Diversity can no longer only represent tactical initiatives for an organization. Diversity must be the engine that fuels department and company-wide strategic innovation initiatives. Diversity must touch the business every day -- in how products / services are created, client relationships are formed, workplace culture is designed and the increasingly important role in the War for Talent (recruitment, retention and development).

Workplace Innovation requires reality-based, action-oriented and measureable culturally tailored professional development. One size does not fit all anymore. Workplace Innovation requires us all to better understand the different types of personal brands we each represent and how they can impact performance. We must all acculturate and assimilate in ways that embrace our differences and maximize our unique strengths: this is how innovation is born.

In order for Diversity to help accelerate strategic company-wide innovation initiatives, it must mature beyond inclusion quotas, affinity group and / or Employee Resource Group (ERG) activities. Diversity - must serve to maximize the input, output, collaboration and crowdsourcing of people across the entire organization – regardless or hierarchy or rank.