17 SDG Principles are
Good for Business; Let’s Look at Diversity & Inclusion
I’ve been writing about the business benefits of the 17
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since they were adopted by the United
Nations in September 2015.
I’m not touting my uniqueness just my alignment with the
goals. Unquestionably, sustainability is good for the planet, good for the
community, good for you, and good for large and small businesses, as it offers
everyone a wide range of benefits and attract consumers.
Linda McMahon, former
administrator of the Small Business Administration,
had testified before the US Senate Small Business Committee that women flourish
more in an environment that has mentoring and counseling, which is why women’s
business development centers – like the New
Jersey Small Business Development Centers – are so important.
McMahon said the advice and direction provided by the SBA’s
district staffs across the country, along with their resource and lending
partners, are part of a “very critical ecosystem” that benefit women in
business. Her use of the word “ecosystem” is suitable because it conjures up an
image of all inhabitants contributing to one another’s welfare. “Every day,
this collective effort helps entrepreneurs navigate the complexities of
business ownership,” she pointed out.
Small business ownership and growth are complicated
undertakings and require entrepreneurs to be skilled jugglers that can
simultaneously manage every facet of their companies’ activities. It stands to
reason that an astute business owner should assemble the most comprehensive,
skilled team of managers and employees possible. This group should include both
skilled men and women dispersed horizontally and vertically throughout the
company.
Hiring and promoting women offers your business
comprehensive benefits that will illuminate its presence and successes locally
and globally. Such a business plan supports UN Sustainable Development Goal #5 – Achieve Gender Equality and
Empower All Women and Girls. Consequently, by hiring and promoting women, your
small business declares itself to be sustainable and you should invest time and
money in pursuing this endeavor.
The case for companies to act is compelling. It contributes
to your growth, drives your business and adds to your bottom line.
For example, in a recent survey of 366 companies,
consultancy McKinsey & Co. found
that companies whose leadership roles were most balanced between men and women
were more likely to report financial returns above their national industry
median. This means that companies with more balanced leadership do a better job
recruiting and retaining talented workers, reducing the costs associated with
replacing top executives. They also have stronger customer relations because
management better reflects the diversity of society, and they tend to make
better decisions because a wider array of viewpoints is considered.
Another report, titled “The CS Gender 3000: Women in
Senior Management,” shows that companies with more female directors and senior
executives tend to have higher returns and dividend payout ratios. The report
found the shares of companies with at least one female director outperformed
those of firms led by all-male boards by about 3.7% in 2005 and 2013.
While, Sodexo, a
leading provider of integrated food, facilities management and other services,
which has 419,000 employees in 80 countries, after a company-wide study found
that units with equal numbers of men and women in management roles delivered
more profits more consistently than those dominated by men.
Successful women are more likely than successful men to own
a business so they can pursue a personal passion and to make a positive impact
on the world – like fostering the 17 SDGs, according to 2013 U.S. Trust
Insights on Wealth and Worth. Seventy percent of the women and only 62% of the
men are committed to increasing the level of their sustainable activities,
according to Cox Conserves, a national sustainability program run by Cox
Communications and Media. Ultimately, this benefits women-owned businesses
because consumers are drawn to sustainable businesses.
Pharmaceutical giant Merck
is another company that has embarked on the road to diversity and inclusion.
Celeste Warren,
head of Merck’s diversity and inclusion initiative, was a believer before she
was tapped for the position at the 68,000-employee, 126-year-old company. In a
recent article in mmm-online.com, she explained that looking at numbers is a
myopic approach to diversity and inclusion.
“It was all about percentages: How many women? How many
people of color? We needed to go beyond the numbers and understand how to
leverage diversity to create a more inclusive environment, but also to drive
our business,” Warren explained.
She realized that diversity and inclusion isn’t human
resources accounting – two men in this department matched by two women in that
department; three white people here coupled with three people of color, and so
on. It’s corporate culture. She wanted to create an environment of respect,
where employees felt comfortable to work and succeed and contribute to the
growth of the company.
Warren’s bottom-line-focused concept, in effect, is what
differentiates her concept from the ones taken by her other companies. “As much
as we want to believe people embrace D&I because they’re passionate about
it and it’s the right thing to do, businesses
are in business. They have to drive profits,” she explained. “I try to make
an impact with D&I not just from a moral, corporate-responsibility aspect,
but also from the standpoint of how it
adds value to our business.”
As crass as it sounds, it has been said around large and
small corporate tables, if it doesn’t add to the bottom line, why do it?
Diversity and inclusion does add to the bottom line.
“I unapologetically believe that, at the intersection of
business and diversity and inclusion, you do create a competitive advantage,”
she pointed out.
Finding that intersection is key for large and small
businesses as well as SDG#5.
Turning inwardly, Warren appreciates that the internal case
for more diversity and inclusion is just as easily stated though far from easy
to effect. “People of Muslim faith, the person who’s gay in the Asia-Pacific
region, the African-American person in the U.S., Latino/Hispanic people who
live near the border — people are stressed about their communities,” she
observed. “We can’t shut that stress down, so what are we doing to help and
allow our employees to be themselves so that they can feel safe and be
productive at work? That’s a question we need to ask every day.”
Employees that feel confident about themselves especially
inside their companies, are productive and contribute to their businesses’
bottom lines. Human resources departments must strive to create such an
environment.
As for SDG #5, it
does not merely pertain to hyping equal rights for women and then disregarding
what to do once you’ve assumed that status.
Since you, as the executive or owner, support SDG #5, your
task is to ensure that women fully participate and are equally represented in
all levels of national and local leadership and decision-making in economic,
political and social aspects of life. A major reason why women are still
lagging behind socially and economically is because they lack political,
economic, social and civil support for their plans and goals. Largely due to
educational qualification barriers, women representative positions are either
given to under-qualified women or even men who have little or no knowledge of
what exactly the challenges faced by women are.
You’ve also committed to formulate and execute social
reforms to grant women equal ability to access economic resources, financial
services, and ownership and control of properties such as lands and homes, in
accordance with respective national laws.
As I have written before, according to official predictions,
businesses that participate in the Sustainable Development Goals – the goals
that pertain to the ecology as well as human being – stand to experience an
unbelievable windfall. The SDGs have the potential to unleash innovation,
economic growth and development at an unprecedented scale and could be worth at least $12 trillion a year in market
opportunities and generate up to 380 million new jobs by 2030.
The SDGs hold great possibilities for all businesses. There
are 17 of them. Pick just one.
