RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Just like the dark clouds and summer showers that roll through the Research Triangle many humid afternoons, roles in the C-suite can change quickly. It is in these moments, however, that nimble leaders are able to adapt and navigate, even as the thrashing of windshield wipers and torrents of water might make visibility a bit unclear. We are seeing this kind of transformation today when it comes to organizational culture. Even C-suite leaders need partners. What I am seeing and hearing from clients is that few partnerships are more beneficial than when marketing and diversity work together toward culture change.
Donald Thompson
Chief Marketing Officers (CMO) won’t have to think back very far to understand the need for strategic partnerships that make the whole organization stronger. Several decades ago, marketing had a bit of an identity crisis. Many of their C-suite colleagues didn’t view marketing as a driver for business success. This old-school perspective limited marketing to creating sales collateral or standing at a trade show booth. Marketing leaders fought for a seat at the C-suite table in the hard-charging sales environment.
Fast forward with technological transformation, however, and marketing as a discipline changed. Technology gave the field power because leaders could track results and see how critical marketing had become to the sales cycle. The digital tether from a lead to a sale turned the marketing department into an organizational powerhouse. Marketing also became synonymous with customer touchpoints across the company as technology and social media geometrically increased the number of people engaging with the brand.
As a result, marketing is well-positioned and has its own value proposition. The only person as responsible for an organization’s internal and external culture as the CEO is the CMO and the latter has a more direct handle on day-to-day activities. Culture lives in the marketing department and branches out through the company and its stakeholders via messaging.
BRIDGING MARKETING AND DIVERSITY
When I talk to C-suite leaders about the challenges of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and the chief diversity officer (CDO) role specifically, much of the conversation centers on how siloed that position is in relation to other top leaders. The CDO is fighting to be heard, get resourced at the right level and to enact programming that is emotive, often cutting to the heart of what people think, feel and believe.
Like marketing decades ago, executives may be skeptical of the new culture-based programming. Where’s the data? How much will these initiatives cost? What do I stand to gain (or lose) in the meantime?
In contrast, marketing leaders know how to win these arguments, not only because they were there before, but also they understand the different voices for each of the constituencies. Quite frankly, the CDO isn’t used to winning hearts and minds like the CMO.
BRINGING THE CMO AND CDO TOGETHER
What diversity leaders can learn from their counterparts in marketing is how to speak to and for multiple voices and viewpoints. By focusing on messaging, marketers intuitively understand how to reach audiences and advocate for a perspective. As a result, tying marketing to diversity enables marketing to reach more people, while also helping to explain why DEI is so critical to an organization’s future success.
Since marketing is responsible for the internal and external face of the company’s image, stakeholders want those messages to be authentic. A 2021 survey by Smartsheet, for example, reported that 74% of knowledge workers agreed “DEI is important to my marketing organization.” Where the rubber meets the road on this topic externally is ensuring that a company’s advertising and web visuals align to its diverse employees and consumers. Internally, the challenge may be crafting messaging so other C-suite leaders view DEI as critical and essential. For example, speaking about belonging at work or engaging in multicultural communication as ways to reduce costly turnover takes the notion of belonging and turns it into a term that links back to real-world business outcomes.
Adding the marketing piece to the DEI understanding of belonging strengthens the communications value of an organization’s brand. C-suite leaders can rally around these ideas, because then belonging means talking to a community of color, across generations, to a single mom or caretaker of an older parent.
THE CEO PERSPECTIVE
As a CEO, I might feel hesitant about launching publicly into social justice issues but I do need to understand that social justice challenges are affecting our workforce and communities. From a leadership perspective, what I need from my CMO is to help me communicate with empathy, care and compassion – in an authentic way – while also keeping high standards of execution.
For the CDO or diversity practitioner, the call to action is often focused on why the topic matters. Having already been through this battle, marketers recenter the message to how DEI makes you a better leader and organization, emphasizing the outcome. Perhaps a simpler way to think about this distinction is that a diversity leader might say, “DEI is important because we need to create a better society.” Amplifying the message, though, a marketer would probably approach the same idea from a broader perspective, declaring: “DEI grows market share and will help us change the world for the better.”
The difference between these two statements is subtle, but I’ve spoken to dozens of CEOs at multibillion dollar companies who are interested in DEI initiatives. The ask at these organizations is bubbling up to the chief executive or board of directors through the CMO.
Interestingly, it is the marketing professionals’ concentration on words that has turned them into an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion. The CMO wants to expand the brand in a way that rings true to all the company’s stakeholders. So, when the diversity and marketing teams are working hand-in-hand, they create a powerful union that ensures the messages hit the right note both broadly and from a DEI viewpoint.
The final point I have discussed with fellow CEOs is the reticence some organizations are having about talking about their DEI programming – even when it is good work. Many leaders are scared to talk about these issues because they don’t want it to come across as self-serving. This is another area where the marketing mindset helps executives craft messages that are credible, authentic and without seeming disingenuous, which is often labeled virtue signaling or performative allyship.
ACTING WITH COURAGE
Returning to those threatening clouds overhead, it is when storms are rattling the loudest that executives need to learn from past experiences so they are ready to move when the deluge passes. To my mind, the equation is straightforward, but needs to be made even less complicated:
Marketing + DEI = Higher likelihood that an organization will act with courage
I know this is true because I have spoken with C-suite leaders and board members who face incredibly difficult topics from a multitude of directions. And, we have talked to hundreds of employees about what they want from their leaders. Courage is always at or near the top of the list.
What we have learned over and over is that when there is a school shooting or when there is a mass shooting of primarily African American people, there is not an expectation that CEOs speak out about gun legislation. However, there is an assumption that leaders will discuss how these issues impact their employees – to share how the company cares and what resources are available to help people deal with these difficult topics and their genuine emotions.
I think many CEOs might think that the people around them want all the answers, but I see that as turned on its head. What employees and stakeholders value from the CEO is empathy. They want to understand what we can do to help with the means we have, like reminding people about employee assistance programs or how their benefits cover mental health and other needs.
Nobody expects a single CEO to have all the answers, but people do want their leaders to share the answers they have. Saying nothing equates to “I don’t care.” No executive wants to be in this position.
The answer isn’t in the heroic star performer acting alone to change an organization from the top. Instead, it is the combined power of marketing and diversity. Communicators create authentic messages that reach stakeholders and diversity leaders bring the knowledge and power of culture change to organizations. Sunnier days are right around the corner…
About the Author
Donald Thompson is CEO and co-founder of The Diversity Movement which has created an employee-experience product suite that personalizes diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) through data, technology, and expert-curated content. Their microlearning platform, Microvideos by The Diversity Movement, was recently named one of Fast Company’s “2022 World Changing Ideas.” With two decades of experience growing and leading firms, Donald is a thought leader on goal achievement, influencing company culture and driving exponential growth. An entrepreneur, public speaker, author, podcaster, Certified Diversity Executive (CDE) and executive coach, Donald also serves as a board member for several organizations in marketing, healthcare, banking, technology and sports. His leadership memoir, Underestimated: A CEO’s Unlikely Path to Success, is available for pre-order. Connect with or follow him on Linkedin to learn more.
