At Greater St. Louis Works’ recent knowledge exchange on “Technology and Diversity,” Benjamin Akande, dean of the School of Business and Technology at Webster University, said that today’s young adults are “the most diverse generation in American history. They expect (diversity), and when they don’t find it, they go somewhere else to get it.”
Akande observed that ineffective cities are either content with the status quo or they rely on hope as their principal strategy to make things better. Let’s don’t do that, he said. Almost 90 people from 50 St. Louis companies joined the Technology and Diversity program, and they clearly agreed.
What will it take? Akande asked seven panelists and a room full of participants to bring forward suggestions about how we can create a technology community in St. Louis that is open, tolerant and “in a perpetual state of delta.”
The responses were far-reaching. Following are just a few.
Brenda Newberry, chairman and CEO of The Newberry Group, urged us to take a dispassionate look at ourselves from the perspective of the multi-ethnic, multi-degreed young professionals we seek to attract. In the brief moment they will take to compare our IT departments to opportunities in other metro areas, what signs can they plainly see that this is the place for them?
It is also important that we move beyond big concepts and get tactical, said Lendell Phelps, vice president of marketing for AT&T. We must define some concrete steps and take them. We don’t have to accomplish everything at once, but we have to demonstrate some tangible outcomes if we intend to see forward motion.
We need to be prepared to take individual initiative, and move on it decisively. Eddy Sutton, assistant vice president of information systems at Laclede Gas, remarked that “when an opportunity to make a difference hits my desk, the clock is already ticking, and I know that action must begin immediately and with me.”
Ram Bandi, president and CEO of Ramtek Systems, also emphasized the importance of action. Given the speed of technology, which drives opportunity for tech-savvy people, we must be prepared to move quickly, and capitalize on opportunities when they arise. Not to do so is to actually fall behind.
Our goal must be to develop strengths, not merely to avoid failure, added Brenda Newberry. We must establish an entrepreneurial climate that encourages young people to become the best technologists they can be – not to hold back in fear of unknowns in the marketplace. Quality attracts opportunity, regardless of inevitable market fluctuations.
In engaging talent, we must be willing to take a chance on somebody whose resume may not match what we are accustomed to. Emerson’s Vice President of Shared IT Services Fred Burdell recalled receiving the trust and support he needed from a supervisor in a critical, crunch situation, and the decision he made about a key staff appointment continues to benefit everyone concerned.
We also can make better use of some tools we already have to make a diverse workforce work more effectively. Very good cross-cultural training programs are already available, for example, according to Sivasailam Sankar, a member of the Information Technology Finance Systems team at Boeing. We need to put them to use.
We must integrate our approach across systems, connecting the silos we have built in the regional economy. Pat Smith Thurman, vice president of global systems development for MasterCard Worldwide, observed that we have all the tools we need, we know what to do, we have great associations and networks, but we lack the big regional process to make it all come together.
At the same time, St. Louis can push ahead in the talent competition by promoting one of our unique advantages. Our value proposition (as Siva Sankar and others suggested) is that we are a big economic market that’s also small enough to be a community. Michael West, business development executive with Ameren, said this means we can offer talented techies greater opportunities to be “be somebody,” something that everyone wants. In New York, in Silicon Valley, in Chicago, even the best and brightest can fade into the woodwork. In St. Louis, individuals have a better chance of being recognized and engaged.
Blair Forlaw is director of WorkforceStLouis2.0.