Starting From the Top: Advancing Global Diversity and Inclusion Through CEO Leadership

Introduction

These past few years have been anything but steady for domestic and global businesses. Small and large organizations alike have struggled to weather massive layoffs, slashed budgets and forced consolidation. Some longstanding corporate giants have seen their doors close, while others are still desperately fighting to reach the road to recovery. Yet through adversity, strength of character and leadership are tested, and the distinction between “good” and “great” organizations becomes strikingly clear.

Good organizations research best practices. Great organizations create best practices. Good organizations receive corporate achievement awards. Great organizations define these awards. Good organizations are able to “ride out” dramatic economic shifts. Great organizations seize downturns as opportunities for true innovation and advancement. And leading from the helm of great organizations are trailblazing chief executive officers. 

As inspirational and tactical heads, chief executive officers are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of their companies, and as such, they face many tremendous challenges, not the least of which is to steer their firms through adversity while seizing opportunities for continuous growth along the way. After all, the business world waits for no one, and those who fail to advance are quickly left behind. 

Smart CEOs appreciate that while they must bear the ultimate burden of bottom-line revenue growth upon their shoulders, they do not have to “go it alone,” nor should they. Rather, these leaders constantly and strategically leverage key stakeholders—from their board to their direct reports, their communities to their customers. Moreover, CEOs of great companies actively engage their peers in reciprocal relationships for collective knowledge sharing and advancement, and one area where this has proven particularly effective is in the realm of diversity and inclusion.