Podcast: How DEI drives business success — The essential case for diversity

Christie Smith is the founder of The Humanity Studio, a multi-media leadership advisory company working to improve the way we live by revolutionizing the way we work. During the course of her 30-year career, Christie has served as the Global Lead for Talent & Organization at Accenture, a senior executive at Apple, and Managing Principal at Deloitte. She has a doctorate in Social Work and Organizational Psychology and has always held a deep personal belief that investing in people and creating a more equitable world is the key to unlocking growth for both business and society. Christie recently spoke with Adrienne Selko, senior editor at EHS Today, about the future of the DEI movement and how companies need to manage talent strategy.

Below is an excerpt from the podcast:

EHST: Many companies are changing the use of terms but embracing the tenets of DEI. One survey on this found that while 42% of the companies surveyed will change their initiatives, 73% are committed to DEI as part of their values. How do you feel about this trend?

CS: Yeah, not great. I think that the reality is that the kind of code-switching—listen, I'm really grateful that companies are at least talking about holding the value of DEI and continuing programs. What I think is concerning is that they are taking a much more mild approach or giving up on really talking about the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion. I think that we have had a very up-and-down relationship with DEI programs and initiatives over the years. This is not the only time we've seen a dip in the focus of DEI, but it comes at a very dangerous time. When we look at the skills scarcity, the half-life of skills getting shorter and shorter, when we look at the economic impact of employee disengagement being $8.8 trillion a year, when we look at mental health costing us $322 billion a year globally, we are really at a point where, you know, disengaging and giving up on these values and purpose in an organization—not speaking boldly and courageously about it—is really risking getting the right talent into our organizations to meet our productivity and growth goals.

EHST: How would you answer companies who are questioning the legality of their programs?

CS: I think that each company is different, and I think that what would be required is an assessment of what those programs are, the effectiveness of the current programs, what the achievement of the strategy is, and whether the purpose of the organization is being lived. The performance context starts with purpose, and purpose informs strategy. So really delving deep into what is the purpose of the organization and the strategy of how we get there, and then looking at the culture and the skills that we need to achieve those goals really is how we then get to the discussion of building an inclusive, diverse, and equitable workforce. What does that look like for our efforts today? And how do we build it into the cultural fabric of an organization and the subcultures of that organization?

EHST: You did mention some of the economic costs of employee engagement and mental health. Do you think that companies truly understand the connection between these costs and DEI?

CS: No. I've been in the workforce nearly 40 years, and always working in some aspect of DEI and talent, and the reality is, I've always been asked, you know, and diversity leaders are asked, "What's the business case?" I think that is a false start. If you have humans in the workplace and you need humans in the workplace, that’s the business case.

When I was at Apple, we adopted a kind of mission statement as the DEI group, and my role as the DEI officer was to look at and answer the question or promote, "It's everybody's job to bring everyone in." Full stop. So in order for us to look at the right skills, the right capabilities, all of those things that we needed, we needed the largest pool of talent that we could get to. Just sheer demographics. Especially in the U.S., we are more diverse than we've ever been. And so, therefore, if we are going to grow as an organization, if we want revenue to double in percentage growth every year, then we need the right people in the right places to do that. We need the largest pool of people.

EHST: And continuing with that talent management and talent strategy, I heard an interview recently that I thought put this well as to what DEI is thinking about. The speaker said that if someone, typically a younger person, applies for a job and doesn’t see any signs of diversity, they’re pretty much going to pass on that company and go to someone else. So at this point, it's almost a competitive advantage, however you want to call it. But do you see companies understanding the connection between diversity, innovation, ROI, and profit—all of those things that fall under talent management?

CS: First of all, whoever said that is 100% correct, and I think Gen Z and our millennials are the most diverse workforce ever. They are looking for people who look like them in the workplace, and yes, they have options. You look at the fastest-growing segment of our economy—fractional workers. Those populations are fine with not joining a major corporation and instead building their own thing or being a fractional worker, which is phenomenal. So, we are going to risk our competitive advantage if we don't value diversity, equity, and inclusion. And if people can't see that, well, do organizations understand that? Yeah, I think if you were to ask any leader, they would say yes. The question to ask is, are you prioritizing it? Because my experience has been it's always a yes from the leader, but it's 10th in the prioritization of all the other things they have to deal with. If we don’t make this a number one or number two priority, to build it into the culture—not necessarily just programs and initiatives, but expectations of how we lead—we will not continue to be competitive.

About the Podcast
Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast offers news and information for the people who make, store and move things and those who manage and maintain the facilities where that work gets done. Manufacturers from chemical producers to automakers to machine shops can listen for critical insights into the technologies, economic conditions and best practices that can influence how to best run facilities to reach operational excellence.