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Diversity - From AH&LA's President
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Diversity - From AH&LA's President
It's no secret that an organization's success hinges on its people. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, it's estimated that human capital accounts for as much as 80 percent of a company's worth. Look behind the scenes at any highly profitable, highly functioning business and you'll find an organization making optimal use of human talent.
Growing evidence shows that given the right conditions, the collective intelligence of a group is far more effective at innovation and strategic problem-solving than the highest performing individual in the group. A prime example is an experiment at Eli Lilly, which set up an artificial market comprised of a diverse mix of employees to see if they could outperform the company's experts in forecasting which drug candidates were likely to be approved by the FDA and which were likely to be rejected. When trading opened, the winners were quickly identified, while the losers' prices plummeted. Hewlett-Packard conducted a similar experiment, with the market's results outperforming the experts 75 percent of the time.
The lesson for lodging? Of course we need good leaders at the helm. But attract and empower an excellent team and watch the hotel prosper. What defines an excellent team? It's increasingly clear that a key feature is diversity.
The need to attract and effectively tap into human talent is one reason that diversity is no longer just a good idea, or the socially correct thing to do, but an imperative for our industry. By current projections, the U.S. lodging industry will require more than 700,000 additional employees by 2010. We're not talking about line-level staff alone, but about professionals at every level. And to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex industry serving an increasingly diverse customer base, we're not talking just about the need to fill openings, but the need to attract, empower, and retain the best mix.
AH&LA understands this imperative. We've made diversity a core business objective and we're working to ensure it's addressed at every level. We're arming hoteliers with the resources they need, expanding an industry-wide study to gather important new data, and providing awareness and training resources via seminars, video, and here on AH&LA's Website.
As an industry, we'll be well positioned to meet the challenges ahead if we can make inclusion a reality. When an organization is varied, with diverse individuals bringing different pieces of information to the table, and decentralized, with employees empowered to think and communicate independently, the group will surprise its leaders, exceed its targets, and outperform expectations every time.
Sincerely,
Joseph A. McInerney, CHA
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Diversity Resources
