{"id":3811,"date":"2021-06-02T17:01:39","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T21:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/?p=3811"},"modified":"2023-12-12T15:10:10","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T20:10:10","slug":"your-workforce-customers-want-but-may-not-tell-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/your-workforce-customers-want-but-may-not-tell-you\/","title":{"rendered":"What Your Workforce and Customers Want &#8211; But May Not Tell You"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><button id=\"listenButton1\" class=\"responsivevoice-button\" type=\"button\" value=\"Play\" title=\"ResponsiveVoice Tap to Start\/Stop Speech\"><span>&#128266; Listen to this article<\/span><\/button>\n        <script>\n            listenButton1.onclick = function(){\n                if(responsiveVoice.isPlaying()){\n                    responsiveVoice.cancel();\n                }else{\n                    responsiveVoice.speak(\"This is the first blog in a four-part series designed to help industry decision-makers consider diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues as they work to build a more diverse workforce and leadership team to accomplish critical business goals.\u00a0 The rules of business have changed. It\u2019s not enough to be competitive in the marketplace. You must also be a worthy employer that attracts, develops, and retains diverse talent.\u00a0 Increasingly, employees want to work for a purpose-driven company that provides equal opportunity for all, has a socially good mission or focus, and is willing to stand up and be counted on critical political and social issues. Being purpose-driven is so important that 76% of Millennials interviewed for a survey said they would take a pay cut to work for a socially responsible company. They\u2019re also not afraid to push back against companies that don\u2019t live their values. Employees are using internal message boards, calculated PR leaks, public letters, and even public exoduses to make a statement for what they believe. Social media has democratized advocacy, helping formerly anonymous staff gain a pulpit to speak out on the issues they support.\u00a0 Employees and Customers Expect Companies to Live Their Values\u00a0 Examples of this new behavior are everywhere. Software engineer Susan Fowler\u2019s blog post about experiencing sexual harassment at Uber received six million views, resulted in CEO Travis Kalanick\u2019s ouster, and helped drive lawsuits that resulted in a $4.4M settlement to resolve sexual harrassment and retaliation charges. Several Facebook employees have publicly quit over the company\u2019s refusal to police polarizing speech. And increasingly companies are listening: holding forums to allow employees to air their views, announcing policy changes, and publicly publishing new commitments. (One surprising outlier is Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange. The company\u2019s CEO told staff they could not take a stand on social issues and offered an exit package for those who disagreed. Some 60 employees to date have taken the deal, voting with their feet.) These changes are not limited to employees. Customers also want to buy from purpose-driven companies. They\u2019re also not afraid to stand up against or boycott companies when they don\u2019t agree with their policies. Customers have assailed companies such as Goya Foods and SoulCycle for supporting President Trump, as well as called out Heineken, H&M, and others for racist advertising. Meanwhile, entire industries, such as venture capital and private equity, have been called out for being \u201cpale and male,\u201d and not providing sufficient leadership opportunities for diverse talent or access to capital to enough underrepresented founders.\u00a0 Given the importance of this growing trend as well the velocity of social media, companies can\u2019t ignore or minimize employee or customer needs. So, what can they do? Recommendation #1: Create a Diverse Workforce that Mirrors the Market\u00a0\u00a0 Many industries, such as healthcare, financial services, and retail, are diverse at entry-level positions, but are largely led by white men at higher levels in the organization. Diverse staff often leave firms due to lack of opportunity or pay inequity issues. They may also depart due to the stress of working in environments where no one else is like them.\u00a0 Hiring a diverse workforce is not as simple as changing the racial or gender composition of an organization. Creating diverse teams includes moving beyond race, color, religion, gender, and national origin, to also include ability and disability, socioeconomic backgrounds, age and generation, thinking styles, personal expression through appearance, work and geographic preferences, and more. Diversity means \u201cthe full spectrum of human demographic differences,\u201d finds Gallup. Companies are implementing a raft of changes to attract candidates: These changes include creating a workforce strategy with quantifiable goals, redesigning recruitment strategies, reconsidering job requirements, developing robust training opportunities, and creating benefits that diverse candidates want and need, among other changes.\u00a0 Diverse candidates are attracted to purpose-driven companies that are transparent about their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments, where leaders are willing to acknowledge the company\u2019s shortcomings in achieving shared values, and where there is a strong emphasis on not only increasing diversity, but also creating equity and inclusion. That means developing a level playing field where all can flourish and building a culture that fosters teamwork, egalitarian idea-sharing and innovation, and equal rewards.\u00a0 So, how can a diverse workforce help you understand your customers? In our white paper,\u00a0Transforming Venture Capital and Private Equity Through Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), Lister Delgado, Managing Partner at IDEA Fund Partners says: \\\"Diversity brings breadth of thinking, when different perspectives come together, and new ideas come into the fold. And so, diversity is not just understanding a particular customer better, it\u2019s about thinking about innovation with a much better perspective, whether that\u2019s product innovation or business models. Diversity touches everything.\\\"\u00a0 Agrees Karen LeVert, Venture Partner at Pappas Capital, \u201cDiversity is not just black and white. It\u2019s income. It\u2019s rural. It\u2019s city. It\u2019s all of this coming together. So that we have a blend of different experiences that results in a better product.\u201d Recommendation #2: Begin at the Beginning\u00a0 Many companies have achieved success pursuing their existing strategies, workforce practices, and talent management model. It can be tempting to believe that these approaches will carry you forward in the future. However, the reality is that they won\u2019t.\u00a0 Says Chris Heivly, a venture capitalist and SVP of Ecosystem Development for Techstars: \\\"It\u2019s the same story of AOL versus Facebook, right? Those who adapt and change will stay alive. And those who used to be the king, now they\\'re barely a prince. They didn\\'t adapt; they didn\\'t understand how the world was changing.\\\" Brandon McCarty, Co-Founder and CEO of CureMint, a dental procurement platform, agrees. As a startup founder, he knows that the actions he takes now will help build a solid foundation for his company, and chief among them is creating a diverse culture that can help his firm grow. Says Brandon McCarty: \\\"It\u2019s a lot easier to set the foundation for what right is or what you want something to be versus just going and then having to retrain. It\u2019s a lot easier to establish that culture around eight to 12 people and set the baseline and then to begin to add people on top of it, versus have people who might not respect or want to participate in a culture that favors DEI.\\\" Similarly, understand that individuals who look from the outside in at your culture are making judgments about you that you may not be aware of. Karen LeVert looks at company websites to see how diverse their leadership teams are before considering partnerships. Recommendation #3: Live Your Values\u00a0 We live in a polarizing environment where social media can amplify your message, winning fans for life, or quickly turn the public against you. Customers are usually quick to forgive companies and leaders for honest mistakes, especially when they are accompanied by sincere apologies. However, they are less forgiving when they sense hypocrisy.\u00a0 If your organization wants to form close connections with customers and align your workforce behind your strategy, you must live your values around DEI. It\u2019s fine to be a novice, as long as you make a genuine commitment to DEI and move forward.\u00a0 Chris Daum, President and Chief Executive Officer of FMI Corporation, has sought help from The Diversity Movement to understand how to drive sustained change. He says: \\\"We\u2019re taking a very slow and cautious approach because I am not interested in checking a box, writing a check, or putting window dressing on something and saying, \u2018There we did it.\u2019 I don\u2019t want the momentum that we\u2019ve built as a response to these tragedies to fade into the distant memory of our firm or any of our employees.\\\" From the events of 2020, it\u2019s clear that corporate values aren\u2019t abstract concepts designed to languish on company websites or in little-used employee handbooks: They are living, breathing guidelines that employees can follow. Consider creating a values guide that translates values to desired behaviors and provides dos and don\u2019ts as examples. That reduces the guesswork of translating abstractions into daily actions and helps create a more inclusive culture.\u00a0 To take this recommendation a step further, include your organization\u2019s values into your employees\u2019 development plans, so that they can help your organization progress towards its DEI goals. Of course, it goes without saying that your internal organization should also do the same, so that employees can see the link between your company\u2019s goals and their own.\u00a0 Across industries, companies are grappling with what it means to live and breathe DEI values. In our whitepaper, we interviewed leading experts from venture capital, private equity, startup accelerators, and startups, to learn how they are building DEI into their cultures. It\u2019s also accompanied by a roadmap that you can re-use for your company, no matter which industry you\u2019re working in.\u00a0 Get great ideas for driving DEI at your company. Download the white paper.\", \"US English Male\");\n                }\n            };\n        <\/script>\n     <\/br><br \/>\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the first blog in a four-part series designed to help industry decision-makers consider diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues as they work to build a more diverse workforce and leadership team to accomplish critical business goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rules of business have changed. It\u2019s not enough to be competitive in the marketplace. You must also be a worthy employer that attracts, develops, and retains diverse talent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Increasingly, employees want to work for a purpose-driven company that provides equal opportunity for all, has a socially good mission or focus, and is willing to stand up and be counted on critical political and social issues. Being purpose-driven is so important that 76% of Millennials interviewed for a survey said they <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conecomm.com\/news-blog\/2016-cone-communications-millennial-employee-engagement-study-press-release\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">would take a pay cut<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to work for a socially responsible company. They\u2019re also not afraid to push back against companies that don\u2019t live their values. Employees are using internal message boards, calculated PR leaks, public letters, and even public exoduses to make a statement for what they believe. Social media has democratized advocacy, helping formerly anonymous staff gain a pulpit to speak out on the issues they support.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Employees and Customers Expect Companies to Live Their Values\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Examples of this new behavior are everywhere. Software engineer Susan Fowler\u2019s blog post about experiencing sexual harassment at Uber <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2020\/2\/19\/21142081\/susan-fowler-uber-whistleblower-interview-silicon-valley-discrimination-harassment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">received six million views<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, resulted in CEO Travis Kalanick\u2019s ouster, and helped drive lawsuits that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/tech\/2019\/12\/18\/uber-sexual-harassment-investigation-me-too\/2694091001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">resulted in a $4.4M settlement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to resolve sexual harrassment and retaliation charges. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/alisondurkee\/2020\/09\/08\/facebook-engineer-resigns-company-on-wrong-side-of-history-internal-employee-dissent-grows\/?sh=3e413f073794\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Several Facebook employees have publicly quit<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> over the company\u2019s refusal to police polarizing speech. And increasingly companies are listening: holding forums to allow employees to air their views, announcing policy changes, and publicly publishing new commitments. (One surprising outlier is Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange. The company\u2019s CEO told staff they could not take a stand on social issues and offered an exit package for those who disagreed. Some 60 employees to date <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/rachelsandler\/2020\/10\/08\/60-employees-leave-coinbase-over-ceos-pledge-to-be-apolitical\/?sh=7cc29a2f5a06\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">have taken the deal<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, voting with their feet.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These changes are not limited to employees. Customers also want to buy from purpose-driven companies. They\u2019re also not afraid to stand up against or boycott companies when they don\u2019t agree with their policies. Customers have assailed companies such as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/07\/10\/889842732\/goya-foods-ceos-praise-of-trump-causes-backlash-among-latino-communities\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Goya Foods<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/tesla-24-more-companies-faced-174252200.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SoulCycle<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for supporting President Trump, as well as called out <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/tesla-24-more-companies-faced-174252200.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heineken, H&amp;M<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and others for racist advertising. Meanwhile, entire industries, such as venture capital and private equity, have been called out for being \u201cpale and male,\u201d and not providing sufficient leadership opportunities for diverse talent or access to capital to enough underrepresented founders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given the importance of this growing trend as well the velocity of social media, companies can\u2019t ignore or minimize employee or customer needs. So, what can they do?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/library\/%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-8876 size-large lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/NEW-TDM-Library-Display-Ad_Large-A-1024x341.png\" alt=\"TDM Library: your one-stop-shop for update, expert DEI Resources. Explore the platform with a free trial. Click here to learn more.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"341\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/NEW-TDM-Library-Display-Ad_Large-A-1024x341.png 1024w, https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/NEW-TDM-Library-Display-Ad_Large-A-600x200.png 600w, https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/NEW-TDM-Library-Display-Ad_Large-A-300x100.png 300w, https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/NEW-TDM-Library-Display-Ad_Large-A-768x256.png 768w, https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/NEW-TDM-Library-Display-Ad_Large-A.png 1200w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/341;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><b>Recommendation #1: Create a Diverse Workforce that Mirrors the Market\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many industries, such as healthcare, financial services, and retail, are diverse at entry-level positions, but are largely led by white men at higher levels in the organization. Diverse staff often leave firms due to lack of opportunity or pay inequity issues. They may also depart due to the stress of working in environments where no one else is like them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hiring a diverse workforce is not as simple as changing the racial or gender composition of an organization. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/walkwest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/WW-Whitepaper-Business-Growth_v4-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Creating diverse teams<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> includes moving beyond race, color, religion, gender, and national origin, to also include <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/say-this-not-that-a-guide-for-inclusive-language\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ability and disability<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, socioeconomic backgrounds, age and generation, thinking styles, personal expression through appearance, work and geographic preferences, and more. Diversity means \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gallup.com\/workplace\/242138\/requirements-diverse-inclusive-culture.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the full spectrum of human demographic differences<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u201d finds Gallup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Companies are implementing a raft of changes to attract candidates: These changes include creating a workforce strategy with quantifiable goals, redesigning recruitment strategies, reconsidering job requirements, developing robust training opportunities, and creating benefits that diverse candidates want and need, among other changes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Diverse candidates are attracted to purpose-driven companies that are transparent about their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments, where leaders are willing to acknowledge the company\u2019s shortcomings in achieving shared values, and where there is a strong emphasis on not only increasing diversity, but also creating equity and inclusion. That means developing a level playing field where all can flourish and building a culture that fosters teamwork, egalitarian idea-sharing and innovation, and equal rewards.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, how can a diverse workforce help you understand your customers? In our white paper,<\/span><b>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/dei-venture-capital-private-equity-whitepaper\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Transforming Venture Capital and Private Equity Through Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)<\/em><\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span> <b>Lister Delgado,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Managing Partner at IDEA Fund Partners says:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Diversity brings breadth of thinking, when different perspectives come together, and new ideas come into the fold. And so, diversity is not just understanding a particular customer better, it\u2019s about thinking about innovation with a much better perspective, whether that\u2019s product innovation or business models. Diversity touches everything<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agrees <\/span><b>Karen LeVert<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Venture Partner at Pappas Capital, \u201cDiversity is not just black and white. It\u2019s income. It\u2019s rural. It\u2019s city. It\u2019s all of this coming together. So that we have a blend of different experiences that results in a better product.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Recommendation #2: Begin at the Beginning\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many companies have achieved success pursuing their existing strategies, workforce practices, and talent management model. It can be tempting to believe that these approaches will carry you forward in the future. However, the reality is that they won\u2019t.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Says <\/span><b>Chris Heivly<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a venture capitalist and SVP of Ecosystem Development for Techstars:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;It\u2019s the same story of AOL versus Facebook, right? Those who adapt and change will stay alive. And those who used to be the king, now they&#8217;re barely a prince. They didn&#8217;t adapt; they didn&#8217;t understand how the world was changing.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Brandon McCarty<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Co-Founder and CEO of CureMint, a dental procurement platform, agrees. As a startup founder, he knows that the actions he takes now will help build a solid foundation for his company, and chief among them is creating a diverse culture that can help his firm grow. Says <\/span><b>Brandon McCarty<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;It\u2019s a lot easier to set the foundation for what right is or what you want something to be versus just going and then having to retrain. It\u2019s a lot easier to establish that culture around eight to 12 people and set the baseline and then to begin to add people on top of it, versus have people who might not respect or want to participate in a culture that favors DEI.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly, understand that individuals who look from the outside in at your culture are making judgments about you that you may not be aware of. <\/span><b>Karen LeVert<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> looks at company websites to see how diverse their leadership teams are before considering partnerships.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Recommendation #3: Live Your Values\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We live in a polarizing environment where social media can amplify your message, winning fans for life, or quickly turn the public against you. Customers are usually quick to forgive companies and leaders for honest mistakes, especially when they are accompanied by sincere apologies. However, they are less forgiving when they sense hypocrisy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your organization wants to form close connections with customers and align your workforce behind your strategy, you must live your values around DEI. It\u2019s fine to be a novice, as long as you make a genuine commitment to DEI and move forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Chris Daum<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, President and Chief Executive Officer of FMI Corporation, has sought help from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Diversity Movement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to understand how to drive sustained change. He says:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"tab\">&#8220;We\u2019re taking a very slow and cautious approach because I am not interested in checking a box, writing a check, or putting window dressing on something and saying, \u2018There we did it.\u2019 I don\u2019t want the momentum that we\u2019ve built as a response to these tragedies to fade into the distant memory of our firm or any of our employees.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From the events of 2020, it\u2019s clear that corporate values aren\u2019t abstract concepts designed to languish on company websites or in little-used employee handbooks: They are living, breathing guidelines that employees can follow. Consider creating a values guide that translates values to desired behaviors and provides dos and don\u2019ts as examples. That reduces the guesswork of translating abstractions into daily actions and helps create a more inclusive culture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To take this recommendation a step further, include your organization\u2019s values into your employees\u2019 development plans, so that they can help your organization progress towards its DEI goals. Of course, it goes without saying that your internal organization should also do the same, so that employees can see the link between your company\u2019s goals and their own.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Across industries, companies are grappling with what it means to live and breathe DEI values. In our <a href=\"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/dei-venture-capital-private-equity-whitepaper\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">whitepaper<\/a>,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> we interviewed leading experts from venture capital, private equity, startup accelerators, and startups, to learn how they are building DEI into their cultures. It\u2019s also accompanied by a <a href=\"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/vc-pe-roadmap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">roadmap <\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that you can re-use for your company, no matter which industry you\u2019re working in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get great ideas for driving DEI at your company. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/dei-venture-capital-private-equity-whitepaper\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Download the white paper<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/library\/%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-8041 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/TDM-Library-Footer-Ad-A-1024x85.png\" alt=\"Display ad for TDM Library. Text says &quot;Find more content like this in TDM Library. Start my free trial&quot;\" width=\"1024\" height=\"85\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/TDM-Library-Footer-Ad-A-1024x85.png 1024w, https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/TDM-Library-Footer-Ad-A-600x50.png 600w, https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/TDM-Library-Footer-Ad-A-300x25.png 300w, https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/TDM-Library-Footer-Ad-A-768x64.png 768w, https:\/\/thediversitymovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/TDM-Library-Footer-Ad-A.png 1200w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/85;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the first blog in a four-part series designed to help industry decision-makers consider diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues as they work to build a more diverse workforce15<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,57,5],"tags":[],"tdm_type":[92],"class_list":["post-3811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-employee-experience-organizational-culture","category-inclusive-marketing-sales","category-blogs","tdm_type-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Your Workforce and Customers Want - But May Not Tell You - The Diversity Movement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Across industries, companies are grappling with what it means to live and breathe DEI values. 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