Diversity, equity and inclusion: Hear from enterprise leaders driving change

The need to support diversity, equity and inclusion have long been recognized at the enterprise level, but the social justice movements of late displayed in stark relief how much still needs to be done. Now this work is not only at the forefront of conversations about company culture but is a critical focus for the future of work as a whole. This is why we made “Advancing Equity” one of the 5 key talk tracks of this year’s Attune summit. 

Since we know this topic is top of mind with business leaders and professionals across the board, here’s a recap of the Advancing Equity track at this year’s Attune summit.

How Ingredion’s Elizabeth Adefioye gives employees a stake in company values

Elizabeth Adefioye is the senior vice president and chief human resources officer of Ingredion, a Fortune 500 provider of ingredient solutions to the global food and beverage manufacturing industry. She’s also no stranger to DEI work—Adefioye serves as an ambassador for the Network of Executive Women (NEW) and an executive sponsor for Ingredion’s largest business resource group (WIN – Women in Ingredion). She was also recently named to the “2021 Elite100 Extraordinary Black Women” changing the face of corporate America, in part for leading complex transformations by addressing systemic racism in the workplace. These sorts of credentials made her the ideal leader for Ingredion’s push to transform its purpose and values. 

From the start, Adefioye recognized that for a company to truly develop a shared purpose and values, every role and department must have a stake in creating them, from the front line to the C-suite. To give employees equity in the process, she pursued “deep listening,” running focus groups and interviews with nearly 700 workers across the company. She and her team also developed new ways to involve management and executive leadership—ways that allowed humanistic values like “care” and “belonging” to rise to the top. Lastly, they implemented a system of recurring engagement, feedback and accountability, which allowed employees, managers and the company as a whole to keep making changes to better align with their values. 

In her Attune session, Adefioye joined Firstup founder and CSO Nicole Alvino to discuss what strategies and tactics helped her succeed in this journey, and share her recommendations for other culture leaders and EX professionals.

Former MGM CHRO Michelle DiTondo shares how to build a culture of inclusion

Former CHRO Michelle DiTondo has more than 25 years of experience as an HR leader. She spent nearly a decade as the chief human resources officer for MGM Resorts International, where she led culture transformation and employee engagement initiatives for the company’s 88,000 employees.

Chief among her priorities at MGM was creating a culture of inclusion where employees felt valued by their company and had a sense of belonging. Her approach to developing that culture utilized storytelling and technology to allow diverse and underrepresented employees to be heard, inclusive actions to be recognized, and a greater connection to be built between employees and the organization. 

Even prior to her time at MGM, much of DiTondo’s career was spent in the hospitality, leisure and entertainment sector that dominates Las Vegas. As an Asian-American woman providing HR leadership in this male-dominated industry, she has developed a unique perspective on what it takes to advance DEI initiatives. One part of that perspective is that the investment in diversity training isn’t paying off. 

Instead, DiTondo believes that companies must move beyond diversity training to establish new behaviors that are truly inclusive. In her conversation with Firstup’s Rey Bouknight, she’ll explain how companies can model and reinforce these behaviors, and move their HR function from being process-focused to people-focused. 

Help your organization advance equity

If you need guidance on moving your company’s DEI initiatives forward, these sessions are a must-view. See the full sessions on-demand at attune-summit.com or read more in our post, Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace.