Finding inspiration to support DE&I initiatives

Lighthouses help us see in the dark, help us navigate towards safety and are used as a symbol and metaphor for advancing the human quest for meaning. They hold up under all conditions to shine a hopeful light to allow us the opportunity to make the right decisions. 

The Global Parity Alliance, in collaboration with McKinsey & Company, recently shared with the world their "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Lighthouses 2023 Insight Report", which was created out of their DEI Lighthouse Programme. Their goal has been to identify initiatives that have resulted in significant, quantifiable, scalable and sustainable impact, and uncover what those initiatives have in common. The ultimate goal is to equip leaders with these insights, to allow and support DEI to have a greater impact and spread more quickly across the global business community. Their report lays out the key success factors that emerged, shows what effective DEI impact can look like through case studies, and offers a starting point for applying the success factors to each company’s unique context. Their hope is that the report will empower leaders with actionable insights that will enable them to more effectively embed DEI into their policies and ways of working.

Some interesting things shared in the report:

1. 58% of consumers buy or advocate for brands based on their beliefs and values.
2. 83% of executive leaders and investors were willing to pay a 10% premium, on average, to acquire a company with a positive ESG record.
3. Of global jobseekers, 39% have turned down or decided not to pursue a job opportunity because of a perceived lack of inclusion11 and 60% expect the CEO to speak publicly about social and political issues.
4. Ethnically diverse companies and gender diverse companies are 36% and 25% more likely, respectively, to financially outperform (from a total return to shareholders perspective) organizations that are of average diversity in their industry.
5. More than a quarter of companies put DEI initiatives on hold during the pandemic.

They offer 8 "lighthouse cases" to show a global array of projects that have had an impact around the world supporting women, socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals, and neurodivergent diversity. The initiatives highlighted are from EY, Limak, PWC, Randstad, Schneider Electric, Shiseido, Tata Steel, and Walmart. Each example shares company stats, the details for the overall initiative and objective, highlights the impact, explains the learnings and next areas for focus. There are additional examples from Regeneron, BCG, Salesforce, Cisco, McKinsey & Co, Nokia, Bridgewater Associates, that highlight successful work on gender, racial and ethnic inclusion and equity, and LGBTQIA+ equity.

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