WEBVTT - 0331 Bertina Ceccarelli 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.320 You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with krol Messer and 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:07.480 Tim Stenebec on Bloomberg Radio, and I'm really excited for 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:15.280 our next guests. Bertina Chiicarelli, chief executive officer of end Power. 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:18.280 She's on the phone from Brooklyn, New York. She's here 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:22.680 to discuss her new book, Innovation or excuse me, Innovating 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:29.120 for Diversity. Lessons from top companies achieving business success through inclusivity. Now, Bertina, 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:31.840 I know you've been on a mission to advance racial 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:35.800 and gender equity in the tech industry and disrupt the 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:39.720 status quo to build a more inclusive workplace. Tell us 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:43.040 more about your new book. Oh, thank you so much. 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.160 Justin Shott tonight to be back on the show. The book, 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:49.640 which is co authored with Susayan Tadrick. We took a 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:53.560 look at companies that are smart about applying principles of 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:57.760 innovation to improving their efforts around diversity. We know what, 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:02.600 it's well proven, more diverse teams help companies activate their 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:07.600 innovation and achieve business performance. But what's left talked about 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:10.720 is how you can flip that on its head and 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.280 use innovation to think very differently in creatively about how 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:18.280 to make DEI work within a company, and we profile 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:21.520 great companies that are doing just that. Does diversity in 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.640 the payoff for a company? Since we're so focused on 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:30.800 the bottom line here, without doubt, it has been improven 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:35.240 that companies who achieve diversity among their employee ranks, their leaders, 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:40.119 their board outperform on a measure of financial performance rankings, 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:45.200 as well as better improvement or better metrics around employee retention, 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:48.120 all of which have a direct impact to the bottom line. 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:52.560 But if not just the business case for diversity that's important. 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:56.280 If we only focus on that, it becomes a very 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.880 transactional conversation, and we think that there is both a 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:05.320 social and moral imperative to EMBRACINGDEI as well. Britina, what 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:09.000 are some of the biggest issues that you found in 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:13.280 the tech industry specifically, So you know, one of the 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:16.720 things that we've found in the tech industry, interestingly, which 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:19.320 I think applies to a number of companies more broadly, 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:25.440 is that the very tactics that they are applying towards 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:30.280 innovation and their products and services are lacking when they 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.520 think about their efforts to do something very important again 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:38.520 for their business, which is creating inclusive and diverse cultures. 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:41.320 And so what we find is that rather than truly 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:45.160 innovating for that, we see off the shelf standard approaches 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:49.200 the light include a lot of activities like employee resource 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:53.080 groups or unconscious bias training. All of those activities alone 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.120 are okay, but if they're not backed up by a 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:00.200 real strategy to create change, then they're just that a 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:05.440 series of disconnected activities without real innovation. It gets to 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:08.520 the core problem a company is trying to solve. Do 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:13.359 we get to this because it is the right thing 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:15.679 to do, or do we need to be prompted by 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:21.280 regulation and legislation. You know, my opinion is the smart 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:25.080 companies are going to do this because it's good for 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:29.360 their business. When we see a CEO with an unwavering 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:35.680 commitment to creating diverse and inclusive cultures, that CEO, his 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.920 or her leaders, the board has a better opportunity of 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:44.000 tracting great talent. And especially when we think about this generation, 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:48.920 Generation Z, which is the most diverse generation in the 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:51.800 history of the country, as they wend their way into 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:55.640 the workplace, having a jud start on what it means 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:58.920 to have an inclusive culture is going to help those 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:02.560 good companies in the war for talent, who's doing it right? 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.200 You know some of the companies we profiles that I 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:11.440 think are doing outstanding work, companies like City Bank, Gorporate Grumming, 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:18.039 Accenture Tesco, even small companies like an outset out of 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:23.040 New Orleans Online Optimism, which is a small advertising agency. 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:27.480 It just demonstrates that really good d EI practices can 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.880 be embraced by companies of all sizes. Why is it 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:35.479 that some corporate programs from DI practices end up failing? 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:40.080 So I think I think the answer to that question 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:44.640 is for the same reason that their attempts at innovation fail. 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:48.080 For example, we know that successful new ideas are rarely 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:52.160 the purview of a chief innovation officer, So how can 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:56.040 you expect a chief diversity officer alone to sometimes and 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:59.200 do decades of fixed practices. But we just got to 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.200 have the support of the CEO and piers HR and 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:07.080 middle managers. Second, we rarely expect innovative through products to 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:10.440 just brought up overnight. They require research and market intelligence, 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:15.120 planning commitment. Similarly, any new DI approaches the benefit of 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:20.960 input from those underrepresentative employees requires piloting, iteration, and support 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:24.320 if where real change can happen. Yeah, as we sit 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:26.880 here in the studio, it's funny we watched the tour 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:29.680 groups go by a lot of young kids, especially here 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:31.400 at Bloomberg. So I'm going to do a shout out 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:36.240 for my own company. How much of this mentoring that 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:38.880 sort of thing is How does that figure into this? 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:43.480 How important is that? So we find that any one 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:48.240 of these strategies like mentoring or creative employment practices like 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:54.760 apprenticeships can be really powerful ideas, particularly when they're thought 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:58.480 about in a way that specifically addresses a core problem 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:02.719 a company is looking to to address. So, for example, 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:07.000 City was looking to bring in more veteran talent, those 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:10.240 who had served our country in the military, and they 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.159 found that by launching a very different kind of an 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:17.560 apprenticeship program that really targeted veterans who had some baseline 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:20.600 technology skills where they could spend six months to a 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:24.160 year at the company, really refining and learning that particular 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:28.040 tech stack at City that they found over a ninety 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:31.440 percent conversion rate and opened up a whole new opportunity 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.880 for talent growth and again a very hot market where 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:38.239 they were seeking to bring people in outside of Dallas. 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.159 What about Target, because you were writing about how it 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:47.520 did succeed in retaining more diverse talent as well. Target 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:50.159 is such a good example of a company that's really 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:54.479 embraced mentorship and you know, not just as an idea 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:57.960 to connect people to have conversations, but really to do 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:02.000 it in a sustained way and really creating the kind 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:07.240 of environment and culture that allowed for authentic interactions to 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:12.520 happen and to help particularly underrepresented individuals within the company 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:14.960 learn what it would take to advance in their career. 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:17.640 So it was mentoring with a real purpose to help 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:22.120 advance talent up the rights the companies I think you 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:25.400 do actually mention a small company. I'm sorry I've forgot 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:29.120 the name. But is this just a big company or 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:33.080 can small companies? I mean, is it important for them 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.680 this diversity push? Can they do it? Do they have 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:40.160 the resources? Well, we know that over ninety percent of 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:44.440 Americans work for small businesses, and so we think our 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:46.800 point of view is it small businesses are missing the 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:51.200 boat if they early on in their founding think about 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:54.840 how to create inclusive cultures. And I think that's exactly 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.360 what Online Optimism to small advertising agency who we spoke 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:02.880 to their founder recognized early on that to be responsive 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.840 to the needs of their advertising clients, it would benefit 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.960 them to be able to drop from a broad mix 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:15.000 of ideas, backgrounds, experiences to bring all that goodness to 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:18.120 bear on the campaigns for their clients acrost the nation 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:20.840 and they've been profoundly successful. Do you have the resources 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.160 of it? I mean, can they contact you for you know, 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.040 because there's so few resources available I feel for a 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:30.640 lot of small businesses absolutely. In fact, Innovating for Diversity 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:34.800 dot com is a website where you can contact myself, 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:38.439 my co author Suzanne Tadrick would certainly be happy to 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:43.120 discuss this issue if anybody interested in improving their TOYEI 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:46.800 practicers and creating a better role for everybody. And what's 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:52.600 your finals big takeaway from your book? I would say 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:59.080 the unwavering support of the CEO is necessary, but not sufficient. 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:02.720 Now we've heard in the past couple of years a 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.760 lot of big claims for how companies are going to 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:11.320 make dramatic progress in diversifying their workforce, and without the 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:15.280 commitment of HR and all the way through middle managers, 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:22.000 those kind of proclamations fall flat. So really operationalizing all 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:25.800 the tools and systems require to bring the EI deep 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:27.960 into an organization and making it a part of the 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:32.640 everyday culture is what works. Bertina, that was a pleasure. 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:37.640 Appreciate it. Very interesting. Bertina Chicarelli, the chief executive officer 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.040 and power joining us from good old Brooklyn.