The idea for this book came to Martin Davidson during a disarmingly honest conversation with a CFO he worked with. “Look,” the executive said, clearly troubled. “I know we can get a diverse group of people around the table. But so what? What difference does it
really make to getting bottom-line results?”
Answering the “so what?” led Davidson to explore the flaws in how companies typically manage diversity. They don’t integrate diversity into their overall business strategy. They focus on differences that have little impact on their business. And often their diversity efforts end up hindering the professional development of the very people they were designed to help.
Davidson explains how what he calls Leveraging Difference™ turns persistent diversity problems into solutions that drive business results. Difference becomes a powerful source of sustainable competitive advantage instead of a distracting mandate handed down from HR.
To begin with, leaders must identify the differences most important to achieving organizational goals, even if the differences aren’t the obvious ones. The second challenge is to help employees work together to understand the ways these differences matter to the business. Finally, leaders need to experiment with how to use these relevant differences to get things done. Davidson provides compelling examples of how organizations have tackled each of these challenges.
Ultimately this is a book about leadership. As with any other strategic imperative, leaders need to take an active role—drive rather than just delegate. Successfully leveraging difference can be what distinguishes an ordinary organization from an extraordinary one.
Martin Davidson makes the bold claim that millions, maybe billions, of dollars in diversity training are being wasted. Attrition statistics show a revolving door for women and minorities, but companies are still recruiting and promoting employees as they've always done. As Chief Diversity Officer at the Darden School of Business (University of Virginia) and as a consultant with top Fortune 100 firms like AT&T and Merrill Lynch, Martin Davidson has found a better way: stop forcing diversity on people as a goal in and of itself, a matter of percentages and head counts, and instead use it strategically, creating business improvement strategies that draw on employees' different strengths. Make cultivating difference a core competency and enjoy the improvements in innovation, marketing, and business execution that are the natural result. Stop focusing on a narrow band of superficially diverse groups, and welcome deeper differences in lifestyles, economic backgrounds, and viewpoints.
Davidson calls this new way "Leveraging Difference," which sees diversity NOT as a problem to be solved, but as an opportunity to make better business strategies. Net result: diversity that really moves the organization forward, not just another training program that changes little.
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