“Diversity” and “inclusion” show up a lot in the pages of Hispanic Executive. Together, they are a concept we passionately encourage and applaud in corporate America. When they become a focus of corporate structure, they prove that including team members of diverse backgrounds results in improvement.
By diversity, we mean of gender, ethnicity, experience, country of origin, political views, sexual orientation, religion, abilities and disabilities, skill sets, and even thought processes, just to name a few. Inclusion, simply put, means drawing upon the backgrounds of diverse people to broaden our perspective and improve our outcomes. As Forbes reports, studies show improvements in growth, production, and efficiency when there are efforts to include persons from different backgrounds. The best business environment is a diverse one. Beyond studies, real-world proof that inclusion works is all around us. Diversity of skill on any team—sports, trivia, project development—is a major factor for success.
Our 2016 Top 10 Líderes are icons of the concept. We spend a good part of our year considering people for this carefully crafted list. It’s not as simple as choosing those who got the biggest promotions or the most awards in the past year. Considerations also include individuals who have taken business risks, have tried something new, have gone above and beyond to give back, are causing shifts in their respective industries, and, of course, exemplify diversity of thought. The uniting fact is that they are all Latino—from my perspective, “Latino” is as diverse as “American.” Our Top 10 exemplify diversity of age, gender, industry, background, skill set, and approach to leadership that, when put together, make an impressive impact on the global marketplace.
Diversity and inclusion, the concepts and the words themselves, will continue to be protagonists in the HE narrative. I encourage us all to employ both in how we define our personal and professional passions.
