Encourage Diversity

Sallie Krawcheck, known once as the most honest or last honest stock analyst on Wall Street, in a recent leadership summit exhorted all of us to encourage diversity: not just diversity by race or gender, but diversity in all aspects including talent, thinking styles and personality.

Here's her recipe:

• Acknowledge the differences in all ways that people vary from one another. Start to recognize how those differences bring strengths to your organization, opportunities and challenges.
• Ask different questions regarding team composition and hiring opportunities. For example, don't ask, "Who's the best person in the candidate pool?" but "Which person brings balance to the team?" I often told candidates that many of my questions were trying to figure out what shape of puzzle piece they were and how they might complement the organization, not just fit into the current shaped opening.
• Live the values you and your organization espouse. If people are important, show it by how you respect, trust, honor, develop them and how you accommodate their differences.
• Understand that women are tired with personal, family, work and societal pressures. For example, men may take 15-30 minutes to get ready (post-shower) whereas women take 4-5x longer. As Ms. Krawcheck points out, even an extra 15 minutes per day adds up to a 60 hr work-week/year just to get ready for work.
• Give more feedback with regard to how team members might offer their unique qualities towards the organization's success--such as sharing their perspectives and paradigms to problem-solving or other decisions being made.