Diversity and Inclusion – What is Diversity and Inclusion?

“Diversity and inclusion exists when members of an organization act in a manner that recognizes and respects individual similarities and differences such that employees feel they and their work are valued and meaningfully contribute to the mission of the organization.”

StrategyDriven Contributors

A diverse and inclusive work environment can only exist when members of an organization act in a manner that respects employee similarities and differences such that employees feel they and their work are valued and meaningfully contribute to the mission of the organization. It is in this kind of environment that employees become engaged and motivated to contribute the full extent of their knowledge, skills, and experience to the benefit of the organization on a day-to-day basis. Because they feel valued, employees within a diverse and inclusive work environment are less likely to seek employment opportunities elsewhere; subsequently reducing attrition and its associated productivity knowledge, and social cost.


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New Tool Release – Cost of Employee Attrition

StrategyDriven contributors are pleased to announce the release of Diversity and Inclusion – Cost of Employee Attrition.

The cost of employee turnover is staggering and yet goes largely unrecognized. There is no financial statement line item, no general ledger entry, and no budget explicitly set aside for this expense that can cost an evenly modestly sized company well over a million dollars each year.

Using the StrategyDriven Cost of Employee Attrition nomographs and method outlined here, organization leaders can gain a better appreciation for the direct monetary cost associated with attrition and begin to value their retention focused initiatives.

StrategyDriven Premium Members can access the Cost of Employee Attrition by clicking here.

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StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 30b – An Interview with Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman, authors of The M-Factor, part 2 of 2

StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 30b – An Interview with Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman, authors of The M-Factor, part 2 of 2 examines how to successfully integrate Millennials into the workforce from the perspectives of the Traditionalists, Boomers, and Gen Xers already there and the incoming Millennials themselves. During our discussion, Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman, authors of The M-Factor: How the Millennial Generation Is Rocking the Workplace and co-Founders and Partners of BridgeWorks, shares with us their insights and illustrative examples regarding:

  • why Millennials appear to have a sense of entitlement and how it is different than that of other generations
  • how managers should handle Millennial parents who want to be involved in every aspect of their children’s workplace activities
  • what managers can do to harness the tech savviness and speed of Millennials to their business’s benefit
  • how to deal with Traditionals, Boomers, and Gen Xers who feel they are forfeiting their value to the organization and job security when tasked with sharing hard earned knowledge with Millennials
  • actions Millennials should take to better integrate with their organization

Additional Information

In addition to the incredible insights Lynne and David share in The M-Factor and this special edition podcast are the resources accessible from their website, www.Generations.com.   Their book, The M-Factor, can be purchased by clicking here.

Final Request…

The strength of our community grows with the additional insights brought by our expanding member base. Please consider rating us on iTunes by clicking here. Rating the StrategyDriven Podcast and providing your comments online improves our ranking and helps us attract new listeners which, in turn, helps us grow our community.

Thank you again for listening to the StrategyDriven Podcast!


About the Author

Lynne Lancaster is one of today’s foremost cultural translators. An expert on the generations, she is co-founder of BridgeWorks, a company that advises leaders, managers, and employees on how to conduct business more successfully by bridging generation gaps at work and in the marketplace. Her keynote speeches and workshops have enlightened and entertained high level audiences from many of America’s best companies, including 3M, American Express, Best Buy, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Lockheed Martin, and Wells Fargo, as well as from numerous public sector and nonprofit organizations. To read Lynne’s full biography, click here.

David Stillman is co-founder of BridgeWorks and one of the youngest keynote speakers to hit the national circuit. He co-authored the best selling business book, When Generations Collide, with Lynne in 2002. David has appeared nationally on CNN, CNBC, and the Today show and has been featured in such prestigious publications as TIME magazine, Entrepreneur, The New York Times, and USA Today. To read David’s full biography, click here.

StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 30a – An Interview with Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman, authors of The M-Factor, part 1 of 2

StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 30a – An Interview with Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman, authors of The M-Factor, part 1 of 2 examines how to successfully integrate Millennials into the workforce from the perspectives of the Traditionalists, Boomers, and Gen Xers already there and the incoming Millennials themselves. During our discussion, Lynne Lancaster and David Stillman, authors of The M-Factor: How the Millennial Generation Is Rocking the Workplace and co-Founders and Partners of BridgeWorks, shares with us their insights and illustrative examples regarding:

  • who Millennials are and their shared characteristics and traits
  • significant environmental factors, world events, and technologies that shape Millennial values, behaviors, and beliefs
  • seven trends associated with Millennials and the impact of each on the business environment

Additional Information

In addition to the incredible insights Lynne and David share in The M-Factor and this special edition podcast are the resources accessible from their website, www.Generations.com.   Their book, The M-Factor, can be purchased by clicking here.

Final Request…

The strength of our community grows with the additional insights brought by our expanding member base. Please consider rating us on iTunes by clicking here. Rating the StrategyDriven Podcast and providing your comments online improves our ranking and helps us attract new listeners which, in turn, helps us grow our community.

Thank you again for listening to the StrategyDriven Podcast!


About the Author

Lynne Lancaster is one of today’s foremost cultural translators. An expert on the generations, she is co-founder of BridgeWorks, a company that advises leaders, managers, and employees on how to conduct business more successfully by bridging generation gaps at work and in the marketplace. Her keynote speeches and workshops have enlightened and entertained high level audiences from many of America’s best companies, including 3M, American Express, Best Buy, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Lockheed Martin, and Wells Fargo, as well as from numerous public sector and nonprofit organizations. To read Lynne’s full biography, click here.

David Stillman is co-founder of BridgeWorks and one of the youngest keynote speakers to hit the national circuit. He co-authored the best selling business book, When Generations Collide, with Lynne in 2002. David has appeared nationally on CNN, CNBC, and the Today show and has been featured in such prestigious publications as TIME magazine, Entrepreneur, The New York Times, and USA Today. To read David’s full biography, click here.

Decision-Making Warning Flag 1c – ad hominem: Personal, Not Issue Attacks

StrategyDriven Decision Making Article | ad hominem“An ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem (Latin: “argument to the man”, “argument against the man”) consists of replying to an argument or factual claim by attacking or appealing to a characteristic or belief of the person making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim. The process of proving or disproving the claim is thereby subverted, and the argumentum ad hominem works to change the subject.

It is most commonly used to refer specifically to the ad hominem abusive, or argumentum ad personam, which consists of criticizing or attacking the person who proposed the argument (personal attack) in an attempt to discredit the argument. It is also used when an opponent is unable to find fault with an argument, yet for various reasons, the opponent disagrees with it.”

Ad Hominem
Wikipedia

The ‘Old Boys Club’

Product defects plague a company’s profitability; warranty repairs, returns, and lost sales robbing the organization of its already slim profit margins. Executives assembled an engineering team to assess product designs and material quality in hopes of identifying a root cause to the defective product issue. A junior member of the assessment team, a young, recently hired assembly line supervisor, identifies the lack of routine calibration of critical cutting tools as a contributor to the poor fit of key product components. The tenured company engineers on the team discount the supervisor’s observation because he’s too young and too new to know what’s really important. These senior engineers have just made an ad hominem argument to advance their position.

Ad hominem arguments are bias-based logic fallacies made to support business decisions every day. As with all logic errors, decision-makers fall prey to the appearance of reasonableness, especially when the assertion supports their desired course of action. Although difficult, recognizing and eliminating the use of ad hominem arguments in decision-making is absolutely necessary.


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Additional Information

Additional insight to the warning signs, causes, and results of logic errors can be found in the StrategyDriven website feature: Decision-Making Warning Flag 1 – Logic Fallacies Introduction.

Insights on organizational diversity and inclusion can be found in the StrategyDriven topical area: Diversity and Inclusion.