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Valuing Diversity in Your Business

  • By Luther G. Perkins
  • •
  • 04 Sep, 2018
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Diversity is increasingly becoming an essential element in the modern world of business. It is critical to the ability of an organization to innovate and also adapt to the fast-paced business environment. A good number of the most successful entrepreneurs and admired business leaders will echo this sentiment. Diversity is essential to not only the growth but also prosperity of any firm.

Companies that desire to prosper must embrace diversity in all aspects – in terms of experiences, perspectives, cultures, age and genders. Why is diversity in business given so much importance? It’s pretty straightforward; it breeds innovation, which in turn leads to business success.

What Exactly is Diversity?

It is best defined as any characteristic, approach or perspective to work brought to the workplace by different individuals. These features can either be visible or non-visible. They include:

  • Physical characteristics such as gender, age, color, race, appearance, abilities, personality and cognitive style among many others
  • Cultural features such as national or ethnic background, lifestyle, sexual orientation, family/marital status
  • Socio – economic characteristics include factors such as job function, profession, education and social class

These features largely contribute to a person’s cultural identity. This, in turn, shapes the attitudes, values and behaviors shared by the majority of people in a given group. The constantly evolving labor demographics coupled with globalization and consumer composition have developed powerful impetus for transformation in the traditional workplace. For a company to attain and retain a competitive advantage over its rivals, it needs to have people with the potential to provide the best service to the clients. Ideally, this must be a diverse group of individuals who are chosen and helped to grow on the basis of fairness and merit.

An organization that hasn’t embraced diversity needs to act with speed. Workplace diversity is crucial to the future success of businesses operating in all industry. The world has changed, and more changes are still taking place. Demographic patterns and trends around the globe, alongside cultural and social shifts, are causing increasing pressure on firms’ business practices.

What is the Starting Point?

A company needs to establish what diversity means to it. For the majority of businesses, it entails the creation of an inclusive organization – an environment where the differences of everyone is valued, respected and utilized towards the achievement of a common goal. Diversity results in different thoughts, ideas, opinions, and approaches of realizing business objectives.
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How Do You Inspire Strategic Vision?

By Luther G. Perkins • December 28, 2018
Sometimes, managers have to deal with the frustrations of strategic initiatives that don’t get done. They fail to understand why this actually happens. If only managers would know how best to inspire strategic vision. One of the biggest causes attributed to the unsuccessful implementation of strategic initiatives is the huge amount of energy utilised in running daily operations. Look at it this way; between serving clients and working towards a strategic vision, what will your team work on? It’s not rocket science – employees will mostly focus on the routine work.

When Should I Bring an Investor into My Small/Medium Sized Business?

By Luther G. Perkins • September 18, 2018

When is the right time to bring an investor into my small or medium sized business? A good number of management teams and business owners have rushed this business decision. Most of the time, the final results weren’t as good as they had envisaged. The decision about when to bring investors on board must be well thought out.

Of course, investors present a validating opportunity capable of taking your business to new heights. However, it must always be remembered that good things come to the people who are willing to put in some patience. Delayed gratification has a lot of benefits – hidden treasure for that matter. As a result, you don’t have to feel compelled to accept the very first offers coming your way. Rather, take the time to analyze the business plan and finances of the company. This will help you determine whether the company really needs funding from outside to realise its objectives. Should it become apparent that you need outside funding find out how is needed exactly.

Apparently, a firm will be required to relinquish some amount of control as well as a share of the economic upside when the partnership is concluded. Ideally, every business would want to retain the autonomy for as long as it is possible – for the purpose of establishing the business vision. However, at times, companies are left with no other option other than outside funding for them to scale.

For the majority of businesses, there are times when it is more advantageous to accept external funding. While the firm can self-fund itself even for over a decade, sometimes outside funding is needed when a new platform is being launched. A process of this nature is characterized by a couple of rounds of financial forecasting. The objective is to have clarity about the cost of attaining the business vision and if the firm can afford the cost without additional funding from outside investors.

Several factors must be put into account when considering external funding. They include:

  • Whether to finance the business with debt or equity. Consider your options for debt financing and the implications of the terms such as the scheduled repayments and interest. Will your business be able to make payments out of its future cash flows? The other option entails giving up part of the equity. What proportion of the equity are you willing to give up? This takes us to the next factor 
  • What level of control are you prepared to sacrifice? Think about the consequences of giving up some amount of control.
  • Have you identified an investor? Is it someone you are comfortable partnering with? Excellent partners thrive on mutual understanding and appreciation for each other.
  • Establish and understand the full terms of the investment agreement. The importance of this step cannot be sufficiently stressed.

How to Hire Key Employees

By Luther G. Perkins • September 4, 2018
Undeniably, the most successful companies have one thing in common – talented, experienced and dedicated employees. Yes, today, workers are an asset to the organization. As such, utmost caution must be observed during the recruitment process, and more so, if it has anything to do with obtaining key employees. This is a sensitive matter that should be handled in the most delicate way.