Greater Toronto Summit 2011 Breakout Session
The Challenge: To become more viable, productive and competitive, businesses in the Toronto region must confront the challenges of globalization. They must be innovative and creative while attracting and retaining the best talent. With almost half of its residents born outside of Canada (a majority of whom are visible minorities), the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has a unique opportunity to benefit from its cultural and ethnic diversity and global ties and to lead other city regions around the world working to seize this same opportunity for themselves.
There are many opportunities to leverage our population’s diversity, particularly at the leadership level, yet, by many accounts, the region has not done enough to capitalize on its ethnic, racial and cultural diversity. Almost 70% of companies have no visible minorities among their top executives and just over 75% have no visible minorities on their boards. Likewise, small businesses and businesses owned by women or members of visible minority groups are under-represented in the supply chains of large companies. This is a missed opportunity; many of these businesses have tremendous expertise and networks that larger companies could cultivate for future opportunities, locally and globally. Visible minorities are projected to be the visible majority by 2031, comprising 63% of the population in the Toronto census area. As a result, developing leadership that recognizes and leverages the potential of all people in Canada is both a social and economic imperative.
Find the backgrounder for Return on Investment: The Value of Diversity in Corporate Leadership here.
Moderator: Karim Bardeesy, Editorial Writer, The Globe and Mail; 2011 DiverseCity Fellow
Speakers
- Courtney Betty, Betty’s Law Office; Diversity Business Network
- Ashton Sequeira, General Manager Canada, Centerplate
- Pamela Jeffery, Founder, Canadian Board Diversity Council
- Pradeep Sood, Founder, XactScribe Inc. and Chair, Ontario Chamber of Commerce
Questions for Discussion:
- How can we best build shareholder interest in more diversity in senior leadership, both in the boardroom and in the supply chain?
- How can we model and create best practices around diverse procurement, including tracking benefits for purchasers and local economies?
- Could the charter idea help develop a roadmap for diversity in leadership by:
- responding to SMEs’ recruitment and hiring challenges with concrete tools and supports?
- moving organizations which are already active further along the diversity continuum?
- being adapted to focus on leadership, or on pipeline issues that directly impact leadership?
