Business leaders, executives discuss diversity at round-table

To explain the challenges of diversity in the workplace, Tyronne Stoudemire holds up a glass of milk that's half-empty but full of possibilities.

"Corporate America is very homogenous, wouldn't we all agree?" asked Stoudemire, the Global Director for Diversity & Inclusion at Hewitt Associates LLC, a global human resources outsourcing and consulting firm. He spoke recently at the Second Annual ChiA A-Level Round Table, held at the Quadrangle Club and titled "Diversity Inclusion or Illusion: How do People See You?" "Once you pour this chocolate syrup in, which represents diversity, it tends to settle on the bottom of the organization. ... It isn't until you actually mix it up that you actually get inclusion."

The University of Chicago Office of Business Diversity sponsored the event, which was presented by Chicago's High Achievers, a relational enhancement firm that provides psychotherapy and auxiliary services to individuals, families and corporations. The event stirred up thoughts among senior executives and prominent Chicago professionals about diversity practices for leaders and business owners in professional service industries. It included a panel discussion and breakout sessions on the legal, information technology and engineering industries.

"This is a great way for high achievers to connect with each other and remember what it's like to come up with a great idea" and then find concrete solutions, said Jinnie English, president and CEO of Chicago's High Achievers.

The panel included Stoudemire; Bob Blackwell, founder and CEO of Blackwell Consulting Services; Madeleine Condit, founder and President of Madeleine Condit & Associates, a global consulting firm; Maria Wynne, Senior Director of Microsoft Corporation, Office of Economic Development and Innovation, U.S. Public Sector.

Panelists spoke of their own experiences within business, and although their backgrounds and paths were different, they each were linked by one common variable.

"Everyone up here has been 'the only one' sitting in the room at some point in their careers," Condit said. "And there are times when you walk into the room, and you won't fit in, no matter what."

The panelists described the obstacles to diversity as numerous and long-standing. Blackwell noted the tight-knit relationships many companies have such as those in accounting and law firms — "old-boy networks" if you're on the outside or "amongst friends" if you're on the inside.

Yet many of those walls may fall as baby boomers begin to retire. Stoudemire reported that 11,000 baby boomers will retire every day for the next two years, and that by 2010, many major companies will face tremendous problems in maintaining talent. He said that is further complicated because Generation X and Y employees will have had nine different jobs during their lifetimes, unlike baby boomers.

"Baby boomers spent an enormous amount of time building corporate America," Stoudemire said. "They didn't spend the same time as women and people of color building families. By 2010, the white man will be the minority."

A recent study by the Pew Research Center reported that between 2020 and 2025, one in seven U.S. residents (about 15 percent) will be foreign born. That number is projected to increase to 19 percent by 2050.

Condit and Stoudemire each said that many times in trying to diversify its work force, a company leaves behind the white male. Making them part of the solution to the problem is key, as is forgetting an "us-versus-them" mentality in hiring practices.

"Diversity is an everyday effort, it's not something that can be turned on and off. It has to become part of the culture," said Wynne, who works with a large Hispanic community in Miami. English (A.M. '99), an Englewood native who graduated from the Institute of Clinical Social Work in the University's School of Social Service Administration, said that kind of mentality needs to start early in schools.

"I grew up in a home where different was normal," said English, whose mom was Korean and dad was black. "We saw color, and we were interested. We were told, 'Be curious.' So for me, when I came to the U of C, I thought, 'I never got that in Englewood, what's that like?'"

The University takes pride in its diverse history. According to a Diversity Statement by President Zimmer, the University awarded the first doctorate earned by a black woman in 1921 and was among the first major non-historically black universities to tenure a black faculty member. He also noted the University's refusal to discriminate against Jews at a time when discrimination was practiced at other elite institutions, and Chicago's establishment of the Center for Gender Studies in 1996.

"Our mission is to expand the University's legacy of diversity and inclusion to our business practices," said Nadia Quarles, the Director of Business Diversity. "The business diversity initiative creates opportunities for diverse firms to compete for business in our goods and services, professional services and construction supply chain. Creating successful partnerships with diverse firms throughout the city and particularly on the south side of Chicago, enhances the University brand and contributes to the economic strength of our community."

Veronica Root, a third-year Law School student, attended the diversity event hoping to be inspired for a paper topic. Although Root was encouraged by the optimism of the morning discussion, she learned in a subsequent breakout session that many diversity issues have yet to be addressed.

"One of the representatives talking about her company's legal department stated that her company has signed onto the Call to Action, an effort by corporations to encourage law firms to diversify. The company's goal for last year to have 10 percent of all outside legal work placed with minority attorneys," said Root. She cited a 2006 American Bar Association report that stated the University Law School is about 30 percent minority and 45 percent female. "It's 2008 ... so for me the 10 percent figure is a pencil and not a big stick. It's troubling."

Blackwell said women and minorities will only be included if they become skilled and prove they belong. His career is proof: After graduating from Wichita State University in 1966, he joined IBM as a systems engineer — a field that few black men were breaking into then, or are breaking into today, he said. He worked for the company for 25 years before founding his own business, which boasts nearly 300 consultants and is one of the largest minority-owned management and information technology firms in the United States.

"The classic example is, if you're in a murder trial and you're looking for a lawyer, you probably want to find the best lawyer you can find. "The fact that they're a woman or black doesn't make much difference," said Blackwell.

"On one side, we need all of the executives to hire someone to be a CFO. The other side of responsibility is you have to get ready to be one."