Five Strategies from Bloomberg at Diversity Fireside Chat

Investment bankers focus on capital markets, but Erika Irish Brown took on additional responsibilities when she worked on Wall Street. “I always had a second job, which was diversity and inclusion,” she said Feb. 27, 2017, during the fourth annual Diversity Fireside Chat at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Brown, the evening’s featured guest, now helps others stay engaged at 192 locations around the world as global head of diversity and inclusion for Bloomberg L.P. “I’m not proprietary about who does the work or who has ownership or who gets credit,” she told faculty, staff and students at the event, presented in partnership with Bloomberg. “Diversity and inclusion is everybody’s job.”

As part of the event, Bloomberg announced a new mentorship program that will connect Bloomberg professionals with underrepresented students at the Smith School. Initial participants were selected from two undergraduate organizations, Business Academy and Mind Your Business.

“We are really excited about this program, and the students are equally excited,” said Terrill Drake, executive director of the school’s Office of Diversity Initiatives.

Following the announcement, Smith School dean Alex Triantis moderated a conversation with Brown. She shared many strategies for diversity and inclusion that anyone can apply regardless of job title. “You have to have a strategy,” she said. “You have to approach diversity like any other business problem.” Here are five strategies to keep in mind:

1. Build from Both Ends

Senior leaders can launch corporate initiatives to address hiring gaps and organizational culture, but great ideas often start at the grassroots level. “Our approach has been top-down and bottom-up,” Brown said. “Bloomberg’s culture is very nonhierarchical.”

2. Address Unconscious Bias

People encounter millions of stimuli per second — too much information for conscious minds to process — so brains apply filters. This preserves sanity but also creates unconscious bias. Brown said Bloomberg responded in 2016 with a mandatory unconscious bias course for “anybody who managed one person or more.” The company also uses artificial intelligence and other techniques, such as blind resumes with names stripped off, to protect the integrity of human resource programs. “We can take some of that human element out of the process,” Brown said.

3. Think Global, Act Local

Corporate values can span borders, but managers who implement strategy in global organizations must consider local laws, norms and other dynamics. Brown said 40 percent of Bloomberg employees live outside the United States, so the company must be especially mindful of cultural and geopolitical landscapes.

One barrier in underserved Brazilian communities, for example, is lack of English proficiency. Brown said Bloomberg has responded by sponsoring English classes in São Paulo.

Bloomberg found a different challenge in Japan, where a nanny shortage limits the ability of women to pursue corporate careers. Bloomberg initially responded by exploring the possibility a popular U.S. solution — opening an on-site daycare center at its Tokyo facility.

Brown said a flaw in the plan quickly became apparent. “Most people live about two hours outside Tokyo, and women don’t want to bring their kids into the office — two hours each way,” she said. “And they also have elder care responsibilities at home.”

She said the key is to listen, observe and be creative. “You need a global strategy that gets applied locally.”

4. Be Your Authentic Self

An organization can be diverse and inclusive, and still have a strong workplace culture that clashes with some personalities. Brown said job seekers need to make sure they can be authentic within the workplace environment before accepting a position. “Talk to people about corporate culture,” she said. “Find out what they are, what they’re not and what they aspire to be.”

She distinguishes between an “authentic self” and “whole self” because living in society requires people to compartmentalize their lives and behave differently in different environments. A well-adjusted person might behave differently in a sports arena, for example, than inside a place of worship.

“There’s a proper way to behave and function and show up,” Brown said. “And you’re still being authentic to who your true self is.”

5. Measure Impact

Setting goals for diversity and inclusion is a start. Brown said managers also need accountability, which requires data collection, measurement and reporting. This is especially true at Bloomberg, a financial software, information and media company. “Data is our product,” Brown said. “Seeing the data is empowering for people when it’s not something they have their eye on every day.”

Prior to joining Bloomberg in 2015, Brown was Bank of America’s head of Diversity Recruiting, Program Management and Executive Recruiting. She has more than 15 years of investment banking and capital markets experience at Morgan Stanley, the U.S. Treasury and Lehman Brothers.

Since 2014, the Smith School’s Diversity Fireside Chat has showcased change agents and provided a forum for them to share their personal and professional testimonies.

The Diversity Fireside Chat format is modeled after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats — a series of informal radio broadcasts that aired between 1933 and 1944. In these chats, FDR spoke with familiarity to millions of Americans about the policy issues of the day.