Giving Compass' Take:

• Jorge Fontanez shares three insights about trends within diversity and inclusion that focus on leadership, retention, and culture.  

• How can these trends help workplaces target areas to ameliorate diversity and inclusion practices? Can trainings help to further explain what best practices are the standard for D&I?

• Read about the importance of diversity and inclusion within the philanthropic sector.

As social movements across the country continue to shape global conversations around equity, the spotlight and opportunity have been thrust onto the business sector to reflect the values society cares about most.  For the first time ever, this generation of the U.S. workforce is demanding a more genuine commitment to diversity and inclusion, one that represents the spectrum of our population and the various social movements happening in and across the communities they serve.

D&I is no longer black and white, it is now a part of a larger dialogue about equity for all who come to the table with diverse perspectives. While D&I was once conveniently buried deep within the pages of the annual reports of our top organizations, the public conversation has changed the way that companies across industries engage with the issue.

CEO of Marca Studio and Clinical Professor of Marketing for the Bard MBA in Sustainability program, Jorge Fontanez, shared three critical insights on the trends that we’re seeing in the D&I space today:

  1.  CEO leadership is an opportunity. Fontanez points out that trust in organizations is at an all time low, but trust in CEOs, however, is up. This trust provides an opportunity for leaders to speak up and out about equity in the workplace.
  2. Retention. Representation is no longer enough. Success in D&I in the future will be centered around retention.
  3. Culture. It will be the role of companies now and in the future to create more welcoming workplaces. Often times companies recruit diverse talent, but don’t think to re-create a culture where diverse talent can thrive.

Read the full article about trends in diversity and inclusion by Laura K. Wise at TriplePundit.