Two-thirds of private wealth is expected to be under female control by 2020, but the financial-services industry might be unprepared for the preference of some women, particularly widows and divorcees, to use a female adviser. Less than one-third of personal financial advisers are women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
People tend to have a narrow view of who should act as a mentor, but the truth is that a wide variety of people -- peers and outsiders among them -- can offer useful guidance, says Kathryn Minshew, CEO of The Muse. People who work in a different role or industry "can often provide a completely different perspective and can help you challenge the conventional wisdom," she said.
Millennials fundamentally change the culture and strategy of an organization due to their inherently diverse upbringing, said Ann Marr of World Wide Technology. To bring the right amount of innovation and speed to organizational strategy, leaders should "think like a millennial," said John Chambers, executive chairman of Cisco.
Despite research suggesting the business benefits of diversity, corporate America still doesn't seem to understand the advantages of gender equality, writes Sallie Krawcheck. It's important to remember that so many diversity issues come down to "micro" factors, such as individual employees and the bosses they work for, she says.
To keep diverse recruits after you hire them, create a retention program that measures the cost of diversity turnover and includes periodic interviews, writes John Sullivan. "A front-end process, like diversity recruiting, can't have a long-term business impact if the follow-up backend process, diversity retention, isn't equally as effective," he writes.
If inclusion efforts are not being pushed by the top of the hierarchy, they won't stick, Ellen McGirt said after talking with people at the Great Place to Work For All conference in Chicago. While senior leaders are beginning these conversations, employees need to stand up and support them if they want the policies to stick, she added.