Diversification is fundamental in business.
We diversify our investment portfolios, our company’s product mix and our clientele or target market. Proper diversification produces stability should one element falter.
Diversity of humanity is often a different story.
Ken Coopwood, Missouri State University’s first vice president of diversity and inclusion, says accepting and creating human diversity is more difficult because our perceptions are inherently tied to our emotions.
“Diversity is almost 100 percent about behavior,” he says.
“We do things based on what we know.”
Coopwood is trying to make diversity of humanity a fundamental diversification in business.
He is on a mission to teach people to commit to diversity in action, first at MSU, then at other organizations and business throughout the area. He’s starting at the top, and his calling card is a letter that asks presidents and CEOs to sign a commitment to inclusiveness within their companies.
Coopwood introduced his plan of attack during an April 24 presentation through the Diversity Awareness Partnership of the Greene County Juvenile Office.
Before we think diversity is irrelevant to business and it’s independently a social issue, consider this scenario: In the second floor meeting room of Midtown Library, Coopwood cites a recent Conference Board survey of 700 CEOs, who ranked their top priorities as business growth, talent and cost optimization.
“What color is talent?” Coopwood’s question darts across the audience.
The room is silent.
“That’s why we’re here,” he breaks through, with a smile.
Coopwood’s quick to point out cracking into diversity is not magical. It’s educational, and he says it starts at the top – for instance, by establishing a chief diversity officer. Frankly, that title seems like a pipe dream in Springfield.
Here’s why: To change the future, we must remember the past.
The sober reality in our community’s history takes us back to the lynching of three black men on the public square in 1906. That action is deeply rooted, and understandably scared black families into fleeing our community. Statistics show we have not recovered.
At the time of the lynching, blacks accounted for 10 percent of the population, and they were establishing themselves in business and city leadership. As of the 2010 census, Springfield is 89 percent white, 4 percent black and 4 percent Hispanic or Latino.
We have a long way to go. That fact hit home again when an Asian attendee at the lunch-and-learn said this was the least diverse community she’s lived in.
Of course, ethnicity is just one of the cogs in the diversity wheel.
Coopwood’s commitment to inclusiveness cites “cultures, genders, sexual orientation, abilities, beliefs, economic circumstances or other characteristics.”
“I’m trying to open the doors to the city,” Coopwood says, noting he’s faced some discrimination since moving to Springfield, mostly toward his children.
In talking with executives in the medical and education communities, Coopwood’s learned recruiting diverse talent is easier than retaining those quality doctors or professors.
“Yea, because the living room is dirty,” he says, using an analogy of the community being hospitable only to a degree.
“Springfield has tremendous opportunity to improve its national magnetism.”
There are other players in this quest for inclusion. The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce board and, namely, staff member Kristen Westerman have opened the discussion with the Facing Racism workshop.
The Greene County Family Court office staff is embracing diversity practices such as asking staff members’ children to draw what diversity means to them and posting the works throughout the office.
The group Diversity MODES, with representatives from MSU, Ozarks Technical Community College, and Drury, Evangel and Southwest Baptist universities, meets regularly for discussion and planning.
Coopwood’s only been on the job six months, and he says he moved here from Gary, Ind., because he felt Springfield could enhance his life.
Now, he’s trying to make it personal. If it’s not personal, he says, it’s called babysitting and legal compliance.
At the core of his work, Coopwood is challenging our beliefs, especially in the C-suite with his commitment to inclusiveness form: “Take it to your CEO and say, ‘You with it?’”
Springfield Business Journal Editor Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]
