I personally reviewed the video evidence, which shows a chronic and pervasive pattern of disturbing behavior. I have now reached the conclusion that Coach Rice cannot continue to serve effectively in a position that demands the highest levels of leadership, responsibility and public accountability. He cannot continue to coach at Rutgers University. Therefore, Tim Pernetti and I have jointly decided to terminate Mike Rice’s employment at Rutgers.

Pernetti separately issued a statement:

I am responsible for the decision to attempt a rehabilitation of Coach Rice. Dismissal and corrective action were debated in December and I thought it was in the best interest of everyone to rehabilitate, but I was wrong. Moving forward, I will work to regain the trust of the Rutgers community.

Public Values

The issue of being inclusive is critical to Rutgers’ public image, especially after the very public September 2010 suicide of gay student Tyler Clementi and the subsequent trial and publicity about bullying and invasion of privacy.

As Visconti has stated in his Ask the White Guy column, “Credibility received for your professed values is dependent on your decisive execution of actions based on your values. This does not preclude empathy and forgiveness for mistakes, but values cannot be parsed without exposure to repercussions.” He also notes that in this age of transparency, an organization cannot EVER think it can hide offensive actions.

The post Why Did Rutgers Wait to Fire Coach After Anti-Gay and Abusive Actions? appeared first on DiversityInc.

All stated their opposition to the bill, but the damage was done, and as the heat started to rise, the governor signed the bill into law, bringing Tennessee into the circle of states that affirmatively oppress their LGBT citizens.

The corporate reaction to our questions was swift but after the fact. I think most companies’ headquarters were genuinely surprised by the actions of their colleagues on the chamber’s board.  That leads us to a “teachable moment”—here are some ground rules I’ve learned by observing companies closely:

1. Decision making is best by having clarity on your values.
Credibility received for your professed values is dependent on your decisive execution of actions based on your values. This does not preclude empathy and forgiveness for mistakes, but values cannot be parsed without exposure to repercussions.

2. Your best possible business outcome is dependent on your ability to equitably execute on fair and equitable treatment.
People treated fairly have a better relationship with you—better relationships transcend commodity pricing and increase the quality of your revenue stream. Better relationships also increase employee engagement and productivity—as well as reduce regrettable loss.

3. In the age of Facebook and Twitter, you cannot hide.
Your actions will be publicly evaluated and the resulting addition or subtraction from your brand image will have an impact on your business.

Here is some food for thought regarding human rights, business and our LGBT neighbors:

Rights afforded to one group that do not diminish another group’s rights are what this country is all about. This was the basis of women’s suffrage and the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act and Americans with Disabilities Act—and it is the basis of the lawsuit that overcame the anti-LGBT Proposition 8 in California. The anti-LGBT forces could not produce a single expert who could show that same-sex marriage in any way diminished heterosexual marriage. Married couples have certain legal rights, and extension of those legal rights to same-sex couples does not hurt heterosexual marriages and does not force your house of worship to marry same-sex couples. Freedom from a state-run religion and freedom of religion from the state are part of our Constitution.

Here’s some personal advice if you think marriage is for one man and one woman: Don’t marry someone of your own sex.

Finally, especially for companies that are publicly traded and/or regulated by the government (which, in aggregate, includes just about every company), there are some things to keep in mind regarding communications, donations and membership:

1. Communications sent in “secrecy” are worse than no letter at all, as “secret” complaints constitute tacit approval.

2. An organization cannot stink selectively. The chamber’s actions were anti-LGBT rights, period. This cannot be parsed, and if your continued membership in an organization conflicts with your stated values, then you have a problem across the entire organization.

3. Conflict in values produces brand damage and potential exposure to lawsuits and is detrimental to shareholder equity. Your personal opinions or politics do not trump your organization’s need to do business properly. This is especially true for leaders.

Over the almost 14 years of publishing DiversityInc, we’ve seen the practice of managing diversity become more effective by orders of magnitude in the most competitive companies. Questions about diversity are now on 100 percent of DiversityInc Top 50 companies’ requests for proposals (RFPs). This directly communicates a statement of values. The ripple effect of diversity values is aggregating into a bow wave as globalization is enhanced by web and cell communications.  This gives companies unprecedented opportunities—and unprecedented responsibilities—that transcend nations.

This creates seemingly complex challenges—but I don’t think they’re all that complex: If you have clarity on your values, then don’t violate them; if you’re doing business with a company that violates your values, you are violating your values; and if you make a donation or support an organization that has facets that violate your values, then you are violating your values.

We will all make mistakes. As Dr. Cornel West said at one of our events, “We are all cracked vessels,” and the public is very forgiving of a speedy and forthright apology, particularly if it’s backed by redemptive action. Such as, for example, resigning from the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce.

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.

The post Ask the White Guy: Decision Making, Clarity of Values & What to Do When It Goes Horribly Wrong appeared first on DiversityInc.

Wong recently sat down with DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti during a Q&A session at Wells Fargo to discuss the company’s outreach to the Asian community.

How do you see the demographics of the Asian community that Wells Fargo serves changing?

Nancy Wong: Immigrants actually are very entrepreneurial and many of them are business owners, so the way that Wells Fargo has been serving the Asian community is by really focusing on the financial needs of Asian businesses. We know how important it is for businesses to strive and therefore we develop programs that help the small-business community to strive and provide them access to tools, financial education, resources that can actually help them to really make their business go to the next level. A lot of the businesses have ties with Asian countries and actually have transpacific characteristics, so we offer specific products and services such as treasury management, trade finance and APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) service because we know that these services would help to really meet their needs.

What is Wells Fargo doing to reach a larger footprint with Asian-Americans?

Nancy Wong: The company has a very long history of serving diverse communities and we have developed a lot of marketing assets. We really believe in building out the assets in terms of advertising, in terms of marketing collateral, and what we are able to do when we have a larger footprint is to scale a lot of these assets from the West Coast footprint to the entire footprint. So that’s a lot of efficiency. We have the ATM network, which is already serving multiple Asian languages, so all the language marketing materials, such as financial-education brochures, we are able to use all that for different Asian communities across the entire footprint.

What marketing strategies work particularly well with the various Asian segments and what should be avoided?

Nancy Wong: Being consistent is very important in serving the Asian community, and we show respect to the communities by celebrating Asian heritage on a consistent basis coast-to-coast. During holidays and festivals we also run special promotions to make sure that we are offering a particular celebratory offer to our Asian customers. So being culturally relevant, being in the community and respecting the culture is very important.

What role does Wells Fargo’s Asian Connection resource group play in your efforts?

Nancy Wong: A lot of our resource-group team members of Asian descent, they are not just corresponding with customers on a daily basis but they are actually living in the Asian community. A lot of the insights that they are able to gather from the community help us improve our products and services. The other thing that we do very, very consistently is that we organize a lot of volunteer work. We have a hands-on banking-education seminar and we mobilize all our Asian Connection team members to go out and actually teach financial literacy to the Asian community. We set a goal to reach 2,000 different community groups across the country to make sure that as a financial institution we are offering the right financial-education programs to our communities.

The post Multicultural Marketing Case Study: Wells Fargo’s Asian Outreach appeared first on DiversityInc.

Luke Visconti: Why has outreach to the LGBT community been such a priority for Wells Fargo?

Mark Ng: At one time our outreach to the LGBT market was because it’s the right thing to do, because it’s part of our overall visions of diversity—which still holds true. But the right answer now is because it’s imperative, just like with all the other segments, to our business. A lot of corporations, not only Wells Fargo, are really waking up to the fact that this is a segment that is affluent, profitable, loyal and has really, really stepped up in terms of responding to corporations holistically and authentically targeting them.

Visconti: PRIDE, Wells Fargo’s LGBT resource group, is very involved in the community. How does the company ensure that the messages you get from that involvement go all the way to the top of the organization?

Ng: That’s very key in terms of making programs work. One of the examples of how this plays out is our anti-bullying focus. Over the past few years Wells Fargo has really stepped up in terms of making an anti-bullying stance in support of safe schools. But that was something that came from team members expressing that this was a growing issue that they were seeing, feeling, hearing in their communities. It was something that was put up to management, and also senior management felt it was something that was not only important but also consistent with Wells Fargo’s vision and values. And because it was not only confirmed from the team members but also something that our management really supported as consistent with our vision and values, this is now a program that we focus on year-round in terms of really ensuring that our schools are safe for everybody.

Visconti: How does CEO John Stumpf ensure that senior management—not just LGBT senior management, but also heterosexual senior management—is involved?

Ng: Oftentimes there are questions on whether LGBT fits in the company’s vision of diversity—is it only ethnic segments? But one of the best things that our CEO has done is to make it very, very clear from the beginning that not only LGBT; not only the ethnic segments, people with disabilities, women—all these groups really constitute our vision of diversity and all these groups count.

Visconti: With this idea of different resource groups collaborating, I think there are two things at play. The maturity of Wells Fargo’s culture in terms of diversity and inclusion, and younger people being less siloed than people of my generation. What do you think about that? 

Ng: There was a point in time when people were really honed in on what makes us unique, whereas now the headliner is really what’s common amongst everybody. And the more team-member networks, customers, whoever is in the search and journey of diversity really focuses on that, it’s going to bring us to new ideas, news ways of partnership like these team-member networks coming together, with folks who normally would never work together getting partnered. They are starting to see opportunities, and that’s what’s exciting about the space that we are in—even the very definition of diversity is changing before our eyes.

The post How Wells Fargo’s Resource Group & CEO Reach LGBT Markets appeared first on DiversityInc.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In comes out today, and it has been lighting up social media and Sunday talk shows with its concept that women have to “try harder” and not rely on their employers or their mentors to look out for them.

As a woman who has fought for three decades in the workplace for a seat at the table—and who now sees my 28-year-old daughter and several young women I mentor facing similar struggles—I agree with Sandberg that too many women give up too easily as the challenges of family and work become overwhelming. But Sandberg’s simplistic solution of urging women to take control of themselves and join “Lean In Circles” to bolster each other ignores the reality that most workplace inequities aren’t caused by the victims, but by the institutions and those in power who benefit from continuity.

In other words, we shouldn’t let corporate America off the hook for the lack of women in senior management.

Consider this: Women account for just 4.2 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs; at DiversityInc Top 50 companies, which are significantly more progressive for race and ethnicity, women do only slightly better: 6 percent of CEOs. Women account for 20 percent of the top level at Fortune 500 companies (CEO and direct reports) and 24 percent at DiversityInc Top 50 companies.

So as someone who came of age in the 1970s, when full equality seemed imminent (to those who read Ms. Magazine religiously, as I did), I have to wonder: What happened?

Corporate Hubris

I understand Sandberg’s points on not being passive about leadership and on women making their own success. But the message sent by corporate America has been ambiguous, to say the least. On the one hand, many companies have been singing their own praises for their “flexible” workplaces and how great they are for women—while still having very different promotion tracks for those who can’t travel globally for weeks at a time, who may not want to be connected 24/7, or who have more inclusive styles of leadership.

I cannot tell you the number of women—including several I know who are in their 20s—who use the word “compromise” when describing their life choices. I did it myself in my 20s, choosing to be a big fish in a little pond (a local newspaper) instead of pursuing my dream of working for a major newspaper. You know the story: husband, kids, aging parents, house, dog, cat, etc. We can “have it all,” but with a price—our dreams, our sanity and often our health.

Unlike Sandberg, I don’t fault the women who continue to make these choices. I fault a society that doesn’t offer reasonable childcare (from a financial and an emotional perspective) and I fault corporate America, including many of those companies that bill themselves as leaders for women.

A Real Example

The few companies that are trying to really level the playing field for women understand that they aren’t there yet. I moderated a panel last week on women branding themselves and having more “executive presence.” One of the speakers was Maria Castañón Moats, the Chief Diversity Officer of PricewaterhouseCoopers. PwC is No. 1 on the 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 list, and for good reason—this is a company that continually challenges itself on how inclusive it actually is and never, ever rests on its laurels.

Maria talked about how PwC is working diligently to get its senior partners, still mostly white men, to connect more with younger women in the organization and how multifaceted and ongoing their organizational efforts are. This is a company that literally helps women (and men) plan their families every step of the way. Their numbers of women in management show a remarkable story of progress, one we rarely see in other companies. I’m not speaking loosely here; we have almost 900 companies participating in the DiversityInc Top 50 this year and the progress for women into the senior levels is pretty slow across the board.

But most companies don’t have the self-awareness of PwC. Instead, they put their names out there with big media splashes and then refuse to really address the systemic and inherent sexism in their organizations.

Sandberg’s Lean In project has “launch partners” including American Express, Google, Sony and Johnson & Johnson, according to The New York Times. Not sure exactly what that support involves beyond money, but I’d like to see those companies publicly disclose exactly how they are helping women move up and stay up—including hard numbers.

There’s a lot of criticism of Sandberg because she’s wealthy, works in Silicon Valley, has a supportive husband and lots of help. I’m not faulting her for her success or for her desires to share her ideas with other women. But if we let companies just buy their way to being “good for women,” things are never going to really get “good for women.”

My daughter’s getting married later this year and talks about having kids in a couple of years. She’s bright, she’s beautiful and she would be a major asset anywhere she goes.  But if the responsibility of doing it all falls entirely on her shoulders, she’ll probably follow in the footsteps of generations before her and compromise. And then we’ll be looking at 20 percent women in the top level of Fortune 500 companies for a long time.

The post Does Sandberg Let Corporations Continue Discrimination Against Women? appeared first on DiversityInc.

“White men in the diversity and inclusion space are much more focused on product over process … but there is no silver bullet,” explained PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Chris Brassell, Director, National Office of Diversity, at DiversityInc’s White Men & Diversity event.

Brassell detailed how PwC takes a straightforward, top-to-bottom approach toward diversity management that allows its diversity leaders to effectively build support and understanding for diversity management among white, male leaders in each of the 20 markets it serves. “We need people to understand what it is, and what it isn’t,” said Brassell. “We want to make this a conversation about listening. This is not punitive.”

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is No. 1 in the 2012 DiversityInc Top 50.

The post White Men for Diversity: How PwC Spreads Diversity Messaging appeared first on DiversityInc.

Companies that most effectively market diversity-related awards make the connection between the awards and talent development or customer populations:

PricewaterhouseCoopers, No. 1 in the DiversityInc Top 50, has an extensive awards page accessible through the About Us tab on its homepage. The page is divided into three sections that highlight awards related to the firm’s talent: Top Employer, Diversity/Inclusion and Women. Some of the awards featured prominently include:

• Ranking No. 1 on the DiversityInc Top 50 and ranking on five of DiversityInc’s other lists: No. 1 on Companies for Recruitment & Retention, No. 1 on Companies for Executive Women, No. 5 on Companies for Global Diversity, No. 6 on Companies for LGBT Employees and No. 8 on Companies for Asian Americans.
• Receiving a 100 percent rating on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index from 2006–2013.
• Receiving the 2012 NABA Corporate Partner of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Accountants, a key industry-related partner.

Kaiser Permanente, No. 3 in the DiversityInc Top 50, promotes its diversity awards in the News Center section of its website. For example:

–Debby Scheinholz, Vice President of Consulting, DiversistyInc

The post Ask DiversityInc: What Are Best Practices for Leveraging Diversity Awards & Lists? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Based on analysis of DiversityInc Top 50 data, we find that the most successful consumer-facing companies implement the following best practices:

Homepage & Layout

• A diversity presence is on the homepage or one click away: 100 percent of DiversityInc Top 50 companies do this.
• “About the Company” section should include a link to the diversity page: 82 percent of DiversityInc Top 50 companies do this.
• A search of keywords (“diversity”, “diversity statement”, “CEO statement on diversity”) should quickly get the reader to diversity content.

• Diversity content should directly connect D&I with business results internally and externally.
• Diversity content should include the CEO’s personal diversity statement and reasons a diverse and inclusive management team and workforce is mission critical to business goals; 94 percent of DiversityInc Top 50 companies include a CEO personal quote and have a corporate-vision statement that incorporates diversity.

• Images throughout the website (not only in the diversity section) should be of individuals (preferably employees) from underrepresented groups in leadership roles and/or connecting with company brands.
• To be well esteemed, a company needs to be branded. Examples of innovations and other accomplishments derived from D&I should get the spotlight.
• People with disabilities should be able to easily navigate your site.

Among DiversityInc Top 50 companies within the consumer-products sector, Procter & Gamble and the Kellogg Company are standouts.

On Procter & Gamble’s homepage, clicking on Purpose and People takes you to a page that makes the company’s business case for D&I.

Our shared Purpose attracts and unites an extraordinary group of people, P&Gers, around the world—the most diverse workforce in P&G history. Together, we represent around 150 nationalities. Our recruiting and development philosophy to ‘build from within’ fosters a strong culture of trust and shared experiences. Our diversity, our shared culture and our unified Purpose are the defining elements that enable P&G to touch lives and improve life every day.

In P&G’s 2011/2012 Diversity & Inclusion Annual Report, Chairman and CEO Bob McDonald links P&G’s mission—“to touch and improve lives, now and for generations to come”—to innovation and diversity and inclusion. Images throughout P&G’s website connect the company and its brands to underrepresented groups.

Similarly, John Bryant, President and CEO of Kellogg, makes his company’s case in The Kellogg Diversity & Inclusion Story:

Promoting inclusion is essential to our business as well. An actively inclusive, welcoming and respectful work environment promotes employee engagement, drives innovation, improves retention and boosts productivity—all of which contribute directly to our bottom line.

From the Kellogg Company homepage, clicking Corporate Responsibility gets you to the area of the website that includes Kellogg’s D&I page. This section presents the company’s major workplace and marketplace D&I efforts, its results with diverse suppliers, and where it is in its thinking and actions around diversity and inclusion. About Kellogg Company provides images that connect the company, its brands and its people with underrepresented groups. D&I best practices are employed to improve consumer, retailer and supplier relationships, and to establish Kellogg as an employer of choice.

Both CEOs state that mission-critical work gets done with D&I throughout their organizations. Both companies’ websites exhibit thought, commitment and results.

–Denyse Leslie, Senior Vice President of Consulting, DiversityInc

The post Ask DiversityInc: Who Has the Best Website for Diversity? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Globally Sodexo is one of the largest companies in the world operating in 80 countries and employing nearly 420,000 employees. While the decentralized nature of our business model allows Sodexo to operate with agility and speed, it poses a challenge with regard to employee engagement.  As a service company, employee involvement and enthusiasm are essential components to delivering the optimal products and services Sodexo is known for.

Research has shown that companies who disregard diversity as a component of their business strategy have a higher percentage of disengaged workers. Organizations that effectively capitalize on the strengths of all employees and leverage their differences and unique values have the most engaged employees. In addition, employees with the highest level of engagement perform 20 percent better and are 87 percent less likely to leave the organization, according to a survey by TowersPerrin. A study by the Hay Group found engaged employees were as much as 43% more productive.

Over a decade ago Sodexo embarked on a journey to drive employee engagement through a sustained and comprehensive commitment to diversity and inclusion. Employee Business Resource Groups, Mentoring, Training & Development, Flexible Work Arrangements and Recognition all became instrumental in fostering a culture of inclusion and engagement. Sodexo held itself accountable for progress through various measures and metrics. The result has been systemic culture change that has differentiated Sodexo for our clients, customers and employees.

Measuring the impact diversity and inclusion has on engagement is key. Sodexo conducts an enterprise-wide Employee Engagement Survey as well as special surveys targeted at Employee Business Resource Group members and mentoring participants.  The results of these surveys clearly demonstrate improved engagement as a result of participation in diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Sodexo’s Employee Engagement Survey has reflected increases in the engagement of women and people of color since the survey was first conducted in 2006.  In fact, 2012 results show that diversity is one of the top two key engagement drivers for employees.

Despite several years of economic challenges, Sodexo’s total management population reached an engagement high of 69 percent, which represents an increase at a time when most companies experienced a decline in overall employee engagement.   According to Aon Hewitt, this is considered Best Employer Range.  In addition, 83 percent of employees believe “At Sodexo, employees who are diverse are valued for the differences they bring to the workplace.”  That is up 16 percentage points since 2006.

Engagement for women and people of color also experienced increases that are at or above Aon Hewitt’s Best Employer Range.  Qualitative research findings revealed that both groups feel good about being able to bring “all of themselves” to work.  One of the most interesting findings was with regard to white male managers who said that they were proud to be a part of a company that is committed to diversity and inclusion.

Employee Business Resource Group members were also recently surveyed about their level of engagement and 65% said that Resource Groups enhanced their engagement and connection to the business.  Results from this survey are incorporated into Employee Business Resource Group’s strategic plans. Participants indicated Networking, Engagement and Opportunities as the three top reasons for increased engagement.  Participants also noted their performance improved and they were more likely to stay with Sodexo due to their involvement with a Resource Group.

Sodexo has experienced firsthand the link between employee engagement and business results.  When employees feel valued and empowered to focus on their strengths and honor their differences, diversity becomes one of the organization’s strongest competitive advantages.

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