Profitable Diversity Summary – Bonnie Nixon – October 21, 2018

The author Anise Wiley-Little is looking at the intersection of diversity and business and
how to position diversity strategy to achieve competitive advantage in marketplace.
Throughout the book Ms. Wiley-Little demonstrates how diversity and the need for it is often
ignored in business despite the profit and ultimate impact that it can have on the company,
product and its’ future resilience in a fast-paced changing world.
She includes many personal stories and her own experience, particularly on how diversity is
often missed. Ms. Wiley Little provokes us to look at why similarities and difference should
make a difference to us and prompts us to give a lot of thought to the importance of diversity in
business.
When we were interviewing our leaders, many of them not only suggested but implied that the
only future is one where we embrace diversity and economic inclusion as a way to lead to
wealth in business
We appreciated the structured ways that Ms. Wiley-Little broke down the relationships and
how it can be addressed in complex organizations. In many ways this book is presented like a
how to guide with real life arguments, examples and ideas on how to make a compelling case
for diversity.
• The Four Quadrants of Work and Life Integration
• An Integrated Approach to Profitability
• A Spectrum of Sample Goals and Measurements
• The Eight Steps to Profitable Diversity
• The Eleven – Phase Methodology for Identifying Business Needs and Determining
Solutions to Business Problems Through the Lens of Diversity
Diversity is about everyone. Not just about women and people of color. As a former Corporate
Chief Diversity Officer, she sees that the workplace is struggling in that they haven’t leveraged
skills that diverse populations bring to marketplace. Economic inclusion is about fully utilizing
talent to success of business and individual. They can and will bring profit to the organization
but
It is not that difficult to measure and or quantify profitability of diversity. We need to go
beyond quantitative methodology and create workgroup dynamics for diverse problem solving.
How do goals of organization align with same goals and asking how diversity enhances existing
goals.
It is important for men to think about their own role in diversity. It is about everyone and
making sure that everyone’s voices are hard. Look at men who are taking greater role in home
and look at their work/life balance. As a single father, their role is vitally important.
Many managers believe they are committed to diversity but often say they cannot find qualified
candidates. Has more to do with hiring within our own image. It means that leaders have to
get out of their comfort zone and go to the right places to find qualified people. Otherwise
white men will bring in more people just like themselves. Need to build an environment where
people want to come and work for the company. Not only bring them in but also help them
grow and thrive in the organization.
The people themselves need to get good at presenting the skills that they bring to the table. If a
company has a particular marketplace they ae trying to tap in to, it is important to look at the
language and cultural profiles and tap in to them quicker for go to market strategies.
Education and Understanding are key even in the communities to nurture individuals who will
make it in these companies. These individuals have a responsibility and need to become adept
at giving valuable business information to the company as well. But for some of us as white
woman, we need to be sure to support other women as exchanging experience is vital to
everyone’s success. It is important to recognize that women of color face challenges of both
gender and race.
We learned that is it not enough to only support other white women but all women. Anise
Wiley-Little makes the case for us to look at the language we use and be engaging and inclusive
in our words and actions. We always need to look at who is invited and not invited to any
conversation and meeting and more importantly ask ourselves, who is not at the table? We all
need mentors and sponsors. It can be lonely when we are climbing the ladder even as a man.
Imagine what it feels like for a woman, particularly a woman of color.
What we enjoyed most about this book is that it made us think about how we could mentor
other women or under-represented individuals in a way that would be more strategic and
better help them make career decisions.
Some of us have started several new positions over the last few years and took counsel from
books like “The First 90 Days”. One of the suggestions this book makes is to build strategic
relationship and allies across the organizations and it is clear that Wiley-Little supports the
strategy that diverse workers need to consider doing this on a consistent basis.

http://www.myauthorwebsite.net/anise-wiley-little/

Contact

Contact the author at anisewiley@profitablediversity.com 
For speaking and appearance inquiries