DiversityInc - September/October 2009

CEO’s Letter

BY LUKE VISCONTI

Changes at Diversit yInc

Irecently completed purchasing the shares of my former business partner, Foulis Peacock, and am now the sole owner of DiversityInc. This is the end of a process that began when he left the company last December. Foulis is starting a new venture and I wish him the best of luck. Without him, there would not have been a DiversityInc and I’ll always look on our long business partnership fondly. I’ve decided to evolve our business to focus almost exclusively on the science of managing diversity. We launched senior-level events last year and they have been a resounding success in the marketplace. What makes our events unique is having our audience seated at roundtables where professionally facilitated discussions elicit ideas stimulated by the presentations of vetted subject-matter experts.

We also launched DiversityIncBestPractices.com, a management-only web site that takes a deep dive on monthly management themes, such as recruiting, employee-resource groups and engagement. We also release research reports; for example, our recent report on specific diversity-accountability language in managerial reviews. We also have a soon-to-be-released groundbreaking survey on global diversity management. Barbara Frankel, our executive editor for almost a decade, is in charge of this web site and also heads up our benchmarking service. She and I are constantly on the road delivering benchmarking debriefs, as that part of our business is up almost 50 percent this year.

We’ve re-launched DiversityInc.com with better web-publishing technology. You will see us focus on two areas: diversity-management information and career advice. The career center on DiversityInc remains the largest independent and most successful diversity career center.

Finally, starting with our November/December issue of the magazine, we’re moving to a larger physical size and heavier weight, post-consumer recycled paper. I’m committing to a minimum folio size of 122 pages for each issue—you won’t be able to slip DiversityInc under the door. Content will be much more management focused and will follow the monthly themes on DiversityIncBestPractices.com (please visit www.DiversityInc.com/editorialcalendar). Each issue will be designed to be a reference for future use. Given the reduced appetite for print among readers, we will publish five issues in 2010, but each one will be a keeper. As we do currently, each issue will also be online at DiversityInc.com.

Our next move will be transformational: By the time you read this, we will have started engagement surveys. In combination with the data we have on diversity-management best practices from the DiversityInc Top 50 process, we will be able to measure disparities in perception—and we will be able to tell you how companies can best close that gap in ways determined by measurable results. Considering that by 2016 more than 70 percent of the U.S. work force will be women and/or Black, Latino and Asian, having this knowledge will be a core competitive advantage.

Productivity and innovation are dependent on engagement—managing to equal engagement is the true business case for diversity—and we will be the first company to be able to document that. Although we will not use engagement data in The 2010 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity®, it will be a factor in the 2011 competition, making our list even more sophisticated and accurate.

I will close by saying that this has been a very difficult year economically; however, I’m seeing stabilization and I think 2011 will be better. Dire predictions for the death of diversity programs have not come true. The stature of diversity management will improve with the quality of supporting data.