Diversity is a critical component of progress and success, fueling critical thinking and sparking innovation. This is especially important in the information technology world, where women are increasingly contributing their diverse expertise and experiences to drive measurable change.
To best anticipate and meet the needs of increasingly diverse and demanding customers, companies need to develop their in-house teams and attract new talent.
While there has been some progress, more work needs to be done when it comes to gender diversity. Women remain under-represented in corporate C-suites; women run just 4.8% of the companies named on this year’s Fortune Global 500 list.
To address the problem at the grass roots level we need to dig deeper to better understand what’s stalling women’s careers — from recruiting, hiring, and mentoring, to pipeline development and promotion – as we strive for more equitable solutions.
Last week I had the opportunity explore the issue of women and corporate leadership as a speaker at the San Diego Tech Up for Women Conference 2022. Tech Up for Women is a collaborative hub for the advancement of women through greater technology knowledge. In my session, I explored my belief that the next paradigm for women is the need for Bold Leadership to Tackle Our Biggest Challenges.
“Bold leadership” is an X Factor at the intersection of data and diversity, allowing us to harness the power of technology and humanity. We can leverage data to demonstrate how the elimination of bias can open a world of new projects and profitable investment opportunities.
Organizations that collect and analyze data on the diversity of their workforce have a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of their employees. They can use this data to identify any existing biases, gaps or issues and work towards improving them.
Innovation is achieved by having a diverse team where people challenge each other and where they can bring new points of view in a culture of respect and inclusion.
Here are three important factors that can help to keep your diversity efforts on track:
