Today's workforce is more highly diverse than ever before. With more college graduates seeking jobs and a growing number of seniors staying on the job longer, the employee landscape now spans four generations. What's more, 85 percent of new entrants to the workforce are women and people of color. This highly diverse workforce requires very different ways of being managed, says Gary A. Smith. As co-founder of Ivy Planning Group in Rockville, Md., Smith has been instrumental in leading diversity education, development and strategy for some of the world's largest companies, such as Nike, MetLife and L'oreal USA.
"His ability to share first-hand knowledge, experience and expertise in the C-suite has impacted senior management within the entertainment, financial and challenged organizational cultures resulting from mergers and acquisitions," says CiCi Holloway, managing director of diversity and inclusion, Americas, at UBS Corp.
Smith first honed his skills at IBM, then ran a series of tech companies, where much of his work was spent helping underperforming clients. "Those skills became the foundation for my consulting and problem-solving background," Smith explains. "Technology is an enabler, not the end-all, be-all" solution. In 1990, he co-founded Ivy Planning Group with his wife, Janet, who serves as the company's president. They have since attracted some of the world's biggest clients for their diversity consulting expertise.
"What marks most of the work we do is getting C-level people to understand what implementing a diversity program looks like, and how to lead it," Smith says. "One of the first things I do is to give the senior team the opportunity to come to grips with what they think is diversity – what impact is it going to have? The goal is to get them early on to determine if they can stay the course." He then takes them through some difficult scenarios. "What would you do if the best performer is the worst offender?"
Looking ahead, Smith is considering expanding the businesses to offices around the country, and is always promoting the importance of diversity. "When the organization understands this is a workforce and a marketplace issue – diversity can impact both of those – then we have a really good chance of being successful," he says.
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