26 Nov 2019
How diversity builds business advantage
Diversity of backgrounds, race, outlook and gender has been shown to be an advantage in business, and in an era that's becoming more competitive by the minute, to stay ahead of the curve is to bend the curve and define a new normal.
Employing more women and more women leaders, along with ethnically or culturally diverse individuals, is no longer only a moral imperative. Multiple studies have proven that diversity has a real impact on a company’s bottom line.
In fact, companies with higher gender diversity at an executive level are “21% more likely to experience above-average profitability than their peers,” according to McKinsey’s 2018 “Delivering Through Diversity” report.
Furthermore, the report found that companies that embraced ethnic and cultural diversity, were “33% more likely to excel in profitability”.
At the recent Virgin Atlantic Business is an Adventure event hosted in partnership with Investec, journalist Claire Mawisa hosted a panel of experts on the topic of how diversity and inclusion can drive the innovation and profitability of business.
On the panel was Faith Popcorn - futurist, author, and founder and CEO of marketing consulting firm BrainReserve; Thando Hopa - diversity advocate, model and lawyer; Dr Tashmia Ismail-Saville – CEO of the Youth Employment Service; and Dr Marc Kahn – Investec’s global head of Human Resources and Organisational Development.
What became very clear from the panel was that diversity cannot be a simple box-ticking exercise to ensure adequate representation. To stay relevant and profitable, a company needs to build a truly inclusive culture that gives all groups a voice and makes it easy for them to bring their whole self to work.
Listen to the full podcast
Learn more about why business success relies on a diverse and inclusive workforce. Listen to the full panel discussion here.
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