The 6th edition of Avtar and Seramount’s Best of Best Conference (BoB) held recently had a line-up of power-packed discussions. The panel discussions comprised business leaders, HR heads, and DEI leaders.
The speakers for the CEO panel discussion, ‘The DEI Domino Effect – Going beyond the corporate oasis’ included, Arun Batra – Client Service Leader, EY Global Delivery Services, EY; Balaji Nuthalapadi – South Aisa Head of Operations & Technology and Head of Citi Solutions Centers, India; Geetha Ramamoorthi – Managing Director, KBR India; and Sanjay Menon, Managing Director, Publicis Sapient, India.
Sriram P – Chief Strategist, DEI Transformation, Avtar, moderated the discussion. Sriram set the ball rolling, differentiating the business industry pre and post-Covid. He said that Industry 4 (pre-Covid) was tech-driven and Industry 5 (post-Covid) was value driven. He added that the companies were responsible for balancing values and technology and maintaining a more resilient and human-centric business and social well-being.
When asked how important it was for a leader to pull and transmit DEI to their ecosystem, Sanjay responded that any such change was everybody’s job. “But to me, it starts with the leader. As a leader, I need to acknowledge where am I on this journey. The leader can choose to allocate time, money, and resources to the organization. By doing that, they signal what is driving the future and the values they create for the future— not only for the organization but for a larger good. As a leader, one can choose to be an active sponsor,” he observed.
Arun added that a business leader had a 360-degree view and should look to balance the revenue, cost, and impact.
Turning the spotlight on why accountability extended outside the four walls. Balaji said, “The behavior of the employees and conduct outside the organization also create accountability. We can influence our stakeholders and suppliers, academia, and other aspects of the wider society through our CSR programs. Apart from all these, the leadership tone is important. The corporate sector has played a brilliant role in carrying forward the DEI agenda of our country in the last two decades. We need to take this forward. Making DEI the cultural fabric of the day-to-day life of the company is the key to motivating employees. Society has become more inclusive,” he said.
Discussing how diversity and inclusion being two different things went hand in hand, Geetha said that diversity was bringing in people from multiple genders, generations, and backgrounds, while inclusion was the point where you start to see the benefits of all the factors coming together. “As leaders, we all strive to bring diversity and inclusion to the workplace and try to walk the talk. In my case, when I role modeled the behavior, I noticed some positive changes,” she added.
Sharing an example, she said that a girl from the underrepresented community, who had the skills for a corporate role, was not doing what she was supposed to do due to societal circumstances. “We gave her the opportunity and put her through the test, and she made it. Having a diverse workforce is not enough, but including everyone in that workforce is important, and as leaders, that is what we should be looking for,” she said.
