valeriegd's posterous http://valeriegd.posterous.com Most recent posts at valeriegd's posterous posterous.com Fri, 14 May 2010 05:27:59 -0700 Diversity is the colour of the ties http://valeriegd.posterous.com/diversity-is-the-colour-of-the-ties http://valeriegd.posterous.com/diversity-is-the-colour-of-the-ties

Articulating the business case for diverse and inclusive teams seems pretty straight forward – everyone nods and agrees - but do we get the traction?  Prime example – newly minted Prime Minister David Cameron explaining to all UK citizens that this is new politics as he grins over at Nick (new best friend).  Talks at length about how the new politics will make a big difference. We are now going to form a new government, more importantly we are going to form a new kind of government. I hope this is the start of the new politics I have always believed in: diverse, plural, when politicians of different persuasions come together to overcome their differences in order to deliver a good government for the sake of the whole country.’

Sounds good so far – so let’s switch to the group photo – something not quite right?  You got it – a cabinet of 29 persons of whom 4 are women and a suspiciously high percentage of Caucasian males – so which bit of the diversity did David not get?  Or is Nick the diverse bit? 

Image001

But seriously how can he talk about new politics when his new cabinet does not reflect the demographics of his country – I do think that there are more than 14% females in the UK.  

Businesses also have a similar problem - so to really get to a diverse and inclusive culture a different approach will be needed.  What is the correct approach? I don’t for a moment pretend to have the answers but I do know that we need to be prepared to take more risks and for Executive Teams to reflect their customers.  The colour of the ties is not enough diversity!

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http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/535183/Valerie_3.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5AAZPIUR8fm1 Valerie Guertler-Doyle valeriegd Valerie Guertler-Doyle