Recognizing the strength of diversity

I began my International Women's Day in a meeting with a group of strong leaders, almost evenly split between men and women.  The conversation was dynamic, opinions sometimes differed, but that was where the discussion often provided the most value.  The questions dug deeper into why certain people felt one way, and others felt differently.  We didn't always reach consensus, but that wasn't what it was about.  We learned a lot from each other.

And isn't that really the point?  To be truly a strong organization, its leaders need to look at things from different angles, different viewpoints - otherwise, how can we effectively lead diverse groups of people?  How can we serve diverse groups of stakeholders?  How can we understand what our customers may want and need, if we, as senior leaders, as Board members, don't reflect who our customers are?

Differences can be a powerful asset, and diversity in background and points of view can be just as important as differing skillsets.  This is not to diminish the fact that we need to look for the best qualifications.  But we can't overlook the studies, such as those from the Kellogg School of Management and Scientific American, that show that organizations with more diverse executive teams perform better than those that are more homogeneous.

International Women's Day is a great opportunity to reflect on why that is.  When you think of your individual success, and the people who helped you along the way, where did you learn the most?  From whom did you get the most value?  Was it from the people who shared your points of view, or was it from those individuals who pushed you, challenged you to think or do things differently?  Sometimes, those conversations aren't easy, but they really aren't supposed to be.  They take us outside our comfort zone, force us to take a harder, more objective view of ourselves - and that is how we grow, both as people, and as organizations.

For more information about the value of diversity, be sure to check out the Grant Thornton research paper Women in Business - the Value of Diversity