The document discusses the importance of boards prioritizing inclusion along with diversity. It provides terminology for diversity and inclusion, noting that inclusion is the practice of making all members feel welcome, connected, and able to contribute and grow. It discusses how diversity and inclusion lead to better business outcomes such as increased innovation and risk reduction. The document advises boards to influence inclusion through their strategy, governance, talent practices, integrity framing, and performance oversight. It provides questions for boards to consider and specific actions to embed inclusion in each of these areas.

2. The Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Imperative
for Boards
Dr. Terri Cooper, Deloitte US

3. Boards have been working for years to
improve diversity in their own ranks. Driving
diversity should continue to be a priority.
However, focusing on diversity without
inclusion isn’t enough.

4. What words come to mind when you hear the
word DIVERSITY?

5. What words come to mind when you hear the
word INCLUSION?

6. Terminology: Diversity
Age
Race
Learning Style
Heritage
Role/ Function
Life
Experiences
Political Views
Values
Education
Personality
Profile
Gender Identity
Skills
Work Style
Beliefs
Mental Health
Military Status
Citizenship Birth Order
Interests/
Needs/
Expectations
Purpose
Diversity
The presence of people who, as a group, have a wide
range of characteristics, seen and unseen, which they
were born or have acquired

7. Terminology: Inclusion
Inclusion is the practice of making all members of an
organization feel welcome and giving them equal opportunity
to connect, belong, and grow—to contribute to the
organization, advance their skill sets and careers, and feel
comfortable and confident being their authentic selves

8. Diversity and inclusion lead to better business outcomes
Diversity+inclusion=better business outcomes
20%
30%
A wellspring of creativity,
diversity of thought
increases innovation by
Diversity of thought enables
teams to spot risks, reducing
those by
Diversity of thought leads to:
Organizations with inclusive cultures are:
as likely to meet or
exceed financial
targets as likely to be high-
performing
more likely to be
innovative and agile more likely to achieve
better business outcomes
Inclusive leaders cast a long shadows
Inclusive leaders
Team performance
Individual feelings of inclusion
increase in experiences of fairness, respect, value, and
belonging; psychological safety;
and inspiration
70%
17%
Increase in team
performance
20%
Increase in
decision-making quality
29%
Increase in team
collaboration

9. Inclusion is often essential for attracting, engaging, and
retaining today’s workforce
*Note: The information presented on this presentation is based upon 1,300 US professionals of all levels, ages, genders, races, ethnicities, and sexual orientation. For a description of the full
methodology, please refer to the paper on www.deloitte.com/us/unleashing-inclusion
80%
of respondents indicated inclusion is
important when choosing an
employer
39%
of respondents reported they would
leave their current organization for
a more
inclusive one
23%
of respondents indicated they have
already left an organization for a
more inclusive one

10. Boards have the potential to influence
diversity, equity & inclusion and a
responsibility to do so – for the sake of the
organization and employees, as well as the
shareholders.

11. Shifting to a governance mindset
Chart a clear way forward that embeds inclusion into every facet
of the organization’s work, workforce, and workplace
Influencing inclusion
The board’s responsibilities in five key areas:
Strategy
Governance
Talent
Integrity
Performance

12. STRATEGY
“Boards don’t run the
company—they govern.
Boards can ask questions
about the culture, whether or
not it’s equitable and inclusive,
and how to support an
inclusive culture with the
business strategy. That’s the
board’s job.”
— Director,
Various Fortune 500 organizations

13. How boards can ingrain inclusion into their organizational strategy
Understand Take action
The organization’s working definition of inclusion and it’s
vision for an inclusive culture
1 • Align with management on the definition of inclusion
• Validate management’s inclusion vision, strategies, and goals
• Provide input to shape or enhance the vision, strategies and goals
Whether the business strategy reflects inclusion
2 • Provide input for improvements to the business strategies to best align
with the inclusion vision, strategies and goals
What the organization is doing to advance inclusion, and
where it is making progress
3 • Seek to understand the organizations inclusion maturity level
• Request information to provide guidance on addressing gaps
Existing enablers and barriers to an inclusive culture
4 • Stay aware of the organizations enablers and barriers
• Evaluate and approve approaches to promoting enablers and breaking
down barriers

14. GOVERNANCE
“To truly embody and govern
inclusion, the board should
reflect the diversity of [the
organization’s] customer base
in its composition, create an
inclusive culture within the
boardroom itself, and integrate
equitable and inclusive thinking
and behaviors into all of the
ways that the board operates.”
— Trudy Bourgeois,
Founder and CEO, Center for Workforce Excellence

15. How boards can ingrain inclusion into the way they govern
Understand Take action
How decisions are made, and how inclusion is factored into
those decisions
1 • Consider both diversity and inclusion implications when making decisions
• Ensure that all board members involved in the decision-making process
are heard and respected
Whether board committee charters lay the foundation for
inclusive behaviors in all relevant processes
2 • Embed inclusive language, thinking, and actions into all relevant
proceedings and practices
How the board can best foster or enhance inclusion
through operating principles and behaviors
3 • Assess inclusion governance practices and develop a plan to embed
inclusion into all board processes
• Consider forming an inclusion-specific committee or designating an
inclusion champion within the board as a starting point
Whether data informing the board’s operations and
decisions comes from a diverse set of sources
4 • Avoid confirmation bias by challenging management to seek out
accurate information and research from multiple, diverse sources and
perspectives

16. TALENT
“Where the board can
influence inclusion is in asking
questions like, ‘What is
[management] doing to ensure
that people at all levels and of
all backgrounds have an
opportunity to be developed
and mentored into the senior
management levels?”
— General Lester Lyles (USAF retired),
Chairman, USAA and director, General Dynamics and
NASA

17. How boards can help foster inclusive talent
Understand Take action
How inclusive leadership traits are built into roles and
expectations for senior leaders
1 • Challenge management to set clear expectations for senior and
executive leaders around inclusive leadership
• Use similar criteria to evaluate the CEO and board members
How inclusion is built into the leadership succession plans
2 • Prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion lens in succession planning
• Select inclusive leaders for key positions and encourage management to
do the same
How inclusion goals are built into leadership and
workforce development
3 • Support management in training leaders and employees on
inclusiveness, and help identify experiential gaps
• If needed, suggest new positions specifically focused on driving
inclusion strategy
How leaders, employees, and the board are being trained
on inclusive behaviors
4 • Influence diversity, equity and inclusion education strategy, including a
focus on bias mitigation, and set the tone for the importance of such
education by having board members participate in education initiatives

18. Six signature traits of inclusive leaders
Board members can model these traits and encourage management to set these same traits as formal competencies
for senior leaders
Cognizance
Because bias is a leader’s Achilles heel
As a board member:
Be aware of personal biases and develop
systems to mitigate the impact of those biases
Courage
Because talking about imperfections involves
personal risk-taking
As a board member:
Share with others your strengths and
development areas to role model humility
Commitment
Because staying the course is hard
As a board member:
Commit to demonstrating inclusive leadership
personally, and to holding fellow board
members and the organization accountable
Curiosity
Because bias is a leader’s Achilles heel
As a board member:
Ask questions to avoid assumptions.
Wonder how the definition of success may
be broadened
Cultural intelligence
Because not everyone sees the world
through the same cultural frame
As a board member:
Acknowledge difference as a strength, and
make decisions through an empathetic lens
Collaboration
Because a diverse-thinking team is greater than the
sum of its parts
As a board member:
Proactively collaborate with fellow directors and with
management, and promote collaboration among
diverse individuals across the organization

19. INTEGRITY
“When boards think and act
inclusively, it sends a very clear
message [about] what’s
important to the company.”
— Billie Williamson,
Director, Kraton Corporation, Cushman & Wakefield, and
Pentair

20. How boards can frame inclusion as a matter of integrity
Understand Take action
The organization’s inclusion brand externally, and how it
is manifested
1 • Help management strengthen the organization’s external inclusion brand,
and advise management on any associated risk and areas for
improvement
How the board, management, and other leaders speak
about and embody inclusion, both internally and
externally
2 • Actively embody inclusive leadership behaviors and traits in all personal
and professional interactions
Employees’ perceptions of diversity, equity & inclusion
3 • Challenge management to implement ongoing measures to effectively
assess employee perception of diversity, equity and inclusion at the
organization, as it is a critical business driver
What the organization’s alliances, clients, or vendors
convey about its stance on inclusion
4 • Understand how key stakeholders within the organization’s value chain
approach, manage, and promote inclusion, and consider how that aligns
with, and may affect, the organization’s own commitment to inclusion

21. PERFORMANCE
“[Driving] inclusion has to be a
shared responsibility, but the
roles are different.
Management executes and
advances the [inclusion]
mission, and the board holds
management and the
organization accountable to
that mission.”
— Sheila Penrose,
Chairman, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. and director,
McDonald’s Corporation

22. How boards can monitor the organization’s inclusion performance
Understand Take action
Metrics in place to measure the effectiveness of the
organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and to
identify gaps
1 • Influence the types of metrics used to track the progress and outcomes
• Prioritize inclusion on the board agenda regularly discussing progress
How inclusive behaviors and outcomes recognized at the
individual and organizational levels and how non-inclusive
behaviors are addressed
2 • Publicly and purposefully celebrate improvements in inclusion, and
reward individuals who embody inclusive leadership
• Develop corrective actions and plans in concert with management to
correct or mitigate non-inclusive behaviors
How the organization is pursuing continuous
improvements to enhance its own inclusive practices and
outcomes
3 • Challenge management to implement ongoing measures to effectively
assess employee perception of inclusion at the organization, as it is a
critical business driver

23. The inclusion governance maturity spectrum helps us map where
they are today and where we want to move to in the future
The COMPLIANT board
seeks to avoid legal risks and
does not pursue an inclusion
strategy with management
or actively promote inclusive
boardroom behaviors.
The EMERGENT board
recognizes the importance of
D&I but believes D&I fall
entirely under the purview of
management. An inclusion
strategy may be in place, but
the board has little or no
influence.
The EMBRACING board
sees the value of inclusion
governance but may not
currently govern in such a
way or actively seek to do
so. The board values the
inclusion strategy but sees it
as separate from its business
strategy.
The COLLABORATIVE
board understands the
importance of inclusion
governance, demonstrates
ability to practice it, but
may not have explicitly
documented expectations
on how to carry it out. The
board governs the inclusion
strategy as core to the
business strategy.
The INCLUSIVE board
formally embeds inclusion
expectations in the board’s
charters, consistently
governs through an
inclusion lens, and regularly
challenges and supports
management in enhancing
the organization’s D&I
efforts and progress. The
board governs the inclusion
strategy as core to the
business strategy.
1
2
3
4
5

24. Polling Question : Where do you think your board is today on this
spectrum?
1. Compliant
2. Emergent
3. Embracing
4. Collaborative
5. Inclusive

25. “The endgame is inclusion, and
that is how you come up with
better results and better
solutions for shareholders”
— Director,
Fortune 500 petroleum company
What the board can do now
 Strategy
Understand the organization’s current diversity, equity and
inclusion environment
 Talent
Educate yourself on inclusion and inclusive governance
 Governance
Begin embedding inclusion into all board processes
 Integrity
With management, concretely define what inclusion means
and what behaviors support it
 Performance
Begin prioritizing inclusion as a strategic imperative on the
board’s agenda, and monitor relevant metrics