Sustainability and Diversity: The Connection?
Monday, 17th of August 2009 at 12:02:13 PM(Guest Post by Mary-Frances Winters, President, The Winters Group, Inc. Winters is author of CEOs Who Get It: Diversity Leadership from the Heart and Soul and Inclusion Starts with I and Only Wet Babies Like Change.)
“Sustainability” is a popular business term. Most think of it in connection with environmental sustainability and the strident efforts that are being taken across the globe to curb further deterioration of our natural resources. I like to expand the definition to include sustainability of our human resources as well. I have embraced the following definition of sustainability…. “the parallel care for the eco-system and the people within it”. In our quest to save the planet, we must include all life forms…including human.
Members of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development have declared:
“We believe that the leading global companies of 2020 will be those that provide goods and services and reach new customers in ways that address the world’s major challenges - including poverty, climate change, resource depletion, globalization and demographic shifts.”
I postulate that the world’s success in sustainable development lies in our ability to acknowledge, understand and integrate concepts of diversity into all aspects of sustainability efforts. If the goal is to reach new customers, we must understand the needs of diverse markets. If we are to succeed with globalization, we must be cross-culturally competent. Demographic shifts will require us to develop new methods for mutual adaptation, interconnecting with different cultures in ways that we have not been willing to do in the past.
I will explore sustainability in the context of diversity in greater depth at SHRM’s 2009 Diversity Conference & Exposition in San Diego, CA during my session Diversity and the Triple Bottom Line, Monday October 19 from 3:15-4:30.
I look forward to seeing you there!
