Diversity and inclusion: Bringing our best selves to work

Have you ever considered why we’re invited to parties? It’s probably because of who we are. Diversity is being you, not anyone else. When people are comfortable with themselves, inclusion follows.

To help explore these issues, College Recruiter recently hosted a College Recruiting Bootcamp on LGBT and other diversity hiring issues on Tuesday, September 29, at the Twilio headquarters in San Francisco.

College Recruiter has been publishing the opinions from a number of talent acquisition and recruiting leaders about why and how employers should diversify their workforces. Steve Humerickhouse, Executive Director of the Forum on Workplace Inclusion at Opus College of Business, shares his thoughts on the difference between diversity and inclusion.

Steven Humerickhouse, Executive Director of the Forum on Workplace Inclusion with Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas

“I recently attended a technology industry inclusion conference in San Francisco where this question was asked by a participant. I thought the answer the presenter gave was quite illustrative: diversity is being invited to the party. Once you are there, inclusion is being asked to dance. Diversity is representational—it is who is in the room. Inclusion is how you are engaged—is your voice welcome, are you heard and are your contributions acted upon? Are you developed as an employee to reach your highest potential?”

Steve Humerickhouse is executive director of the forum on workplace inclusion with Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas.