Diversity Executive - November 2008 - (Page 33)

has a good selection of active employee resource groups that Brinkley said give back to the company via mentoring and contributions to marketing efforts. Further, the company spent more than $5 billion with women- and minority-owned suppliers in 2007. But one of AT&T’s greatest successes to date is a $100 million initiative that aims to tackle the issue at its origin: addressing high school dropout rates and college and workforce readiness, Brinkley said. The program is called AT&T Aspire. “It’s really our largest philanthropic commitment that we’ve ever made,” she said. “We hope it’s an example. It’s those things that are really going to help in an incremental way — probably intangibly at ﬁrst but certainly tangibly later.” Tangible results are big for Brinkley, who offered several examples of how diversity and inclusion directly impact the bottom line at AT&T. “We provide services in 150 different languages. Imagine the missed opportunities if the only thing you did was provide one language,” she said. “You [wouldn’t be] serving your population base. If you look at our world today, it’s a global economy. So, it’s even more critical that we have a workforce, policies [and] marketing that incorporates that, mirrors that and makes sure we’re inclusive of that [to allow us] to compete globally. That’s why we think it’s such a business imperative.” AT&T’s next step is to broaden the deﬁnition of diversity and leverage it for even deeper business impact. “When we talk about diversity, it’s certainly issues of gender, and it’s certainly issues of race. But it’s also issues of generation; it’s issues of culture — all of those. You’ve got to make sure you’ve got the right environment to attract and retain the workers that you’re going to need and want going forward,” she said. – Agatha Gilmore In 2003, she took on the role of chief diversity ofﬁcer at the company she previously worked for as a sales representative. Calhoun’s responsibilities include developing and implementing strategies — along with the Global Diversity and Inclusion Council — to create and sustain an inclusive environment wherever Kodak does business. “As Kodak’s chief diversity ofﬁcer, I help strengthen the trust, attitudes and relationships between people of different backgrounds, and help them ﬁnd ways to bridge their differences and work together,” said Calhoun, who also serves as director of community affairs and vice president. Calhoun deﬁnes diversity as all the ways that we, as individuals, reﬂect and share our unique perspectives. “It is about the color of our skin, our gender and age, our cultures, our heritages, our communities and many more dimensions,” Calhoun said. “Anywhere you gather more than one person, there is some degree of diversity.” “Inclusion [on the other hand] sets the standards and guidelines for how we interact with one another [and] encompasses respect, valuing differences, collaboration, etc.,” she said. Diversity and inclusion play a signiﬁcant role in Kodak’s business plans and strategies, which makes sense given it is a global company with diverse customers in distinct markets. “We view diversity through a wide lens that includes multiple dimensions, including educational background, culture, heritage, thought and opinion, work experience, geography, family, work style and personality,” Calhoun said. “We use the insights of our diverse workforce to innovate and create products and services that respond to the needs of our customers worldwide.” The company has been recognized for its commitment to diversity and inclusion by periodicals such as The New York Times Magazine, Black Enterprise and DiversityInc, as well as organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. On a personal note, Calhoun has garnered recognition for her dedication to the ﬁeld, securing honors such as Women’s History Month Award and the NAACP Outstanding Leader Award. She also has founded a number of organizations on leadership development such as the United Way of Rochester’s African American Leadership Development Program and the Kodak Youth Leadership Academy. – Deanna Hartley Essie L. Calhoun Chief Diversity Officer Eastman Kodak Co. To Essie Calhoun, diversity and inclusion isn’t just an industry: It is a personal passion. Calhoun’s path began in rural Mississippi and led her to Ohio and the metro Washington, D.C., area thereafter. She achieved professional success as an educator and a sales and marketing professional before ofﬁcially entering the diversity space — an avenue she chose because of her personal commitment to creating a workplace environment in which every employee is treated with respect, dignity and fairness. While in Kodak’s communications and public affairs organization, Calhoun said she often found herself engaged in efforts with diverse constituencies both within and outside the company. Brian Cloyd Vice President of Global Corporate Community Relations Steelcase Inc. Diversity and inclusion issues have circulated throughout Brian Cloyd’s long career. Before joining Steelcase Inc. in 1978, he worked for the city of Grand Rapids, Mich., as a November/December 2008 | www.diversity-executive.com | Diversity Executive 33 http://www.diversity-executive.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Diversity Executive - November 2008

Diversity Executive - November 2008 Editor’s Letter Contents Leadership Connections Guest Editorial Diversity Executive Online Middle Management Roadblock ‘Hidden Winds’ Hinder Progress The Domino Effect Supplier Partnerships Unlock Economic Opportunities Measuring Diversity Special Section: Who’s Who in Diversity and Inclusion Dimensions of Difference Overcoming Language Diff erences Business Intelligence: Combating Subtle Discrimination Case Study: Shifting Diversity Into Overdrive Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Strategies

Diversity Executive - November 2008

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