As chairman and senior partner of PwC, I have closely followed the debate about Sheryl Sandberg’s new book Lean In. Sandberg has brought renewed attention to the critical challenge of diversifying corporate leadership. While Sandberg focuses on inspiring women to embrace ambition, I believe business leaders have a responsibility to lean in as well. At PwC we’re “leaning in” because we recognize that women and minorities cannot solve the leadership gap by themselves.

There are many concrete steps CEOs, in particular, can take. The first is to create accountability for diversity. At PwC, our Chief Diversity Officer is a line partner who reports directly to me and is a member of my leadership team. The role is a rotation, rather than a destination, and we use it to develop high-potential partners. Our Chief Diversity Officers contribute to a strategic business issue outside of their traditional practice and gain visibility. Although this structure might not work for all organizations, at PwC it serves to elevate the function and drive change.

The second step is to create an inclusive culture. Here, programs matter. While the ultimate goal of any diversity initiative is cultural change, formal programs send a powerful signal. For example, Full Circle is a PwC program that allows parents to “off-ramp” from their careers, stay connected while they are gone, maintain their technical credentials, and then return to the firm. Formalizing this option gives people permission to pursue non-linear career paths. Mentor Moms is a PwC effort to match women returning from maternity leave with experienced mothers who are successfully juggling family and careers. Our Women’s Networking Circles provide a forum to discuss career advancement, and our members are using Lean In’s educational videos to enrich that conversation.

Diversity initiatives also set expectations. We’ve asked all 2,700 PwC partners to sponsor three diverse professionals. Partners are expected to identify these individuals in their development plans and discuss the actions taken on their behalf during the end-of-year evaluation. We believe sponsorship is critical to advancement, and these relationships often develop informally. Breaking the cycle of people sponsoring those who are similar to themselves requires intentional effort.

The third step is to create awareness that people sometimes make unconscious assumptions. Sandberg’s book catalogs unconscious biases people still may hold about women leaders. We have a responsibility as an organization to address those stereotypes. PwC hosts interactive sessions for our leaders about how to identify potential “blind spots” and better understand how they influence decision making. As leaders, we must challenge our blind spots.

Finally, we need to create environments where people have the flexibility to lean forward or back at different points. Career paths have to be less rigid, in order to accommodate the diversity of today’s workforce.

While we still have progress to make, these efforts have yielded results. Over the last decade the number of women partners in our US firm has increased considerably, and five members of our 15-person leadership team are women.

I hope more of our women are inspired by the dialogue Sandberg has generated to lean in and aim even higher in their careers. My work is to make sure PwC leans in to meet those ambitions with opportunities, flexibility, and sponsorship. Then together we can close the leadership gap.

The post How Companies Can Lean In, Too appeared first on DiversityInc.

Walmart announced the promotion of Karen Roberts to Executive Vice President and General Counsel. She manages a department that is responsible for all legal matters affecting the company in its domestic and international markets. A 17-year veteran of the company, Roberts previously was Senior Vice President and President of Walmart Realty, overseeing close to 1 billion square feet of real estate. Roberts has a bachelor’s degree from Harding University and a juris doctor from the University of Arkansas.

Charmaine Brown, Director of Diversity & Inclusion at Forest City, was named Diversity Executive of the Year by Commercial Property Executive magazine. CPE cited Brown’s role in implementing a new recruitment strategy and in helping bring the Real Estate Associate Program to Forest City’s hometown of Cleveland. Brown is also involved in the Greater Cleveland Partnership’s Commission on Economic Inclusion and the Northern Ohio Minority Supplier Development Council. Brown has a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University.

Lissiah Hundley has been named Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Cox Communications. She is the primary advisor on the research, development, execution and enhancement of D&I programs and initiatives at Cox, working closely with HR and senior leaders to develop D&I strategies for the business. Previously, Hundley was Vice President and Diversity Project Management Manager at Wells Fargo. She has a bachelor’s degree and a juris doctor from St. Mary’s University in Texas and a master’s degree from the University of Texas. She is a member of the board of directors of Urban League of Central Carolinas. Cox is No. 25 in the DiversityInc Top 50.

Kellogg Company has promoted two women to new leadership roles in its human-resources department. Sammie Long has been named Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources. In her new position, Long is responsible for all of the company’s HR functions for its 31,000-plus employees worldwide. The England native graduated from the University of Salford outside Manchester. Replacing Long as Vice President, Human Resources, Kellogg North America, covering the company’s operations in the United States and Canada, is Lyn Frantz, formerly Vice President, Human Resources, Kellogg North America Supply Chain. Frantz has a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University. Kellogg Company is No. 49 in the DiversityInc Top 50.

Kellogg Company announced the election of Mary Laschinger, Senior Vice President of International Paper and President of IP’s xpedx division, to its board of directors. Laschinger, who is responsible for IP’s North American distribution business, was also appointed to the board’s Manufacturing Committee and to its Social Responsibility and Public Policy Committee. Laschinger has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s degree from the University of Connecticut.

Wyndham Worldwide has named Tiziana Sullivan as Vice President, Diversity and Inclusion. She will focus on D&I initiatives in recruitment, development and retention of global talent, as well as customer and stakeholder relations. She will also manage diversity initiatives among Wyndham’s associate business groups. Sullivan previously served as Director, University Relations and Diversity Recruitment. She has a bachelor’s degree from Concordia University. Wyndham Worldwide is one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies.

New York Life announced the appointment of Troy Glover as Senior Vice President in charge  of the company’s Long-Term Care Insurance operation. He is responsible for all facets of product development, marketing and administration of the Long-Term Care Insurance line. Glover most recently was Chief Operating Officer of the unit, which is based in Austin, Texas. He has a bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University and a master’s degree from Cornell University.

Ernst & Young has named Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya as the 2012 Overall Award winner in its National Entrepreneur Of The Year program, for his vision in jumpstarting the U.S.’s Greek yogurt boom. The award encourages entrepreneurial activity and recognizes leaders and visionaries who demonstrate innovation, financial success and personal commitment as they create and build world-class businesses. Winners in 10 industries were selected by an independent panel of judges from among 244 regional honorees. Ernst & Young is No. 6 in the DiversityInc Top 50.

Rhonda Davenport Johnson has been named Senior Vice President and Director of the Comerica Loan Center. She oversees all Comerica Loan Center operations for mortgage, home equity, consumer and small-business loans generated through Comerica’s national operations. Davenport has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Western Michigan University and is a graduate of the Consumer Bankers Association’s Graduate School of Retail Bank Management. Comerica Bank is No. 3 in DiversityInc’s Top 10 Regional Companies.

The Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) announced two promotions: Chris Mendoza to Vice President of Multicultural Market Development and Brian K. Lee to head of the company’s Greater Los Angeles agency. Mendoza is responsible for the development of multicultural business and market strategies, including securing and leveraging strategic alliances with diverse organizations that support recruiting and business generation. Lee is building on the agency’s decades-long commitment to Los Angeles as well as expanding the agency’s multicultural reach to address the financial needs of various ethnic groups in and around the area. One of Lee’s goals is to double the number of multilingual financial professionals in the Los Angeles office. MassMutual is one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies.

The Philadelphia Multicultural Affairs Congress, the division of the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau responsible for increasing the city’s share of the multicultural meetings, conventions and tourism markets, has appointed Nicole Johnson-Reece as its new Executive Director. Reece most recently was Vice President of Global Diversity and Inclusion for ARAMARK. She has a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University.

The post Deloitte’s New Inclusion Leadership Team, Plus Walmart’s New General Counsel [Slideshow] appeared first on DiversityInc.

Raised by a single mom with two kids, Elizabeth Vazquez understands better than most how vital it is for women to take control of their own destinies. She also has the perspective to see the global economic benefits of women successfully running their own businesses.

Vazquez is the President, CEO and co-founder of WEConnect International, a corporate-led nonprofit that helps women business owners succeed globally. WEConnect began four years ago as an outgrowth of WBENC (the U.S.–focused Women’s Business Enterprise National Council).

Initial corporate supporters included Accenture, AT&T, Ernst & Young, HP, IBM, Pacific Gas & Electric, Verizon Communications and Walmart. Added to that roster are companies including The Coca-Cola Company, Cummins, Johnson & Johnson, Marriott International, Microsoft and WellPoint. Vazquez says the corporate-member network now represents more than $700 billion in annual purchasing power.

“The corporations actually created WEConnect because they saw such a need for women-owned suppliers. A lot of what we have been doing in the last three years especially is educating key stakeholders: governments that are supportive in creating an enabling environment, more corporations, NGOs working with our target market,” she says.

WEConnect’s main objectives have been outreach and on-the-ground events in targeted markets to engage with women business owners and train them to reach their full potential. “Now that we have this basic infrastructure, we are really poised for growth,” she says.

That infrastructure includes certification standards for women-owned businesses in the United Kingdom, Canada, India, China, Mexico, Turkey, Peru, Chile, Costa Rica and Jamaica. Countries next on the list include Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Nigeria and South Africa.

Some of the Western European countries, such as France, have been the hardest to reach because of their history of discouraging recognition of difference. “They don’t want to single out people as different, but the fact is that women in Europe are not getting the same access to business as men,” Vazquez notes.

WEConnect has been involved in a series of global events to connect corporations and governments with women suppliers. In November, the Women Vendors Exhibition and Forum, held in Mexico City in cooperation with Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ProMéxico and the International Trade Centre, yielded more than 60 letters of intent on business worth more than $6 million in sales in a 48-hour period.

Right Leader to Jumpstart Organization

Vazquez’s background helps her understand the global issues facing women business owners and corporations. Born in Mexico (her father was Mexican and her mother a white American), she moved to Arizona as a child with her mother and sister.

“My mom put herself through school. [She became a mental-health therapist.] She was my role model,” Vazquez says.

Vazquez was pre-law when she realized, in her last year of college, that the legal system “is a very long process” and she wanted faster results. Two of her professors thought she could be an international Woodrow Wilson Fellow, so she was accepted into The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where she studied development economics and international negotiations.

“It was an amazing two years with people from all over the world in the program representing their governments. My first week I was in a constitutional-law class with a guy who wrote the constitution of his country,” she recalls.

At a conference on women entrepreneurs, she “went from thinking of women as victims to seeing them as really powerful players. It was a totally different way of looking at international relations and economic development relative to women.”

Her current emphasis is on expanding WEConnect to new markets, growing the database of women, and training and mentoring thousands of women-owned businesses. This means a lot of travel, and her 6-year-old daughter is often on board. “She has been to more countries than she is years old. She’s a flexible kid who has given me a lot of support,” says Vazquez, who also credits her husband, a banker, with sharing the childcare duties.

The post WEConnect’s Elizabeth Vazquez: Empowering Women Business Owners Globally appeared first on DiversityInc.

Michele C. Meyer-Shipp faced an intriguing dilemma last spring. An attorney then leading the Employment and Labor Law Group at Prudential Financial, she was offered three major opportunities all at the same time.

The first job was as the company’s chief ethics officer. The second was as its chief diversity officer. The third was heading diversity in one of the business units.

After meeting with Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld and senior executives, Meyer-Shipp knew what job to take: chief diversity officer for the entire company. “This was a no-brainer. I never even asked what the salary was,” she says. “I felt their commitment to D&I was very real.”

What impressed her was the passion and commitment of the leadership and their eagerness to evolve their D&I efforts even though Prudential already had a well-established history as a diversity leader—it has had a spot in the DiversityInc Top 50 every year since the list started in 2001.

“The company decided it was time for a refresh and this is very important,” Meyer-Shipp says, noting three foundational pillars: people (creating an inclusive workplace), market (connecting with key customer segments) and community (philanthropy and branding). Her job is to implement this strategy and gain increased collaboration and connectivity throughout the organization to increase employee engagement.

“There is a refocused look at making sure that we’re education managers at the senior-most level on the inclusion piece and on appreciating differences,” she says. “I intend to connect the dots internally so we can do what we do better.”

Why Leave the Law?

Meyer-Shipp’s career has taken an interesting turn after a strong legal career. The daughter of a former military man who worked his way up to bank vice president with just a high-school degree, she grew up in New York.

“We were three girls and I’m the oldest. My middle sister is an OB/GYN. My baby sister is a stay-at-home Air Force wife whose husband just returned from his third tour in Afghanistan,” she says.

“I thought I wanted to be an FBI undercover agent, but it wasn’t for me,” she recalls. A job as a paralegal led to law school and a seven-year stint as a litigator. “I hated the process of litigation—the discovery, the fighting over documents. I’m a people person and I wanted to be proactive,” she says.

She went to work at Merrill Lynch but was let go when Bank of America took over. “I was downsized three days after my divorce was final and a month after I moved into my home with my three young sons,” she recalls. “But I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.”

She had met former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine previously and he offered her a position as general counsel for the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor. She left that position to work for Prudential and was immediately impressed with the company’s culture and values.

“When I got to the law department, I wondered, What does this company do around diversity? I went to the intranet and the website and I found out. The law department had a very active diversity council with best practices and it was acknowledged by John Strangfeld,” she recalls.

She decided to get involved and quickly found herself the chair of the council. Through that position, she met the D&I staff and furthered her interest in diversity management.

“When I decided to pick this job, people said I was foolish to leave the law. They said D&I comes and goes. They said it depends on who wins the election,” she says.

But Meyer-Shipp knew that D&I was where her passion lies and where she could have the most impact. The new strategy was rolled out by her new boss, Sharon Taylor, Senior Vice President, Human Resources and chair of the Prudential Foundation. “It’s a perfect time to take on a new role and implement the strategy,” Meyer-Shipp says.

The post Prudential Financial’s Michele C. Meyer-Shipp: Moving D&I to Next Level appeared first on DiversityInc.

There are kids who dream of becoming professional sports stars, others of following in their parents’ footsteps, and still others of making a difference. Robert Crumpton made all three a reality.

A defensive back for the NFL’s Chicago Bears during the 1995 preseason, Crumpton is now Panera Bread’s first diversity leader. He started in January 2012 and already is executing a holistic diversity-management strategy—which will be embedded into the company’s 1,625 franchise locations—to build a robust pipeline, improve supplier diversity, and provide the inclusive culture needed to attract and retain diverse talent.

Panera launched its first resource group, a women’s network, and appointed its first woman board member last year. The company also will roll out Black and Latino resource groups in 2013. Crumpton says this momentum will help other resource groups get started.

“We’re looking to hard-code diversity and inclusion into our business. It’s hard, roll-up-your-sleeves work, but you can do it with a smile,” says Crumpton. “At the end of the day, it’s about our customers and whether we can be the oasis for every group and generation.”

Understanding Corporate Diversity

During his diversity-management career, Crumpton has held positions at IBM, Navistar and Monsanto.

Crumpton took his first corporate job in 1997 as part of IBM’s rotational HR program. After his football career ended, he was ready for his next opportunity.

“My mind was opened to diversity being broader than EEO,” says Crumpton, who soon became IBM’s Central Region Diversity Manager. “That’s where I got really jazzed!”

Crumpton says it was IBM’s work-life programs that really sold him. His mother, Jessie, who had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, required in-home care, and he gratefully took advantage of IBM’s senior-care services. “It gave me more voice and credibility. It gave me empathy for the needs of our employees,” he says.

Crumpton left IBM in 2002 to become Navistar’s EEO Manager and Head of Diversity. Four years later, he accepted a job as Director, Global Diversity and Inclusion for Monsanto in St. Louis, which allowed him to be closer to his family. “My mom was in long-term nursing care. I didn’t want to look back on life, miss out on doing everything I could,” he explains.

Finding Family at Panera

Working at Panera was an attractive opportunity, Crumpton says, that also built on his childhood memories of the St. Louis Bread Company, Panera’s predecessor. “I remember having lunch with Mom and growing up here. I was familiar with the brand as a user. It was great to finally work for a company that was a business-to-consumer relationship,” says Crumpton, who enjoys being able to walk into the store and interact with the associates firsthand.

But it’s the brand’s community outreach that really impacts Crumpton. In particular, Crumpton mentions Panera Cares community cafés, which allow people to come in, eat a hot meal and pay only what they can afford. “Being part of a company that really believes in giving back is heaven to me. Food insecurity hits all people; it’s a very inclusive issue,” says Crumpton, noting that his father is his inspiration when it comes to giving back.

Crumpton’s father, Harold, the first in his family to go to college and to get an MBA, was one of the first Blacks to be a part of Southwestern Bell’s rotational management program—and he was never too busy to spend Saturdays helping the community. “He’s a role model. He was a leader during a time when things weren’t inclusive. We all benefit from people like him. That’s where my passion lies,” says Crumpton.

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As the healthcare industry is revolutionized under the Affordable Care Act, organizations that are successful will need to evolve to provide the best care for all citizens, says Deloitte’s Kelvin Womack.

Womack, who heads the Federal Health sector practice for Deloitte Consulting, has a new role in which he will help find the best, most diverse talent to address those challenges: He’s now also Managing Principal of Diversity, charged with helping all of Deloitte’s U.S. offices recruit, engage, retain and promote people from underrepresented groups.

“When we talk about diversity, we always talk about the power of differences; I see diversity as providing the power of perspectives—we have talented and smart people and we get better collective innovation,” he says.

Healthcare Revolution

The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act means a major business shift for hospitals, health-insurance companies, retail pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies.

“The Affordable Care Act is transformational to our nation. Our clients are looking at us to help them navigate. We are looking to harness the power of collective thinking and they need to see that we look like them,” Womack says.

His clients are looking for “more today than prepackaged solutions,” he notes, citing the need for innovative ideas to drive patient engagement and business. As an example, he mentioned Deloitte’s Center for Federal Innovation in Rosslyn, Va., where the company uses a Highly Immersive Visual Environment (HIVE) to analyze clients’ data with advanced visualization, interactive modeling and immersive environments to present creative ideas.

Diversity Management Solutions

The priorities of Womack’s new diversity-and-inclusion role are aligned with this need facing healthcare clients. “The challenge in healthcare—and other industries—is how we acquire, develop and retain diverse talent,” he says.

One of his main focuses will be on synchronizing the efforts of all of Deloitte’s U.S. operations. Recruitment of younger people is also another key priority, he says, adding: “We need to compete better for minority and women talent by amplifying the Deloitte brand at colleges and universities. How do we get to these students even earlier in their career? There is a limited population and all the firms like ours are going after the same people.”

Talent development is also an essential focus, with increased emphasis on identifying high-potential talent from underrepresented groups and mentoring and sponsoring them. He cites the Emerging Leaders Development Program, which includes formal sponsorship relationships, with prescribed hours and measurable results.

“We want to give them advice and guidance on how to grow their own careers, develop strategic opportunities, build their confidence in their development areas, and help them connect with others in the firm,” he says. The program, which started in 2005, has helped more than 700 people, many of whom have become Partners, Principals or Directors. Last year, the company had three times as many nominations for the program as there were slots available.

The challenge for diversity-and-inclusion programs today is figuring out how to help leaders become representative of all their employees, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, etc., Womack similarly explained at DiversityInc’s Innovation Fest! “It’s not about what I think I represent but what our people think I represent,” he said.

Paying It Forward

Womack understands the value of mentors more than most people. His parents were poor and received welfare when they weren’t working on the assembly lines at Ford Motor Company. Raised in Florida, Ohio and Michigan, Womack was a good student whose life was changed by a high school guidance counselor who suggested he apply to the U.S. Naval Academy. He got in “and my life was changed forever.”

After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he rose to the rank of Captain, Womack went to work in corporate America, landing at Deloitte.

“I am living the American dream and it’s because of people who have helped me. When just one person shows intimate care, it makes all the difference in the world,” he says.

He feels strongly about giving back—both to Deloitte employees from underrepresented groups and to the community, working with the Wounded Warrior Project and with The Children’s Inn at NIH (the National Institutes of Health), a home away from home for children needing lifesaving care.

“When it comes to our people, I want to make sure that not only am I paying it forward, but that our people understand what that means,” he says.

The post Deloitte’s Kelvin Womack: Connecting D&I and Healthcare appeared first on DiversityInc.

Fitzgerald now is director of Diversity and Workforce Effectiveness at the company, No. 43 in The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity. She’s using her experience in learning the local and corporate culture—as well as her extensive background in organizational development, training and community service—to evolve the company’s diversity-management strategies.

In this profile, we tell you her story—personally and professionally—and how the support of Chairman, President and CEO Clay Jones has made all the difference.

How She Ended Up in Iowa

Fitzgerald was raised in Memphis, where her middle-class parents emphasized education. While obtaining a bachelor’s degree in professional studies with an emphasis in organizational leadership, she spent eight years leading training organizations in the mental-health field. She opened a homeless shelter for women and children and managed a shelter for people with HIV or AIDS.

After working in the nonprofit arena for several years, she was admittedly burnt out and wanted to move into the for-profit sector. She went to work for the Center for Healthcare Quality and led the organization’s national initiative to reduce healthcare disparities for underserved populations, including Blacks, Latinos and Asians. When George W. Bush was elected president, the center had its funding cut and she needed a new career opportunity. She then led operational programs for Service Master as she and her husband raised their two children near their families in Memphis.

In 2007, her husband, who works in information security, was courted by Rockwell Collins to move to Cedar Rapids. The company was interested in her as well. “Their strategy is to keep diverse talent. It’s a lot harder for two to walk out the door,” she says.

But the idea of relocating to Iowa was not appealing. “I did not plan to move to Cedar Rapids. I thought it was the most un-diverse place I could take my children to and I wasn’t willing or open at that time to looking at that opportunity,” she says.

What Turned Her Around

While she and her husband were checking out Cedar Rapids, the members of the African-American resource group at Rockwell Collins invited them to a picnic. One of the first cars to pull up was driven by a middle-aged white man, who came alone, in casual clothes. It was CEO Clay Jones, who also is from Tennessee.

“He walked up and introduced himself. The impact of having a company where the CEO would take time on a weekend to come to a network picnic and engage—that sealed the deal for me,” Fitzgerald recalls. “I thought that this could be an environment where I could come and bring my skills.”

What She’s Brought to Rockwell Collins

Fitzgerald led the diversity training at the company, working with Jones. After a year, she was promoted to lead the training organization, a job she held until she took over the diversity and workforce-effectiveness organization.

Her new position is a crucial one, both for her and the company, as Rockwell Collins elevates its commitment to being a diversity leader while continuing to struggle with the ability to recruit and retain talented Blacks, Latinos and Asians.

Fitzgerald works with the community now to make Iowa more accessible to people from different cultures. “What the city lacks from a cultural viewpoint it more than makes up in its core values. We try to help people understand the richness to family commitment and values in the city. The people are very open,” she says.

She also works internally to accelerate diversity-management and talent-development efforts, especially using the resource groups. “I don’t think we are leveraging their full potential yet. We really are trying to increase diverse representation at all levels within our organization … I know we are on a journey, but the pace at which the world’s efforts on diversity and inclusion are accelerating makes me sometimes fear we aren’t moving the needle as fast as we can.”

The post Why This Black Woman Executive Made Iowa Her Home appeared first on DiversityInc.

Mullen discussed with DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti his views on leadership, accountability and the need to improve diversity in the military so all people have the opportunity to excel. His passionate testimonies for civil rights and inclusion for gay and lesbian service members helped persuade Obama to lift the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

“Diversity has wonderful characteristics across a large number of fields, areas, people, whatever the case might be. I didn’t want there to be any confusion about what I was going to focus on as the Chief Naval Officer,” Mullen told Visconti. “From a leadership standpoint, I thought where the Navy needed to go—and I was intending to take them there—was to focus heavily on African-Americans and women. I wanted to send a very clear signal about what we were going to focus on.”

Visconti himself is a veteran—he served as a Naval aviator and commissioned officer with the U.S. Navy from 1982 to 1990. Visconti now sits on the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Committee and has co-chaired three subcommittees regarding diversity and women’s issues.

Additionally, Captain Kenneth Barrett, General Motors’ Chief Diversity Officer, is also a retiree of the Navy. Barrett previously served as the U.S. Navy’s Diversity Director and presented at DiversityInc’s event on how to drive diversity and hold leaders accountable for results.

“We’re fortunate to have Admiral Mullen join General Motors’ board of directors. He brings proven leadership and deep experience in change management, strategic planning, technical innovation and risk management gained over the course of his 43 years serving our country,” says Dan Akerson, General Motors Chairman and CEO.

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LUKE VISCONTI: What led you to be a supporter of diversity and inclusion? How has it impacted the success of your business units?

DAVID EPSTEIN: There are two drivers for me. One is that I grew up in an atmosphere my parents created where people are people, regardless of whether they’re male, female, from any given country, religious background or sexual orientation. I’m interested in what a person can contribute, what their unique experiences are.

The second driver is that, back in 2000, Dr. Daniel Vasella [Chairman and former CEO of Novartis AG] gave me the opportunity to run Novartis Oncology, a global business unit. For the first time in my career I ran discovery, development and commercialization. We operated in more than 70 countries. I had the opportunity to build that team from scratch. I picked people based on their experiences and how I felt they treated other people. My philosophy is that you treat others in the way you expect to be treated.

I ended up with a team that came from all over the world. We had phenomenally productive discussions. At the beginning, it was very difficult because we had different cultural backgrounds and the norms within which we communicated were different, but after a while I saw the power of people with different backgrounds and what they could contribute to business ideas. Once we got that group working as a high-performing team, we were able to accomplish feats that nobody thought were possible.

The business more or less didn’t exist when I was asked to create Novartis Oncology in 2000. We pulled together what oncology products and pipeline we had within Novartis, which represented about $1.5 billion in sales. We had three products, two of which were not robust: one was going generic, and the other was a licensed product but the license was coming to an end. The business was about to disappear.

We built, over 10 years, a $10-billion business, the No. 2 oncology business in the industry. More importantly, people who work in that business say there is a unique focus on creating the environment and the atmosphere, which drives people to do what’s right for customers and patients. An environment that brings people together in a way that’s unique: People can be open, be themselves, and passion fuels what they do together.

Now, I’m trying to create that here in the bigger Pharma business. We’re making progress: You see a much more open, a much more inclusive atmosphere. You see that we’re increasingly hiring people of varied backgrounds. You’re seeing more women in management, more people from emerging markets sitting on the leadership team. It’s starting, but it’s a long road. It takes years and commitment.

Authentic Leadership

VISCONTI: When I interviewed Dr. Vasella, he said, “I love other cultures.” Do you think it was his influence, his leadership that was an inspiration? 

EPSTEIN: Daniel influenced me in a lot of ways; I found him to be a very authentic leader. I take great pride in my authenticity. When I speak, there is no hidden agenda. People around me know what I think. They know that I will listen, that I will debate. I might be the guy who makes the decision, but they’ll know where I’m coming from. It engenders a lot of trust.

If you have weaknesses as a leader, you should be willing to discuss those with your team. If you make a mistake, you should admit it, whether it was a business decision you made, the wrong person you hired, or how you treated someone.

The second thing I owe to Daniel is that he believed in me. He gave me some unique opportunities, such as running the Oncology business or being chosen as head of Pharma. If he hadn’t made that choice, I never would have had the opportunity to grow and become more worldly, more diverse, more inclusive.

VISCONTI: How do you translate the Novartis values across different cultures while respecting local traditions? 

EPSTEIN: It’s not about everybody being in the same place at the same time or having to do everything exactly the same everywhere. For me, it’s a journey. Everybody is moving along that journey to become more inclusive, to put together the best possible team, to get their teams to operate in a high-performing way. Yes, you may have to do it uniquely in China versus Japan versus somewhere else. I think that’s OK.

Sitting still is not acceptable. Having a team that all looks and sounds and thinks the same is not acceptable. How you do it will vary and, being a global company, we’re fairly adept at making those changes. Sometimes there’s friction and you have to have a discussion.

VISCONTI: I’ve heard it put that this work is fatiguing at times—a good fatigue—but that it’s also very invigorating.

EPSTEIN: For me, it’s not fatiguing. I get great satisfaction from developing people and seeing teams do great things that no one thought was possible.

You can have lots of people that look and sound like you and your organization will work fine, but you will never be great and you will never capture the upside. Or you can decide to go for a more diverse and inclusive atmosphere. If you don’t do the work, don’t have the right leadership skills and those people don’t work together, it may actually be worse than having a homogenous team. You just don’t get anything done.

On the other hand, when you lead a very diverse group of talented people and have created the right atmosphere, you’re unbeatable. So it’s worth it. As a leader, you have to have your sights on that far-off horizon.

For the person who comes into a job and thinks they’re only going to be there two or three years, it might not seem worth it. In every job I’ve taken, I have adopted the mind-set that I will be here forever. I want to leave a legacy of an extremely well-functioning organization that is delivering unique value to patients. That’s ultimately what drives me. I take personal pride in seeing people be successful.

VISCONTI: How has Novartis made efforts to address diversity in drug trials? Has this approach changed over time?

EPSTEIN: If you look back 10 years, we were a very U.S.– and Euro-centric company. That’s where the business was. That’s what we knew how to do.

Over time, we began to realize a couple of things. One is that one size does not fit all. A drug for every patient with a given disease doesn’t exist anymore. Medicine is more personalized, which forces you down the road of understanding differences in people—these differences can be genetic, dietary, about lifestyles, or many others.

Second, the world has shifted. Much of the growth opportunity in healthcare comes from emerging markets. Patients in these markets need to be included in trials to make sure we are developing the right medicine for them. About six years ago, for example, we started a project in Japan. We typically launched in the United States and Europe, and five to seven years later, we’d launch in Japan. We wanted to get to the point where that gap was down to one or two years. This year, we have a drug that was approved first in Japan, the U.S. and Europe a bit later.

In the U.S., we are trying to better adapt to the needs of various ethnic groups, and we’re increasingly doing clinical work that includes them. We need to see the data for an African-American patient or a Latino or a Japanese person living in America. We look at women versus men, we look at different age groups, so all these things are being incorporated into our business. Companies that do this work have an advantage in the marketplace. They can talk with the customer and make a different kind of connection.

VISCONTI: Do you see ultimately being able to give people pharmaceuticals customized to their genetic type?

EPSTEIN: If you look at what’s in our portfolio right now, I would say close to 90 percent of the medicines moving from discovery into the clinical-trial phase are targeted based upon a person’s genetic makeup.

Our new medicines will come along with an assay, which will become a diagnostic in the marketplace. If we have three patients in the room that have a given disease—whether it be breast cancer or rheumatoid arthritis—we will be able to tell in advance, thanks to a genetic test, which patient is likely to respond. Then all the clinical trials are done with those responding patients. You can imagine how it changes the health-economics benefit. There’s no more waste. There are no longer expensive, long trials with groups of patients who simply will not benefit from a certain drug.

In our company, we’re investing in R&D and we’re driving innovation and it becomes a competitive advantage. Some companies have chosen to be more focused on short-term commercial opportunity and have not continued to evolve their innovation capability. This creates a bigger gap between us and them.

VISCONTI: Can you connect the company’s focus on diversity and inclusion, cultural awareness and cultural competency with your philosophy on research and development?

EPSTEIN: There are a couple of connections. One is we can recruit people, the best people, from anywhere in the world, which is a major advantage. And when you start to recruit these people, they bring in even more people from those regions or those backgrounds.

Working with diverse cultures and backgrounds, you’re also more likely to design your clinical trials in a way that looks for subgroups or different patient characteristics

It’s largely about talent. It’s about getting the very best people in the door and then making the investment to get them to work together in a high-performing team. That means training your leaders to be inclusive—and we do have inclusive leadership training. We just rolled out a program called Leaders as Coaches. It teaches people specific coaching skills as leaders—for example, how to have a conversation with your team members so challenges and options can be addressed openly and in a reflective manner. We also do high-performing team training where the leader and their direct team work together on a multitude of things.

When you first explain to people that we are going to do this, you get the classic reaction: “I have to take two or three days out of my schedule to do this? I have to think differently?” After they’ve been through it, something interesting happens: They say, “This has made me a better leader and it’s had an immediate impact on how we all work together and what we can achieve.

Our strategy is to win in primary care, specialty care and oncology. We want to become the best pharmaceutical company by 2016. There are four major pillars: growth, innovation, productivity and people. The people pillar is very clearly spelled out as becoming more diverse and inclusive, to invest heavily in high-performing team workshops and education so that we can bring out the best in people. We’re very explicit about it.

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A Black historian and community activist, Price is the Rutgers Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of History at the Newark, N.J., campus. Price is most known for founding the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture and the Modern Experience 12 years ago “to plow the choppy, interesting waters of diversity,” he says.

Price also cofounded the Marion Thompson Wright Lecture Series in 1981, one of the nation’s oldest Black History Month conferences that has since attracted some of the world’s most notable scholars and historians to the region. (Local legend Marion Thompson Wright was one of the first professionally trained Black women historians in the country.)

“We launched the lecture series to re-center the history in Black History Month,” Price says. “It was our concern that it had become increasingly dedicated to entertainment and less to [its founding principles]—historical literacy.”

To ensure the continuation of the lecture series, “which over the last 10 years has drawn an increasingly diverse audience,” Price gift of $100,000 to the university established an endowment. He played a pivotal role in helping to recognize the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Newark summer riots and hosted the award-winning “The Once and Future Newark” documentary.

He sits on the New Jersey state steering committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, responsible for reporting civil-rights issues in the Garden State. And last year, Price served on President Obama’s transition team, chairing the National Endowment for the Humanities.

See this article as it originally appeared in DiversityInc magazine.

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