Putting it on Paper

How do you go about creating an environment of inclusion? Because a lot of companies talk about it, but as we know, from all the stories out there and the data, a lot of companies do a really poor job of creating an environment of inclusion. So what's your advice for cultivating that culture?

I don't know that I'm an expert in terms of the framing or being a real teacher of at all, but at least my experience showed that one tone at the top matters, creating team environments where voice is heard and then trying to measure team engagement in a way that allows you to know that, all that is hard. And then I think on top of that, I've tried to do it many times. And at one time I thought I was doing a great job and my team came to me and said, we don't have a D&I policy or a statement for the organization. I thought, well, why do we need that? We're trying to do it. But I learned that putting that down was an important element, maybe not even for the real execution, but for the team to know that it's important to everybody. So a little lesson, but putting it down on paper makes it, makes it real to a lot of people.

Like you said, setting that tone at the top, right? Having that on paper came from the top.

Right. And actually it came from the team. I wasn't smart enough to do that. I thought, oh what’s the worst that can happen?