Panel
The Big Shift: Diversity as a Business Rationale
- Credit Suisse launched a new business unit, "New Markets," four months prior to the panel to target historically underserved segments: women, African-Americans, and the LGBT community.
- The business rationale for New Markets is to generate revenue by creating tailored products/services while simultaneously unlocking wealth creation within these specific communities.
- Alexandra Liebenthal advises young women to prioritize physical presence ("showing up") at every opportunity, citing a case where all invited senior women at an Ernst & Young conference found excuses to stay home while men attended.
- Richard D. Mohr notes that American business has played a critical, historically significant role in advancing LGBT rights, often leading state and local governments in policy adoption.
- Fortune 500 companies' briefs filed during last summer's Supreme Court cases were cited as a crucial factor in recent legal progress for gay rights.
- Javier G. Sanchez highlights the "Latino paradox": despite 54 million Latinos (1 in 6 Americans) and 90,000 turning 18 monthly, mainstream business often relies on generic stereotypes of undocumented, low-income status.
- Latino demographic projections indicate this group will become 30% of the U.S. population by 2050, with 90,000 members entering their prime earning years every month for the next 20 years.
- Investable wealth figures cited: women with over $1 million to invest represent a $4 trillion market; the LGBT, African-American, and Latino markets are estimated between $300 billion and $400 billion each.
- Financial advisor satisfaction gaps: only two-thirds of women in these demographics have a financial advisor, and only one-third of those are satisfied with their representative's advocacy.
- Credit Suisse's "Open Network" launched an LGBT index created by employees in their free time, vetted by the Human Rights Campaign, containing 200 companies and approximately 30 in a portfolio.
- Performance of the Credit Suisse LGBT portfolio launched last fall: it is outperforming the S&P 500 by roughly 50 basis points with slightly less volatility.
- Alexandra Liebenthal reflects on leadership challenges, noting that she initially struggled to be taken seriously at age 31 due to looking young, but later learned to surround herself with experienced mentors rather than trying to mimic her father's persona.
- Javier G. Sanchez points out low financial participation: only one in six Latinos own stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, despite a projected $1.4 trillion in spending power and the community being the 11th largest economy in the world.
- Credit Suisse plans to expand New Markets to potentially include a fourth segment (likely Latino) if the current three perform successfully, noting the complexity of legal and financial expertise required for specific community needs.
- Richard Mohr emphasizes the need for CEO and Board sponsorship, arguing that true progress occurs when diversity becomes a discussion for non-minority leaders rather than solely the burden on professionals of color.
- Mentorship dynamics: research cited by Sylvia Ann Hewitt indicates 70% of the effort in a successful mentor-mentee relationship must come from the protégé, not just the senior mentor.
- Credit Suisse's group mentoring approach pairs two senior leaders with groups of six junior employees to scale mentorship and reduce pressure on individual relationships.
- Javier G. Sanchez notes that while cross-demographic mentorship is ideal for career mobility, many minority professionals prefer same-identity mentors for the safety to ask "dumb questions" without fear of negative career repercussions.
- Margaret Anderson mentions that while ACT UP forced change through direct action during the AIDS epidemic, diversity initiatives now lack a similar "common threat" to spur immediate mobilization.
- Rich Mohr advocates for "playing hardball" with political pressure and constituency groups to drive results, citing the success of activist pressure on the Clinton administration.
- Pamela Craig expresses optimism based on the rapid legal and social shifts witnessed within a single lifetime, such as the validation of same-sex marriage and the election of a Black president.
- State Farm announced it would pull advertising from the LA Clippers following racist comments by the team owner, serving as a recent example of corporate consequences for non-inclusive behavior.
- Richard Mohr states that corporate tone from the top (CEO/Board) is the most powerful accelerator for cultural change, as seen in NBC's immediate suspension of Alec Baldwin and the resignation of Brendan Eich from Mozilla.
- Credit Suisse does not support tying compensation to diversity hiring targets, arguing that financial incentives for hiring can have a corrosive effect on culture and devalue the intrinsic worth of diverse talent.
- The debate on quotas remains open, with Pamela Craig noting the significant movement toward board quotas in Europe while maintaining skepticism about their efficacy in the U.S. market.