Diversity Equity & Inclusion

 

Our American Marketing Association chapter board met to discuss chapter priorities last month. Nick Niehaus. our president, freshly returned from the annual leadership Summit in Chicago stressed an urgency for actionable dialogue and programming around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. I anxiously asserted that my friend and colleague Sharon Harvey-Davis would be ideal for one of our monthly luncheons. The board agreed and I was in luck because Sharon was willing and able to be our speaker at Maggiano’s on June 16, 2022.

I first met Sharon as a member of the human resources team at HBE Corporation. HBE was founded in 1960 by Fred Kummer who built a thriving business around the design and construction of hospitals, medical office buildings and financial facilities. In the 1970s HBE also built, owned and operated a chain of hotels called the Adam’s Mark Hotels & Resorts. By the late 1990s the hotel became the focus of national attention as the NAACP and the Department of Justice (DoJ) began an investigation into charges of discrimination. Sharon was at the center of that corporate firestorm and quickly became the “go to” person for managing a wide array of issues for the company. She performed admirably.

She joined Ameren and quickly became a valuable resource at the Fortune 500 company with 9,500 employees.   She worked there for 20 years, the last decade reporting directly to the CEO. AMA of Saint Louis was very lucky to get her as a speaker as she was just beginning to enjoy her retirement.

Her talk was engaging and informative. I sat at a table with Brent, Whitney, Mark, Kiera and Eric. Another table included employees from Stifle securities. Maggiano’s rolled out the food in in its usual indulgent portions as Sharon walked through the true meaning and definition of Diversity…Equity…and Inclusion. In so doing, we could see how complex and delicate if might be to manage a corporate bundle of objectives that includes marketing communications, personnel and leadership.

The talk offered a graphic model used by Ameren and Sharon made the case for DE&I that starts with Diversity of Thought, Equity, and Inclusion, Creativity and Innovation. It all leads to the processes involved in continuous improvement, mission and vision which leads to customer and shareholder value.

Sharon noted that there are two forms of communication to be successful in a DE&I program. They are “waterfall”(communication from the top of the organization) and viral (a more organic kind organizational interface). She added “You need both!”