Greg Irwin  0:18

Good afternoon, everybody. So I'm Greg Irwin with BWG Brendan Walsh joining from WWT. And we have two guests today. Brian Sharpless and Brian I see I misspelled, your your name in the chat. Sorry about that.

And Patricia Marinho, we'll get into introductions here in a moment, it's a little different. In terms of a topic from what we've been covering, in our SETC council meetings. Over Over the course of the year, we've always been fairly tech, tech centric. And I think it's in the context of sustainability, we're going to talk about, you know, important aspects of diversity and inclusion, again, led today by Brian and Patricia, before I go into the introductions, and the format, let me just remind everybody, about the SETC it's a it's a council, a member of a group of professionals that we're assembling and we meet monthly to talk about what we say as practical steps towards driving sustainability. The focus here is very much, you know, around technology and data centers. And, and, and that aspect of, of the enterprise. But I think in this path, we found so much demand and interest for other broader areas of ESG. Which brings us to our topic today, around diversity and inclusion. So what we're going to do again, you know, with with the direction and, and guidance from Brian and Patricia is talk about what diversity and inclusion means in practical terms across their organizations. And I'm going to invite others in to share your stories about, you know, what's being done.

Where, what are the goals?

And what are the obstacles to meeting those goals? Related to D&I, Brian, thanks for for joining us. Please take a moment and give give an introduction to the community here.

Brian Sharpless  2:43

You're definitely thinking, Greg, thank you, Brendan, for having me. honored to be here. I'm Brian Sharpless. I am the Director of Diversity Business Development at World Wide Technology. And a lot of people ask me, so what does that mean, diversity, business development. And what I my role at the company is to lead a team of diversity business development managers that were tasked for identifying companies that have diversity initiatives to align with those initiatives as a go to market business engagement strategy. Some of you may or may not know w WT is a minority owned business. And we're the largest minority owned business. And because these companies have a variety of initiatives and goals, we identify them, how do we align to them? And how do we drive business outcomes to support our sales organization?

Greg Irwin  3:41

Excellent. All right, Brian, let's, let's let Patricia introduce herself. And then I'm going to come back to you both with some questions first, first, the simple one being, what are your primary goals? Around D&I, Patricia, take take, take the microphone, and please introduce yourself.

Patricia Marinho  4:02

Hi, my name is Patricia Marinho. I'm a lawyer from Brazil and with with that Master Degree from the University of Miami, I work for WTW, which is reinsurance and insurance broker. It we are a global company. And I supervise Latin America. I'm the Chief Compliance Officer for Latin America. And I have a position on the global level also in the sales and client management.

Greg Irwin  4:37

Excellent. Well, let's Patricia I'm gonna start in the context of D&I what are the goals of Willis Towers Watson?

Patricia Marinho  4:48

Well, a few years ago, we started this project that we believe that we should start to work more regarding to inclusion diversity Our main goal first was make sure that we have a woman's in the era of senior management, which we didn't have, we have a lot of women's work for the company but more as a low level. And so for that, what are we start to do is create a committee in which we created there, like a committee for the culture, trying to promote this type of culture, we start to work in there of attracting and hiring talent that couldn't be woman's also training this type of humans, we have a specific hour so committee for communications, okay, in the terms like this communication, the idea was to be create a calendar, since we are global company, create a calendar in what we will be sending messages every month, let's say regarding to black conscious conscience, conscience, they a woman's they sending you letters, June, could be also on June 18. They also, so there's different holidays and different things that there is around the word, the idea that was more popular, but also in the inclusions that people will start to understand different cultures that they do include included on that, we start to create trainings, in order for people to under to feel know that they have a voice inside of the company. And if they didn't have they feel they didn't have this voice, they shouldn't be elevating that. So we start to make a list of what we consider to be, you know, maybe Norwich that we could try to promote it inside of the company. And, and we start to work on that. So every month, we discussed things, we promote events, we are currently at the moment, we have even several CEOs, global ones, also, which we didn't have in the past. And we are trying to training other woman's to continue to grow inside of the company. So those initiatives,

Greg Irwin  7:24

this may not be an easy question to answer. But would you say that the D&I program is currently successful? Yes,

Patricia Marinho  7:32

I think it is, I think it makes a lot of difference. Because the way we have the engagement of the senior leaders, they want that was very funny, because the sum of downside, I have daughters, why will not be supporting this, I want them one day, you know, being able also to get a higher position in a global company. And when also so when when we start to be able to have leaders woman's as a CEO as a global level, make it make it a totally different because they are the one that was sponsoring this, they want more and more and more woman's there. So they are not allowing any more that will have a region, for instance, like Lata only with head of countries being man's. So now the objective is continue to hire, we need to be fitted.

Greg Irwin  8:27

Excellent. Patricia, thank you very much. I'm going to go over to Brian, same question. But Brian, before we go, I want to put it out to the whole group. We have this chat window, it works incredibly well in this format. But it requires you to participate. So as as Brian's, you know, giving his intro. I'd like everybody to take a moment. And please share with us one question that you have not just for Patricia and Brian, but for everyone here on the panel. And it'll keep us focused. It'll make sure we're hitting the points that you all care about. And I promise it'll make it a little bit more fun. So, drop, drop your question in the chat, and we'll make sure we're hitting things that you're thinking about. Brian, please give us give us a little bit in terms of your goals for D&I and you're in your team.

Brian Sharpless  9:26

So at WWT we we take our our D&I goals and objectives, we break it down into into three buckets. We have workforce, and we have business impact. And then we have community outreach. And what that means is from the workforce standpoint, we're looking at applying diversity in hiring, training and retention. And then the business impact how we drive into business outcomes. How are we utilizing our supplier diversity program And then the community outreach, how are we impacting those and communities, from underserved communities. And we can do that in a variety of ways. And the way we're going from each of those pillars, each pillar starts having different levels, deeper into each one of them. When you look at like the workforce, we want to diversify the workforce at at World Wide Technology. But we also want to make sure that everyone understands the importance of diversity, and World Wide Technology. You know, one of the taglines that we always talk about is making WWT A great place to work. And then we say for all, and the for all is emphasize, because if it's good if it's a great place to work as a great place to work for me as be a great place to wear for the next person, regardless of their background, or ethnicities, and that's a major focus in WWE T. And one of the ways that we we look to do it. And this is something that, you know, I was thinking that it was a normal practice. But I've talked to my peers and I asked them, have they seen a program where we've entered this we call the integrated management leadership training program? Around D&I, we're everyone goes through this program. And it's not just the normal D&I type of training, we're talking about having empathy and different things for individuals. And the feedback that we've, we've gotten is, has been tremendous. A lot of people really enjoy it. It gives people a different level of unconscious bias. And it helps calibrate the level of, of D&I within the organization. And then we move over to our supplier diversity program, and driving those business impacts. When we look at communities, a lot of these communities are made up of diverse owned businesses, and how do we drive equity into those those communities, by utilizing the companies that are from those communities that are going to employ individuals from those communities. And then that's how we start building equity within those communities. And for me, personally, I look at that as a very important and make sure it's not an oversight when it comes to D&I because I think, you know, majority of individuals have the natural inclination of diversity inclusion. But the part that's not open is the equity. Because if a if an individual comes from a marginalized community, how would they want to get ahead to go through to the next generation? And how do we diversify, then the companies that are coming up to be a part of the economic ecosystem? So I think economics is definitely a driving factor, and diversity and equity is key. And then with the community outreach, it's a focus on how would we reach those individuals? How do we reach those pipeline of, of talented kids that are coming up? How do we grab them at their early ages, to get them introduced into technology? Because technologies we're all aware, it's one of the largest growing segments of the workforce. And if it's the largest growing that mean, it's, it's the largest that needs to diversify, as the country and the world becomes more of a brown world due to the diversification of individuals across the planet. So at WWT, I would say we're on the journey. You know, it's it's not about what's your goal, it's about how do you go along the journey? How do you make those incremental changes? And how do you make those enhancements in the WWT? That's what we're doing? We're looking at the journey, how do we do better? How do we make more of an impact in different areas? How do we drive me to the desired outcomes that we want?

Greg Irwin  14:23

I am not in here, as you're speaking.

I'm also reading some of the comments that are coming in on the chat. And I'm just going to encourage people to reply to others and build on the comments. So while while Brian is sharing a thought others can can have a have a sidebar. There's one comment in here. There's there's some great comments in the chat, but one that struck me is this this sense of accountability. And I want to pick up Deirdre has a question And the second part of particular, how is accountability spread across WW T around your D&I initiatives? And I hear I hear Sonia and others very clearly. Perhaps we should be referring to it as D&I. But let's, let's stick with the, the initiatives that you have in place, Brian, how, how was accountability spread,

Brian Sharpless  15:24

accountability spread from from the very top, from Dave, from Jim, all the way down to our executive committee and leadership teams. Were one of the leading topics. Every Monday morning, our executives have an overview of different aspects within the business. And one of the leading topics is D&I. And they talk about who's been fired? Who's been, who is who has left the company, what is their reasonings? What are the demographic backgrounds for the influx or an influx of individuals, and they look at each person name by name. And to me that's, that's pretty amazing considering, you know, WWT has grown down to over 8000 employees. And the leading topic of the Monday morning is D&I, they talk about D&I. And then they talk about, you know, the sales numbers and the forecast and the business aspects. But that lets you know, the level of importance, and a level of accountability and a level of transparency, going all the way up into our executive leadership team.

Greg Irwin  16:39

One of the key things I'm hearing from you is, you know, how you make anything happen within a company in a large group of people. You pay attention to it, you inspect it, you ask about it, you make it, you make it present, and you make sure that those folks who are in leadership roles themselves are making it important. Are there any issues in terms of how it filters down through the organization? I can hear the CEO is saying this is important. It's important. Are there any challenges with getting it out across all the teams?

Brian Sharpless  17:16

I wouldn't say from from my view, no. Because one thing about WWT, in order to work at WWT you have to embody our culture. And if you're embody our culture, you're going to understand when our leadership sets forth goals and initiatives that you're already going to buy in because it's part of your fabric, it's a part of your DNA. The interview and onboarding process worldwide is we want individuals that's gonna fit within our teams, because, you know, high performance team, you'll hear that that term HPT flowing throughout the organization on a regular basis, and what does that mean, it's not just about the output that you're having from, from sales and doing numbers, it's about how these teams are integrated at an individual level. And the only way these teams are going to be successful is if you have all have the same fabric, the same DNA, the same foundation, or from a foundational standpoint, from a cultural area. So there wouldn't be any negativity because the people that's going to have a negative mindset aren't part of WWT because they did not get through the weeding out process because they're not embodying the culture that we want to entail within the organization.

Greg Irwin  18:38

It's pretty powerful

Patricia Marinho  18:43

just joy that is one of the things that we do the Willis Towers Watson was also HR it's necessary every time they provide us a list of people to be interviewed for a specific role. So we need to make sure they need to make sure that they find universities they buy the people also the team who are going to be interviewing they have also to be diverse that in order for us to be able to select you know some is not ours the same style of person or what used to be our so so the idea is make changes things different so for that we need to have different cultures they're interviewing for positions that before used to be the same background of people so we also were changing background when we hire people was oh the person definitely need that you have no idea how these now we are like do you know what perhaps not let let's hire someone that has not enough background on this specific but could bring some new ideas. Think out of the box.

Greg Irwin  19:59

Put Rashad, like to direct you to Brendan's question about the maturity of ESG D&I in Europe versus, versus North America.

Patricia Marinho  20:18

Okay, yeah. So I think it's all about which country are talking about in Europa, because if I compare US and UK perhaps is the same, or maybe we came a little bit more advanced than us here in terms of inclusion diverse and ESG, in general, so they, you know, they only have requirements in terms of reporting is for a longer time than us. So I think it's all depend Australia is the same. So I think it's all depend which country you're talking about. So hard to say.

Greg Irwin  21:00

Do you see I guess the best point is, do you see any models in terms of whether it's a regulatory framework, whether it's there's cultural, where that should be the model that we can learn from any country? Or it could be industry? You know, an example of success that we can look at? I,

Patricia Marinho  21:26

I mean, it's, I think, UK have some requirements that makes it makes in a certain way, we don't have this to a structure, if we're talking about in general, yes, G is still there is not as structured there, how those reports should be standardized. So it's even hard for me, let's say, I have decided to do a due diligence in a specific company and understand what they have put in place in terms of ESG. Since that is not specific standards, they're kind of hard is good. I'm gonna take a look at the website or look what they have, let me see if it is easy to find the informations there. I mean, they can have something fantastic there. But which kind of reports no consistent reports they have there in order for me to compare one company to another. So I, I, I, I don't think we are in the world prepare you for that. And I think the regulator is the start to consider this,

Greg Irwin  22:31

Brian, to you first. Do you see any, any gaps in terms of the effectiveness of finding this dismiss potential talent and any issues with technical assessments?

Brian Sharpless  22:47

I'm not gonna say that there are gaps. There are areas that we can take in and have learn areas where we know that, hey, we know we can improve, we know we're not hitting 100%. And this type of area, I wouldn't consider a true gap. I see it more as a evolution and a pivot. Because anytime that you're doing anything, that's a journey. And and I always say that diversity is a journey. So there's going to be some areas that you know what we need to make an adjustment, we need to make a pivot. But if we look at it as a gap, usually a gap means you miss something. We're not missing the mark, we're just, we're just going down a journey. We're on a path. And sometimes, you know, when you trying to get to a destination, and if you don't have a roadmap, you make a right turn, you realize, hey, that wasn't the right way to go, I need to go left. So that doesn't mean it's a gap. It's just having intentionality and focus on the outcome that you want. And having the flexibility to pivot and being very agile as you're going along your journey to get to your end goal, which is a goal that I don't think we will ever achieve. Because no matter how great you know, statistically we say we've diversified an organization. You know, once one person leaves your numbers gets skewed, once another person joins, that's not part of your diverse population. It's you so how do you create some foundational tools and procedures then create a continuing to evolve will know as you're moving along your journey?

Greg Irwin  24:42

Good. Thank you, Brian. Patricia.

Patricia Marinho  24:46

I think I agree with him. I believe that that is is always Lola. We're gonna get there. It's hard. I think this is too in many companies. Now. talking all about my company. But in many companies, you know, this is something that we are trying to have more diversity, more inclusions, but definitely, we're not gonna have this in the way we are expecting at sooner, like in the next three years, because it's a long way, it's a lot of work also to be able to develop people to be there in those positions also to find as a matter of fact, to tell the truth. For instance, I minority in Brazil could be Indian, Indian, right, that typing, I'm saying injured. And when we are trying to look for this type of Menards, to hire for our operation, Brazil, we don't find anyone sending resumes. And as a matter of fact, let Black people also it's very hard for us to get it in the entire Latin America with the perception of Colombia. Why, because they don't have the opportunity to be able to a lot of time to go down University, and then apply for certain positions. So what we, as a company have to do now, hire those minorities when they still in high school, because they at least at the high school, they are able to go and then start to prepare them for in 10 years to be able to get positions that we're looking for them. So this is one of the programs that we are currently have, we hire a lot of teenagers and we are preparing them for one day become a co op or salesperson in a senior position. So I char a compliance. I'm myself also training one of them, and we training from like the don't never even saw a computer before for instance. So it's it's yeah, it's a lot of involvement on this.

Greg Irwin  26:54

You know, one thing I really am taking, I'm taking many of your points, but the one that I'm latched on to is the timeframe, how long it takes to change a culture and change behavior and to set these set these priorities at all levels. Of course, your comments about inspecting and evidence and, and looking correctly and, and informing what the right metrics. Brilliant, thank thank you very much. Thank you.

Patricia Marinho  27:26

To the for instant, the goal of my company is to tell them to identify have equal t in terms of men and and a woman. And we did. We did map days we had the metrics. But also every year it's sent a questionnaire to the entire company with different questions regarding closed and reverse. And also if they feel inclusion, through all the seminar and things that is done coach to everybody. And but what they feel that should be our next step. So they are part of that change is not only the senior manager makes those decisions, now they listen and say, Okay, this is where they want. Why not let consider, I think this is important. Why don't you know, everybody to be part of that change, and they have a voice.

Greg Irwin  28:18

We're an important part of the meeting. 15 minutes left. So this can go one of two ways. People can start looking at their their next meeting, you can start looking at your emails, and start thinking about all the other things you have to deal with. Or we can finish strong. I'm really proud of the group that we've been able to assemble here. And I'm going to ask you to set a goal

Greg Irwin  28:44

for yourself, please make one connection across this one person. So super simple. You can ask us at BWG, hey, you know what I'd like to meet this one person. And we'll make we'll make that request or LinkedIn is brilliant and an easy way to connect with people else. But let's let's finish strong. It's rare that we get this kind of a group together. So let's take advantage of it here for our remaining time. Brian, we've covered a lot here. I'm gonna give you a very easy, just open ended question. All right, what resonates for you here? What's the what's the thing you want to put, you know, underline in bold in what's been shared over the last 30 minutes.

Brian Sharpless  29:30

being intentional, being intentional to drive your outcomes. I think if we look at whatever goal we want to achieve, and then work backwards from that goal, you're more than likely to achieve it because your know what your outcome is. Whenever you start something if you are blindly going along the journey. You don't know what success looks like. You don't know what those incremental wins looks like. But if you say, hey, my goal is to achieve X, and you're working towards the, you know, when you have those incremental wins, because you understand the path of your, of your journey, and the different ways to get there. So I would say, you know, being intentional to drive and connect and focus on the moments,

Greg Irwin  30:23

let's wrap up here with Patricia and Brian, I'm going to throw it out there, please sign up SETC SETC, a sustainable, sustainableetc.com. And sign up for, you know, for our reminders, and we'd love to welcome you all back for further sessions. Or if there are others, you think, colleagues or peers that you think would enjoy these forums, we welcome, welcome. Patricia, any closing any additional closing comments for the group?

Patricia Marinho  30:57

Well, I think oh, I would like to say now, it's like, I believe that that you know, if you will have this meeting today, and you create this company to be discussing this is because we definitely are going to make a different, it may be this different in three years or five years, but I think the world is changing. And the proof of this is like all of us, we do have some kind of responsibility inside our company. regarding today's and we are here we are discussing, we're trying to see how we can even improve by 2023, perhaps 2020 for the future. So I think you if you believe in what we're doing, yeah, we're gonna see the changes that wonderful.

Greg Irwin  31:41

Brian are closing comment for the group.

Brian Sharpless  31:44

First, I want to say thank you for having me here. And one thing I would I would say to the to the group, and the call to action is like you said, let's let's connect with someone on here. Because I think when you have a group like those new people that are listening in, we create the multiplier effect. And if everyone is here, because they they saw the topic, they wanted to be here, they're being intentional. So we are all connecting, we have the multiplier effect with with everyone's network, that is different ways that we can we can have impact within the variety of organizations that we work with. So I would echo your call to action to connect with someone here. And that's it. Let's connect to to the to the website so we can keep these dialogues going. Because I think it's it's very important that everyone understands that the only way that we can have success is continuing with the journey. And the only way we can continue with the journey as if we're all intentional in doing our role and continue the movement.

Greg Irwin  32:49

This is the right stuff. Brian and Patricia, thank you so much for for joining us. Great session and thanks everybody, for taking some time