Diversity & Inclusion Greater Purpose Team Success Values & Purpose

Diversity Platitudes

Jim Gibbons

11.30.21

As someone who has faced their own adversities, how does Jim Gibbons, former CEO of Goodwill, build his own teams? This is an incredible and unique perspective. from someone who literally cannot see color.

Summary:

As someone who has faced their own adversities, how does Jim Gibbons, former CEO of Goodwill, build his own teams? This is an incredible and unique perspective. from someone who literally cannot see color.

Thuy

What role does your own background as someone who has been blind since eight years old, play in how you view diversity as a leader? And has that view evolved over time, as you continued on your leadership path?
Jim_Gibbons

Jim Gibbons

Yeah, it's, it's absolutely evolved. For me, I've always thought I was and demonstrated a real commitment to diversity in today's world. It's important acknowledgement to know that it's about the mix of your team and where they come from. And that's an important element of getting that diversity of thought.

Thuy

It's not just about race or gender. And you seem to be saying it's about a lot more than that.
Jim_Gibbons

Jim Gibbons

It is about a lot more than that, but I found that, we could easily let it not be about race and gender and take it up to a level of only about diversity of thought. And unless you stay in conscious on the other issues, the feeders into that diversity, you can miss the mark on the important issues and the important issues of today. So, it's easy to kind of take it up to a certain platitude and you can't lose sight that where people come from has a lot to do with race and gender and so on and so forth. And then how do you pull it together? And then what I learned, or at least what I feel like I experienced over my journey is that that's the starting point. And then it's really about inclusion and creating an environment where that diverse perspective gets brought into the teams thinking in a way that stock full and honest and allows the team to have voice to shape the team's work or the organization.