Without Excuses: Unleash the Power of Diversity to Build Your Business

by Joe Watson

Overview

Without Excuses argues convincingly that recruiting and nurturing a diverse workforce isn't just morally or legally correct, it's essential to any successful enterprise. Using examples gleaned from a decade of real-world work in companies and government, Joe Watson offers vital practical advice on how to find abundant sources of diverse talent, how to treat them in the recruitment process and on the job, and most of all how to learn from them to benefit any business or organization. This book is essential for any executive, recruiter, entrepreneur, or job-seeker looking for the crucial edge in hiring and developing talent and business ideas. Joe Watson's infectious charisma permeates every page, bringing drama and urgency to sound management advice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466859906
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/10/2013
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	747 KB

About the Author

JOE WATSON is a dynamic management consultant, business owner, and former business executive who now leads major corporations and individuals through the process of operating and living Without Excuses. Much of his time is spent advising on employee issues, especially workplace diversity. His clients include Freddie Mac, MTV Networks, and Lifetime Entertainment, among many others. He was a special aide to former Governor Mark Warner of Virginia. Joe Watson has hosted his own radio program and is a sought-after speaker to organizations around the world.

Read an Excerpt

Without Excuses

Unleash the Power of Diversity to Build Your Business

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By Joe Watson

St. Martin's Press

Copyright © 2006 Joe Watson
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4668-5990-6

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CHAPTER 1

STRIP AWAY THE EXCUSES

To succeed at diversity recruiting, you must strip away your disabling excuses and get real. Getting real means you no longer tolerate the use of the word "can't." It means you start to recognize suspended business logic when you see it, and treat diversity like every other important strategic initiative.

With respect to diversity, it is my experience that organizations typically fall into one of four categories: obstructionist (they do as little as possible), defensive (they do only that which is legally or politically expedient), accommodative (they meet legal and ethical requirements, and perhaps a bit more), or proactive (they act before they have to). Do any of these sound familiar? If your organization falls into one of the first three categories, this chapter was written especially for you. It is time for you to look in the mirror and tell the truth. Pitney Bowes looked into the mirror and began a proven, documented commitment to diversity in the 1940s. One aspect of its mission statement declares that it will "value, actively pursue, and leverage diversity in our employees, and through our relationships with customers, business partners and communities, because it is essential to innovation and growth." The company is proactive in that it holds itself accountable to certain standards for diversity and integrates diversity with other strategic initiatives.

Any diversity initiative short of a proactive program is not real; it lacks teeth and it lacks substance. Organizations short on commitment usually expose themselves in at least one of two ways: inadequate resource allocation and lack of accountability. All too often, organizations don't commit adequate dollars to make their diversity efforts work. Yes, you may attend all the important Unity Dinners and People of Color Conferences. But now that we're being honest, we know this is not real money. This is "make nice-nice" money. Organizations also underpay, overwork, and neglect to develop the skills needed to fulfill the roles tasked with driving the diversity recruiting effort. You don't hear, "Lets not put Mary on that project because she makes too much money" with regard to other important strategic initiatives. So why diversity? Without proper resources, results suffer. But since few results are expected anyway, failure in diversity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Here's what companies do when they allocate "real" resources to a project: They fund research to study the issue. They fund manpower to create a business plan. They fund a carefully thought-out, adequate budget, and put their most talented people on the project. They pay them well, give them the tools they need to succeed, and incent them to deliver the best possible results. They monitor progress by measuring intermediate and long-term outcomes. And if the team doesn't deliver, they lose raises, or promotions — or their jobs.

Like many large organizations, Wachovia Bank has a developed diversity strategy; but unlike most organizations, it demonstrates true commitment to the outcomes and so developed metrics to measure progress. The company identified key factors of its corporate goal of increased workforce diversity, and began evaluating recruiters on the completion of these goals, offering incentives for those who presented a diverse slate of successful candidates. The "scorecard" criteria included number of hires, time to fill, percentage of diverse candidates, percentage of diverse hires, interview-to-offer ratio, and offer-to-acceptance rate (Garvey, Charlotte. "The Next Generation of Hiring Metrics," HR Magazine, Vol. 50, No.4, April 2005).

This kind of accountability is the other clear index of commitment. It boggles my mind how people can sit at a big conference table and talk about how they "can't" find any diverse professionals, and everyone else just passively nods in agreement. In the real world, where there is commitment, there are tangible, meaningful consequences for those who fail.

For example, when a consumer product company launches a new brand, a team of very smart professionals methodically conducts market research until it knows where consumers in its target market live, how much money they have, what cars they drive, and what they eat for breakfast. If that team came back and said, "We just can't find any information about our target market," there would be serious consequences. The team members' superiors would question their every move, trying to determine what went wrong and whose fault it was.

These same questions should be asked of recruiters, HR professionals, or executives who say they "can't find any" diverse professionals. Are we really to believe that these same companies that can dig up information on anyone, anywhere, can't tell you where to find African-American accountants or Latino lawyers or Asian-American marketing professionals? Am I the only one having a hard time with this logic? Did anyone ever think that the same methodologies that led a company to open restaurants in Toledo and Santa Fe also could inform us that Xavier University in Louisiana graduates more African-American biology majors than any other university in the country, and has for twenty years (Isaac Black, African American Students' College Guide [Wiley, 2000])?

I believe that's called a trend — and it's easy to spot with a little research.

So the first step is to come clean, admit you have committed inadequate resources or failed to require accountability, then strip away the excuses that have enabled you to fail for so long. I don't care what your excuses are; in my eighteen years working in the corporate world and my eight years as a recruiter, I've heard them all, and they are almost always lame. While there are as many excuses for diversity failures as there are companies to make them, the following are the excuses I've heard most often:

1. "We can't find any." Well, you won't find any if you don't look. They are out there. Forget anything you've heard about the numbers of diverse job candidates shrinking. As with any statistical analysis, you must examine the numbers you read with care — and the reality is that every year there are more qualified diverse candidates, not fewer. For example, while it is true that the percentage of accountants who are diverse has been shrinking in the past few years, the overall pool of accountants is growing — so the aggregate number of diverse accountants is actually larger today than it was several years ago.

But these numbers shouldn't matter to you anyway. The issue is not whether there are enough diverse candidates to go around to every organization. The issue is whether you can attract and recruit enough for your organization. This is called competing for resources — something your organization likely does every day. If the challenge were to find new clients, your organization would scour markets and databases, conduct focus groups, and generally do whatever was necessary to find them. Research is powerful stuff — it can reveal down to the street who lives where, how much they make, what they read. But when it comes to diversity, these principles often are not applied. No, when it comes to diversity, organizations run ads in the same old newspapers, attend the same old conferences, and wonder why nothing happens.

Now let's think about what would happen if you applied the same targeted efforts that have worked on other initiatives. Imagine, for example, what would happen if you Googled "accountant" and "Howard University" (one of the leading historically black universities in our country). The names and networking contacts that come up will be largely African-American. Or even better, search for the "Top Fifty African-American accountants" on Lexis-Nexis. If you still "can't find any" after you've called everyone in the results list, and everyone they recommend, and everyone they in turn recommend, I might actually believe that you can't find any. But it won't happen. You'll end up with so many candidates you won't know where to begin.

These methods probably sound elementary to you — even insultingly basic — but lots of folks have never tried them. Trust me: to this day I am still meeting with organizations that have never taken these basic steps forward. I have loaded the second part of this book with similar ideas to help you find the people you are looking for. These tactics are as simple as those I've mentioned above, and they work.

2. "Our search firm didn't bring us a diverse slate." Okay — so fire it. What would you do if you were trying to recruit a new CFO, and your recruiting firm brought you nothing but marketing people? There are many excellent recruiting firms out there today that can provide you with more diversity talent than you'll know what to do with. You just have to hire them. Again, this is about business logic. Your search firm didn't find any because it didn't really look; it was paralyzed by the same excuses that paralyze you. The reality is, like most organizations, traditional search firms rely on their formal and informal networks to source candidates — and these networks have historically been bereft of diversity professionals. So when you are seeking a diverse pool, these firms are not much help; they are more likely to reinforce your paralysis. Find a recruiting firm with strong connections to diverse communities, and you will have all the talent you need. The resources in this book will help you get started.

3. "Diversity candidates just don't make it through the hiring process." This excuse is a corollary to "We can't find any." If your diversity candidates aren't competitive, it is likely because whoever selected your candidates has settled in terms of fit and job qualifications rather than spending the extra time to find highly qualified diversity candidates. But they're out there, and it's your job to find them. You've got to get rid of the idea that to hire a diversity professional is to lower your standards or to somehow settle. If candidates aren't making it through the process, go find better ones. That's what you would do with majority candidates, right? Of course, there's always the chance that the issue is with your hiring managers, whose biases are preventing diversity candidates from making it through. If this is the case, get real about it. By putting a greater number of highly qualified diversity candidates through your process, you will either move your numbers or very quickly discover that you have hiring managers with active biases. Either way, you'll have the solution to moving your numbers.

4. "Diversity doesn't affect us." This is the "Every building in this area will be destroyed by the 9.5 Richter scale earthquake but not ours because we built ours differently" argument. With people of color in the United States currently numbering 100 million and that population growing rapidly, it is only a matter of time before this explosion impacts every organization's customers and workforce (Jon Meacham, "The New Face of Race," Newsweek, September 18, 2000). For some organizations — hospitality firms or consumer goods manufacturers, for example — the wave has already hit. For others — such as financial services and technology firms — the wave is further offshore but still approaching like a tidal wave. No matter which category you are in, you must have a plan and act aggressively. If you don't, you will lose customers, talent, money, and market share. If this sounds like a breach of fiduciary duty — well, it just might be.

5. "Diverse professionals don't want to work here — there is no one here like them." This is circular logic and a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you tell yourself this convincingly enough, you'll never even try to recruit any diverse professionals. Of course it's true that some people don't want to be "the only one" in a sea of something different. But from working with and talking to diverse professionals over the last fifteen years, experience tells me that this is far from the predominant view. The majority of diverse professionals I've worked with will work anywhere for the right opportunity.

I certainly don't profess to speak for all minority professionals, but I will say that most of the diverse professionals I know long ago accepted the fact that to make it, they would have to adapt, at least at some level, to majority culture. Being the only one is not ideal — everyone feels more comfortable around people like them — but it is not usually a blocking issue. It is no surprise, however, that majority professionals underestimate this willingness on the part of diverse professionals to work outside their comfort zones, because most majority professionals have never had to make that choice.

6. "We don't have the resources." This is corporate-speak for "Diversity isn't that important." When you don't have enough resources to achieve a goal, you are really saying the goal isn't a high enough priority for your organization to fund it. Maybe that's the right call for you. Maybe not. But let's at least be real about it. When Staples CEO Ronald Sargent wanted to recruit more minorities, he knew that the effort would require more than just lip service. He also realized that casting as wide a net as possible would bring in some winning candidates and some that wouldn't make the cut. So he approved temporary funding for more than fifty college students, who worked at the company for a trial period. At the end of the trial period, many students landed permanent jobs. Thus, Staples was able to adjust its recruiting strategies to align more closely with its stated commitment to diversity: "To understand why diversity is so important to us, you don't have to look farther than your nearest Staples store. Our customers — whether they're shopping in our stores, online, or through Staples Contract or Business Delivery — are a mosaic of different cultures, ethnicities, genders, and ages. So it's not surprising that we strive for a workforce and a supplier network that reflect the diverse multicultural 'face' of our customers" ("Our Commitment to Diversity," www.staples.com/sbd/content/about/diversity/index.html).

Take a look at what your company is funding for diversity. Is this the proper allocation of resources to prepare your company for the next fifty years? If so, I'll buy this excuse. If not, you've got some work to do in reassessing priorities and reallocating resources. The point is, you can't use this excuse unless you've actually done the homework and factually determined that your limited resources are better spent elsewhere. Do that, and at least you are exercising sound business judgment.

7. "We hired a diverse senior executive, but that hasn't moved the numbers at all." Well, no kidding. Senior executives do very little hiring, so they are not in a strong position to impact the complexion of your workforce. Also, the idea that a figurehead minority will somehow move numbers is greatly misguided. Managers will not be inspired to hire more Asian people by seeing an Asian general counsel. And candidates won't necessarily come to your company just because you've got a prominent minority executive. In fact, that strategy could backfire because you could be telegraphing the idea that your commitment to diversity stops at window dressing. If you want your numbers to move, hire diverse middle managers. I'll talk more about this strategy later in the book — it's logical, and it works.

8. "Our hiring managers won't cooperate." I love this one. Another classic example of the suspension of business logic. Does the word "insubordination" mean anything to you? The only reason managers don't do anything is because there is no consequence if they don't. Make their compensation depend on achievements in diversity hiring, and you'll see changes. Make promotions turn on hitting diversity numbers, and you'll get results. This is not new stuff — you've got to motivate your people to achieve results, as with any other strategic initiative.

9. "We only promote from within." To say that you are committed to building diversity but only hire from within is a joke. These two priorities are directly at odds. It's like saying you are committed to growing flowers, but have a policy against planting things. It can't be both ways. So decide which priority is most important, and move on. Once this decision is made, the rest can be sorted out.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Without Excuses by Joe Watson. Copyright © 2006 Joe Watson. Excerpted by permission of St. Martin's Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Title Page,
Copyright Notice,
Acknowledgments,
Foreword by Carl Brooks,
Introduction,
How to Use This Book,
PART I: GET REAL AND GET READY,
1. STRIP AWAY THE EXCUSES,
2. OUTLINE YOUR BUSINESS CASE FOR DIVERSITY,
3. SET YOUR PRIORITIES,
4. GET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER,
5. REFINE YOUR MESSAGING,
PART II: CONNECT AND BUILD,
6. MASTER MULTICULTURAL NETWORKING,
7. FIND THE BEST DIVERSITY TALENT,
8. BUILD YOUR BENCH,
9. MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS,
Conclusion,
Appendices,
Appendix A: Recommended Books,
Appendix B: Recommended Web Sites,
Appendix C: Top Companies for Diversity,
Appendix D: Historically Black or Predominantly African-American Colleges and Universities,
Appendix E: Top Degree-Granting Institutions — All Minorities,
Appendix F: Top Degree-Granting Institutions — Hispanics,
Appendix G: Top Degree-Granting Institutions — Asian-Americans,
Appendix H: Top Degree-Granting Institutions — African-Americans,
Appendix I: Top Diverse Professional Organizations,
Appendix J: Top Diversity Recruiting Web Sites,
Appendix K: Diverse Student Organizations,
Appendix L: Diverse Media Options,
Praise,
Copyright,