This week let’s start with two reports that prove (again) that if you want a more innovative and stronger performing company you need diversity.
Here is this report from McKinsey, which expands on the one released in 2015 and which says that, “The business case for diversity continues to be compelling and to have global relevance.”
FastCompany wrote about this second report titled “Do Pro-Diversity Policies Improve Corporate Innovation?”. The big takeaway is that: “Companies that fulfill all nine positive diversity requirements announce an average of two extra products in any given year, which about doubles the average for a major company (those that tick fewer boxes are less innovative proportionally). Moreover, the researchers find that companies with pro-diversity policies were also more resilient in terms of innovation during the 2008 financial crisis.”
The Sunday shows did not focus much of their time on the Women’s March this year…let’s keep that in mind as you read this headline, “How the Women’s March Is Turning Protesters Into Politicians.”
As you may recall, last year the CEO Action Pledge for Diversity and Inclusion (CEO Action) was announced. Today it has more than 350 member companies representing 85 different industries. The group recently convened C-level executives to discuss their efforts, more information here.
On the education front, Apple announced yesterday that it is partnering with the Malala Fund to support education for girls. According to the announcement, the partnership is “designed to enable the nonprofit to double the number of grants it offers and extend its funding programs to India and Latin America.”
Another story that got my attention is this one from the Washington Post titled “These kids started a book club for minority boys. It’s the most popular club in school.” Finding and having the students’ read books that represent them is driving engagement. This is a great model and hope other schools, libraries and educational institutions take notice.
Congratulations to Ben Finzel and our friends at RENEWPR on their third year anniversary – read more here on how the team is celebrating this milestone.
Let’s close with two of my favorite recent videos:
- This one in which Ava DuVernay used her speech at the Image Awards to celebrate others, bravo!
- Then there’s this one, listen to this part and see Ricky Martin’s reaction: “I seriously went very berserk on Dean Richards because you have to understand, when you’re part of a minority, and you don’t have a lot of role models in media, and you have a Ricky Martin that wherever you go in the world, it’s a good name to mention as a Puerto Rican, oh my goodness you feel related to him.”
Here’s hoping to see much more representation in media and that Ana Belava meets Ricky soon!
Photo by Mohamed Lammah on Unsplash
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