“DEIB is an important business issue?”
I’m a gray-hair raised in working-class culture.
I recently found this acronym DEIB. And I didn’t have a clue what it meant.
I found an explanation. It stood for Diversity, Equality, Inclusion, and Belonging.
I also found the following statement; “Initiating DEIB policies are among the most important initiatives in the business world today.”
Is DEIB among the most important business issues?
Before I address the question
My first real paycheck was as a high school part-time stock boy in a liquor store.
It didn’t take long to recognize that the customer walking through the front door … “buzz” … mattered most. Without the “door-buzz”, there was no reason to unlock the door.
Marketing
I chose business as my college major.
Intro to Marketing was the first class that drew my interest.
Marketing then was not the current popular understanding of the term marketing. The current meaning seems limited to what we had described as promotion; advertising, promotional events, point-of-purchase material, and personal sales.
In any case, our young hip marketing professor sat with legs folded on his desk.
It was one of his many methods of drawing our attention; an effective promotional concept. He initiated the course with customer orientation. Orient ALL business activity toward the customer.
As I discovered in my high school part-time job, business starts with a customer,
a focus on their problem, and a proposed solution. He opened the marketing door, “Buzz.”
DEIB
Some recite this acronym with sincere feeling as they forgo diligent business strategic and tactical thought.
They suspend the focus on the customer. That’s a problem. Because all business activity should orient toward the customer; no door “buzz”, no business, and no place for DIEB.
Customer-Focused DEIB.
DEIB has a place in business if oriented toward the customer.
Hire staff that understands the targeted customer problem/solution.
Seek a ‘hire’ who welcomes customer diversity, equally and expertly shares problem-solving, earns customer trust with focused inclusion of their needs and wants, and gains loyalty by creating a feeling of belonging.
DEIB focus on the customer has always been the most important business issue.
That’s how to keep the door “buzzing”.
What’s your take?