Nancy Di Dia, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Boehringer Ingelheim USA, recently joined the Organizational Strategy & Learning class to discuss building a culture of change and driving strategy.
"My aspiration is a culture of belonging: you may not think you fit in, but you can belong, you can be your authentic self."
Nancy brought insight to the discussion not only for her expertise spanning more than 25 years in management, leadership, and sociocultural change in the corporate world, but also as a personal role model of change.
Nancy opened the discussion with her own personal journey into the world of Diversity and Inclusion. She captivated the students with her story of bravery while working on Wall Street in the 1990s, where she boldly asked senior leadership of her firm at the time, during a townhall, when domestic partnership benefits would be granted at the firm. While in today's world this may seem like a benign question, at the time that was not on the agenda of most companies, if any. It was also a turning point for Nancy, to very publicly stand up for rights for herself and others, and launched her into what would become a career built upon asking tough questions of senior leadership and building a culture of belonging.
"Leading in the diversity space is about influencing leaders at the highest levels while connecting with employees across all levels."
#Influencer. Nancy shared a "day in the life" of a Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer to give students perspective into her roles and responsibilities. Her position gives her the scope to influence outcomes for employees at BI, for the communities the healthcare company serves, and in the world broadly an active member of the task force for CoQual--a think tank and research group of leading global companies that leverages the power of equity at work. Nancy considers spending time across all levels of the company vital to being accessible and informed on what matters most. While admitting that she isn't always popular, being an agitator is inherent in the job, and the role is critical to helping leaders understand the impact their decisions have on their workforce and see opportunities to lead in the space.
"To create learning strategies that drive an inclusive environment, traditional training is not enough--we need to create experiences that take people out of their comfort zones."
Nancy shared practical insight into executing a strategy and the partnership between learning and diversity teams. As we have discussed in class, adults tend to prefer a “problem-centered” learning opportunity to immediately help them deal with life's challenges. Nancy's work showcased how she keeps a pulse on the challenges facing employees and partners with her learning colleagues to create experiences that provide safe spaces for learning and growth.
After class, students shared their gratitude with Nancy for her work to create a better workplace for all and shared stories of their own personal excitement her discussion generated for getting more deeply involved in DEI efforts.
