One of the topics that most attracts people’s attention in recent years is the hegemony in leadership positions within large companies.
Most of them are occupied by white men, coming from the upper middle class. This portrait, now clearly stamped, especially in organizations linked to the financial market, left many indignant.
I wasn’t very surprised. Since I was very diligent from an early age, I won scholarships, had the opportunity to attend a good university and study at FGV.
There I could see the tremendous social inequality. After all, this is one of the best business schools in the country that prepares people for leadership roles.
Where is the problem with that?
Leaving aside the social issue, which is even more serious, I see that the lack of multiculturalism in leadership positions brings notorious damage to companies.
Until then, as all organizations were practically alike in this regard, there was no way to say that multiculturalism was a competitive differential.
Today it has become easier to have this understanding. Well, many companies are already promoting affirmative actions to review this sad social situation.
And here comes a very interesting question: they are standing out from the rest because of multiculturalism in leadership positions.
As?
Simple. When your upper echelon has white, black, brown, men, women, trans people, in short, it’s very plural and heterogeneous, you have a much broader view of the consumer market.
Think about the following: the consumer market is not made by just one type of people, even more so in a multicultural society.
Therefore, in times where much is said about the customer experience, and the empathy that is to understand the consumer’s worldview, plurality in leadership positions makes all the difference.
A middle-class young person, born in an upscale neighborhood, does not have the same perspective on the world as someone born in the favela. The woman does not see the world as the man, and the trans much less.
See that each of them will bring their own perspective of vision, and this helps to build a much more humanized and colorful relationship with the consumer.
Without multiculturalism your company will be out of the market
If today multiculturalism is seen as a great differential, the time will come when the company that does not adopt plurality in leadership positions will be out of the market.
This plural view of the world is crucial to help build more personalized products and more humane services, increasingly valued by people.
Today I see multiculturalism as a differential, and I try to apply it in my business. But I believe that the time will come when it will be vital for a company’s survival in the market.
And when that time comes, even though social inequality will continue to exist, at least it will not be intertwined with gender or color inequality, and companies will become more colorful and full of life. Do you agree?