Creating a Culture That Values Diversity

Last week, I started the conversation about HORNE’s commitment to improve our culture, which focused on defining my own career/life integration while maintaining my client service expectations. I want to continue that theme today, but let’s talk about diversity and its impact on the war for talent and business development.  

The more I work in business development, the more I realize that relationships drive success.  I have also realized that I connect easily to people like me -similar back ground, similar upbringing, similar social circles.  The flip side is that I have also realized that not everyone connects with me!  So if I am primarily successful at attracting clients like me, then HORNE is missing out on a major part of the market…unless we diversify.

If all your firm’s clients look like you, then your firm may have a diversity problem.  All businesses want to expand their market share, but growing the bottom line may start with diversifying your team. 

HORNE is focused on improving team member diversity because talent comes from all backgrounds, and we have to be successful at attracting all genders, races and skillsets that can add value to our clients.  What I am learning is that diversity also improves our ability to connect with a variety of clients. And our push for diversity internally is already helping us connect with new clients and grow revenues!

In a rapidly changing business environment, can you afford to ignore your culture’s effect on your business development efforts?

About the Author

Jonathan is a partner at HORNE LLP where he works closely with government clients to design and implement federally-funded programs to recover from some of the country’s most devastating natural disasters. As a new father, he is defining career/life integration under his terms - allowing him to maintain a high level of commitment to his family, his team and his clients.