Drawing a host of diversity leaders from corporate, government and non-government organizations from across the country, the World Diversity Leadership Summit (WDLS) concluded its three-day event Friday at the United Nations headquarters with a keynote panel by National Urban League CEO Marc Morial on "Diversity, Inclusion and The New World Order."
Morial's session capped off the event, which began at New York City's Harvard Club last Wednesday and unveiled a slew of panels relating to challenges and opportunities in global diversity management.
Among the featured attendees were Barry Salzberg, CEO of Deloitte (No. 16 on The 2008 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® list); Rohini Anand, senior vice president and chief diversity officer for Sodexo (No. 12); Jeffrey Smith, associate director for global inclusion for Procter & Gamble (No. 5); Floyd Pitts, senior director, diversity programs, Hilton Hotels (No. 50); and Jim Bowden, director, global strategies for diversity and inclusion, The Walt Disney Co. (No. 36).
Anand and Smith both sat on a panel Wednesday called "Global and Local Diversity Councils," where each took turns speaking about the necessity of integrating diversity councils into the overall business strategy. Diversity councils often are used at companies to set diversity goals and plans of action to implement them. They frequently are used as an oversight group to check the progress of senior leaders in reaching those goals.
Smith made note of the importance of getting executive leadership to buy into and participate in diversity councils, saying, "When you have executive leadership as part of these councils, you can't separate the councils from the hard-driving business discussions."
Anand, a frequent DiversityInc roundtable participant, attended the WDLS for the first time this year. She spoke at length about Sodexo's six affinity groups and the bottom-line impact they have for the company. Affinity groups and employee-resource groups are often included on diversity councils as well.
"We're heavily invested in these groups," she said. "When we have our strategy planning sessions in Paris, the leaders of these groups are invited to attend to see how their piece fits into the big picture. It also gives them a chance for further exposure to the leadership at our company."
On a later panel, "Global and Local Supplier Diversity: Women and Ethnic Minorities," Hilton's Floyd Pitts spoke about how his company has worked vigorously to open up the suppler-diversity avenues for minority-owned business.
"We have 3,000 hotels across the country, and our bottom line is that we want to do anything to get a guest in a bed and then send them on their way after a pleasant experience," said Floyd. "But there are few minority companies that could supply bed sheets or other supplies to 3,000 hotels. So we've made it clear to our suppliers that they must have second-tier suppliers that are minority companies if they want to do business with us. That's our way of twisting their arms."
Following her panel, Anand told DiversityInc that, despite being under the weather, she felt compelled to participate in the conference as a way of giving back.
"It's imperative that those of us who are established take the time to reach back and develop the pipeline of talent of those that are going to follow us," she said. "It's critical that we in these CDO roles nurture this next generation of leaders."
One attendee was Henry Hernandez, former chief diversity officer at American Express (No. 10 on the DiversityInc Top 50), who now works as an independent consultant. Hernandez said coming to such conferences made him aware that many companies across the country are still coming to grips with the business necessity of the topic.
"What you realize is that a lot of companies are not on the same fast track as the companies I've been associated with," he says. "So many companies are still just scratching the surface."
