Plenary sessions
Thursday, 11/12, 7:00 am - Business benefits of a diverse leadership culture
Moderator:
- Diane Brady, Senior Editor and Content Chief, BusinessWeek
Panelists:
- Carol Tomé, Executive Vice President, CFO, The Home Depot
- Beth Brooke, Global Vice-Chair, Public Policy, Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement, Ernst & Young
- Susan Casey, Founder, Chief Credit Officer & Chief Operating Officer, Square 1 Bank
Successful workforce diversity programs focus on attaining a critical mass of diverse views within an organization rather than playing a “numbers game,” a panel of business leaders concluded today at Ernst & Young's Strategic Growth Forum.
Too many companies worry about counting employees from different backgrounds rather than taking a holistic approach to workforce diversity, said panelist Carol Tomé, chief financial officer of The Home Depot. Tomé, who created the Velvet Hammers, the home retailer's first women's affinity group, said her leadership staff is comprised of 50 percent women and 30 percent people of color. But she said diversity at The Home Depot is “not about the numbers game.”
“It's about understanding the diversity of your customer base and reflecting that diversity” within the company, Tomé said. “When you establish critical mass, people feel comfortable. They see people who look like them, and come from similar backgrounds, and they want to come to work for you.”
Companies are stressing workforce diversity more than ever these days as they seek to become more innovative and connect with increasingly diverse customers. Scores of studies have shown that teams of diverse employees outperform homogenous teams, even ones that boast more experience, said Beth Brooke, Global Vice Chair of Public Policy, Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement at Ernst & Young.
“Focusing on numbers just puts people on the back foot,” Brooke said. “It then becomes viewed as something that has to be done, or what you're doing wrong, as opposed to doing things right.”
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