Feb 7, 2025

In this timely and thought-provoking episode, Steve Vinson discusses the current landscape of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the corporate world amid increasing political and business pushback. He reflects on recent headlines about major corporations rolling back DEI initiatives and contrasts that with companies like Costco and JP Morgan Chase, which are standing firm in their commitment to inclusiveness.

Steve also shares BPM Associates’ perspective, reaffirming that DEI is more than just an initiative - it is a core value embedded in the company’s culture. He highlights how BPM’s intentional DEI efforts have coincided with record growth and emphasizes that diverse teams contribute to stronger business outcomes. Citing data and expert insights, he underscores why successful companies recognize the long-term benefits of embracing diversity, even in the face of external pressures.

TRANSCRIPT:

Hello. It's Steve here. I wanted to jump in before this week's episode just to say a few words about it real quick. First of all, it's very topical and timely, so by the time you hear. It some more things may have happened in the. So if you're wondering why I don't address a certain thing like target, for example, has come out and said they're going to roll back some of their DEI efforts, and I don't mention. Target in this episode. By the time you're listening, smaller companies may have backpedaled on dei, and yet other companies may have backpedaled on their backpedal. So see it as just. The other thing I wanted to point out is. While I am reflecting the values of BPM as much as I can, these are my opinions and if something may not be the opinion of every single person at BPM, I just wanted to point. That out, I'm not trying to represent everybody's opinions, indeed. L but I am trying to reflect the values that we're committed to. So hope you. The show, let's get into it. Let me know what you think. You are about to experience the life science effect season 2 brought to you by our presenting sponsor, BPM Associates.

Extraordinary people. Relationships that matter. Important change for a better world. The joy of belonging. Life, science, leadership. I'm Steve Vincent and we are continuing season 2 of the life science effect. I was sitting and reading the paper this morning. It's been kind of cold here in Indiana, but the sun shining today it's supposed to warm up this weekend. While I was sitting in my living room reading the paper this morning, yes, I still read a newspaper. The sun shining over my shoulder through the. I'm sipping coffee, my cats sitting right behind me on the back of the couch. It's very Norman Rockwell around my house. No photos because I was sitting in my robe. Anyway, I was checking out the IBJ Indianapolis Business Journal and reading Allison Bell's column on the need for diversity in the tech workforce, and also Kate Charen's article. On diversity and Indiana universities and I was thinking, wow, this is great. You know, I. Continues focusing on diversity even as recent executive orders are crushing dei efforts within the government. But then I noticed I was reading an issue from January 10th, 10 days before the Trump administration took office. Now I know that it started in corporations before January 20th, with companies like Walmart announcing scaling back their dei efforts. And other companies, but it seems like it's accelerating a little bit here in the US since the elections. And since the new administration took office and the bandwagon effect seems to really be taking hold. Reset headlines have been awash with the anti dei news, with the US president and the Indiana governor issuing executive orders forbidding di work. That government agencies, many companies, are ending their dei. Companies like Meta, which owns a lot of platforms like Facebook, Instagram and others. Amazon, Walmart, McDonald's, Lowe's and there are others in the headlines every day of companies walking back their dei effort. Well, at my company BPM Associates, we are seeing these headlines too. And so we sent a communication to our employees reaffirming our commitment to dei. You see, a BPM dei is just an initiative or even a strategy. Of course it. Those things, too, it's a strategy. An initiative with. It's a journey, but it really is more than that. At the core of who we are. It's in fact a core value that we publish on our website and we train everybody on it's part of who we are as a people first organization. I really wanted to reaffirm that with our folks and our partners and other stakeholders and not everybody's jumping on the anti dei bandwagon. You know Costco? Board successfully pushed back here recently. Push back a right wing activist push to do away with their dei practices, and Costco is one of the big business successes of the past decade or so. Like, why would you want to mess that up? And in fact, a lot of people are quoted as saying, hey, things are going great at Costco right now. Whatever they're doing is. Why would you want to mess with that and Costco saying, hey, it's part of who we are too. Inclusiveness is part of who we are. JP Morgan Chase is another one that's being that is pushing back against this reactionary push. To eliminate their inclusiveness initiatives. And they're kind of saying the same thing, which is, hey, we want everybody to feel welcome at work. Want everybody to feel like they. We want to make sure we're building a diverse workforce to serve our diverse customer base. Why wouldn't we want to do these things? So what are these like, really successful companies? See, that would have them take like this really risky, stand in an increasingly conservative sort of anti BEI environment. Like I've already said, we do it because it's part of who we are. No headline, there's no. Social, societal change that's going to cause us to stop being people first. And push you for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and at the same time. You know, so in other words, it's the right thing to do, at least in our opinion. At the same time, though, you can objectively look at the data. Now our dei efforts have coincided with the biggest and fastest growth in our company's history since we started in earnest on our journey. Like I say, it's always been a part of who we are, but we we really double down and got super intentional a few years back. And since we did that, our revenue has almost doubled. If we continue on the current trajectory, it will have tripled our quadrupled in. Next year or two? And you know, we have a team of superstars out there managing projects and doing technical work on projects, making a difference in our clients to get medicine and medical devices to the market to make patients lives better. And they're doing it while making everybody on the team, whether it's a BPM person, a client person, another contract person. Every person feels like they fully and openly can belong within that team environment. So back to Allison Bells column and IBJ that I was reading with the sun shining in my nice cup of coffee. It sort of bears it out too. Not just us. She cites statistics that tech companies who embrace diversity. Are much more likely to outperform their competitors financially. I knew this data. Before we. But it's not why we did it. But we also knew it would not be a bad business decision, right? Mean it makes sense and you can see it in costcos leaderships statements. JP Morgan chases leadership statement. The products and services that we and other tech companies support are sold to a diverse range of customers, patients, the customer base is diverse, right? Doesn't it seem logical that a diverse workforce would contribute to products and services? That are better suited to and would appeal to this diverse customer base seems. The data seems to bear it out. Some of the smartest businesses in the world are recognizing. Even in the face of the relentless pressure from politicians and right wing activists. I'm not saying I'm among the smartest, but I do have the courage of my convictions and I'm delighted to work for a company that has my back and I hope everyone at BPM knows that I have their back too. And guess what? I have your back, so send me an e-mail. Me know how I can help. Thank you for listening to season. Of the life science. Don't forget, do all the Internet things you know, like the subscribe. Comment go to the life science effect com to figure out how to listen to this thing on your favorite platforms and subscribe so you don't miss a single episode. You want to learn more about BPM and our diversity efforts. Go to bpm-associates.com. And continue listening to the life science effect.

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