In the digital era, rife with uncertainty and ambiguity, innovation plays an essential role in sustaining organic growth and outperforming the global competition. Research proves time and again, there exists a robust bond between innovation and diversity & inclusion (D&I); our challenge is to help our leaders understand how to plant the seeds of innovation in the fertile D&I garden in order to drive a strategic and competitive advantage from the office and in the digital landscape.

1. The D&I Garden:
Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
Donald Fan Rebecca Komathy
With: Moderated by:
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2. Planbox provides a pioneering platform for scaling Innovation through Diversity & Inclusion,
delivered by a cloud-based AI-Powered Agile Innovation Management solution.
By using a workflow-driven solution that includes a configurable D&I activity web portal, a
powerful business rule engine, templated D&I activities, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs),
and integration with 2,000+ apps, Planbox enables organizations to leverage their employees’
inspirations and insights, and act upon their valuable feedback and ideas — rolling out new
innovations, minimizing risk and quickly validating new concepts.

3. 3
Click on the Questions panel to
interact with the presenters
https://www.humanresourcestoday.com/frs/14020083/the-d-i-garden--seeds-of-innovation-that-grow-into-creative-breakthroughs
https://www.businessinnovationbrief.com/frs/14020083/the-d-i-garden--seeds-of-innovation-that-grow-into-creative-breakthroughs
The D&I Garden:
Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs

4. 4The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
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About Donald Fan
Donald Fan serves as senior director of the Global Office of Culture, Diversity & Inclusion in Walmart Inc. In that role, Donald has been
responsible for leading various functional areas at different times, including strategy development, marketing & communications,
analytics, business insights, program design & implementation, and stakeholder relations. Prior to it, Donald worked in Walmart
Information System Division with various technical and analytical roles. He provides thought leadership in diversity, equity, inclusion
through published articles, public speeches, and panel discussions at various venues. In addition to multiple accolades, Donald was
recently recognized as one of 2019 Top 15 Champions for Global Diversity. Donald is also serving as board director of the National
Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) and board director of the Confucius Institute of the University of Central
Arkansas. He is serving on the Catalyst Expert Community, Advisory Board of the National Association of Female Executives, Advisory
Board of LinkedIn, Leadership Board of Diversity MBA Magazine, and Business Intelligence Board of the Chief Learning Officer
Magazine. Donald taught college in China before he came to the United States for graduate studies.
About Rebecca Komathy
Rebecca attended California State University, Long Beach, where she earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing with a concentration in Fiction.
After working in the publishing and English education fields, she became more interested in the information science and business aspects.
She is attending SJSU for her second Master’s, this time in Library and Information Science so she can learn more about digital curation. She
currently works at Aggregage as a Webinar Coordinator. When she’s not working, she is probably snuggling with her French bulldog named
Kira.
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The D&I Garden:
Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs

5. Agenda 01
02
03
04
Why innovation is even more critical in
the time of crisis
Cultivating a diverse workforce as a valuable
source of new insights, creativity & inspiration
How to flourish an inclusive culture as an
incubator of innovation no matter the distance
Utilizing online innovation to continue
uncovering new ways to do things and
keep the garden blooming

6. 6The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
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6
Why Innovation Is More Critical Than Ever
History suggests that
companies that
invest in innovation
through a crisis
outperform peers
during the recovery

7. 7The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
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7
Uncertainty and Crisis Challenge Drive Creativity

8. 8The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
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A Diverse Workforce: a Valuable Source of Innovation
- Higher diversity translates to higher quality ideas In the graph, the vertical axis
shows management assessments
of a series of employee ideas
related to supply-chain
management. The horizontal axis
measures the level of diversity in
an employee’s internal
connections. As you move to the
right, you see employees who are
more insular in their connections.
They lack diversity of input in
their day-to-day world.
Source: Prof. Ron Burt, University
of Chicago

9. 9The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
9
9
Leveraging Diversity to Propel High Performance and Innovation
- The business case for diversity remains strong

10. 10The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
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10
Top U.S. Retailers by Sales & Decade
- Continuous innovation & disruption is the determining factor of success

11. 11The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
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QUICK POLL
Where is your organization along the D&I journey?
o Level 0 – Not start yet
o Level 1 – Compliance (Legal/HR/D&I Team): mitigate legal risk
o Level 2 – Programmatic (HR/D&I Team): increase diversity
o Level 3 – Leader-Led (Business Leaders): address systemic barriers
o Level 4 – Integration (Whole Organization): leverage difference to create innovation
and business value

12. 12The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
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Cultivate a Diverse Workforce

13. 13The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
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Case in Point: How Walmart Attracts Talent in the Pandemic
Hires More Than
300,000 People in
COVID-19
Unconscious Bias
& Inclusive
Leadership
Training; Process
Enhancement
Hires 265,000
Veterans,
Promotes More
Than 44,000
$1.1 billion in
Bonus to Hourly
Employees in
COVID-19
Walmart Privileged and Confidential

14. 14The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
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An Inclusive Culture Is an Incubator for Innovation

15. 15The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
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Plant the Seeds to Flourish an Inclusive Culture
1. Developing Mavericks:
Freedom of Thought
3. Swimming Upstream:
Ingenuity
2. Advocating
Collaboration: Cross-
Pollination
4. Enabling New Ideas:
Blossom

16. 16The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
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QUICK POLL
Inherent diversity: the traits we are all born with including skin color, gender, cultural background, sexual orientation.
Acquired diversity: the traits you gain from experience such as different perspectives and unique insights into
problems acquired through different experiences.
Inclusion enable all voices to be heard, provide psychological safety and belonging for all employees.
Which element(s) listed above plays a vital role in innovation?
o Inherent diversity
o Acquired diversity
o Inclusion
o All above

17. 17The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
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Build a Robust Foundation to Sustain an Inclusive Culture

18. 18The D&I Garden: Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs
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Case in Point: How Breakthroughs Blossom
in a Fertilized Garden of D&I

19. Planbox: A Platform for Scaling D&I²

20. Women inTech Online Community

21. 21
Q&A
Rebecca Komathy
With: Moderated by:
Senior Director, Global Office of Culture, Diversity &
Inclusion, Walmart Inc.
LinkedIn page: /in/donaldfan
Twitter ID: @dajianfan
Website: corporate.walmart.com/
Donald Fan
Webinar Coordinator, Business Innovation Brief and
Human Resources Today
LinkedIn page: /in/rebeccakomathy/
Twitter ID: @innovationbrief
@hrposts
Website: businessinnovationbrief.com
humanresourcestoday.com
https://www.businessinnovationbrief.com/frs/14020083/the-d-i-garden--seeds-of-innovation-that-grow-into-creative-breakthroughs
https://www.humanresourcestoday.com/frs/14020083/the-d-i-garden--seeds-of-innovation-that-grow-into-creative-breakthroughs
The D&I Garden:
Seeds of Innovation that
Grow into Creative Breakthroughs