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22 | TH E M R EP O RT COVER STORY responsibility that's important at every level of every business, and for every person at TD. It's a stra- tegic business imperative for all." From appointing a D&I cham- pion for each business unit to practicing diversity even within the top management, lenders are looking at new ways to ensure that everyone within the organiza- tion is looking at D&I strategically. "Our D&I goals are driven by the top management with goals, objectives, and strategies in D&I communicated top down as part of our overall core objectives for the year; the D&I champion helps us keep track of these goals," said Doris Raimundi SVP, Mortgage Servicing, US Bank. "The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago supports D&I through our workforce, senior leadership team, and Board of Directors. They include a broad mix of individuals with a variety of ideas, differing viewpoints, thought processes, backgrounds, and ex- periences all of which are valued," said Steve Thomas, SVP, Mortgage Capital Markets, at FHLBC. As part of being accountable, it's also important for leaders to truly move beyond the known and seen dimensions of diversity and dig deeper to get over any un- conscious bias that might creep in while recruiting a diverse work- force. According to the University of California's Office of Diversity and Outreach, "Unconscious, or implicit biases are social stereo- types about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious be- liefs about various social and iden- tity groups, and these biases stem from one's tendency to organize social worlds by categorizing." Diversity of Mind I n a recent interview with McKinsey Publishing's Rik Kirkland, Larry Fink, CEO, BlackRock discussed why ensuring "diversity of mind" or various viewpoints was as im- portant to recruiting a talented workforce and getting over unconscious bias. "The most important compo- nent of good management, good leadership, and good stewardship is making sure that you have diversity of mind," Fink told Kirkland. "When you recruit young people from different uni- versities, they all can't come from an Ivy League school. You must start from the foundation that people come from different experi- ences, and they have different op- portunities. If you don't interview a diverse group of people from different universities, different state schools, and various parts in the world, you are not going to get diversity of mind. If you hire all business majors, all engineers, or all people who have one field of expertise, you're going to fall." To ensure diversity, Walker & Dunlop recruits and sponsor employees from diverse schools and backgrounds, according to Paula Pryor, the company's EVP, Human Resources. The company works with groups such as Management Leaders for Tomorrow, Future Leaders, and YearUp to educate themselves in their areas of ex- pertise and to push out the fences on recruitment resources. Walker & Dunlop also hires at least two interns every year through Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), which connects African American, Latino and Native American college graduates to opportunities that build their skills and connections. "Our human resources and legal teams audit processes for uncon- scious bias and provide sustained support to our business leaders as they work to broaden opportunity for people with diverse back- grounds and skill sets to get into the company and to succeed once onboard," said Pryor. Texas Capital Bank's recruiters look at mitigating unconscious bias holistically by also looking at aspects such as diversity in professional experiences and skills, apart from the more obvious areas such as gender and cultural back- ground. "We do this to ensure that the recruiting process reduces any bias and that the firm is com- prised of individuals who share our values and bring diversity of thought," said Kim Arnold, SVP, Director of Talent Development and Diversity & Inclusion at Texas Capital Bank. Diversity of mind as well as moving away from who looks to be the best candidate versus who actually is the best candidate is a core focus in minority-owned firms also. According to Jennifer McGuinness, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Strategic Venture Partners, a woman-owned, minority-owned, and veteran- owned strategy firm, it helps to answer questions like who is the most qualified? Who brings the best skills? Who will lead the best team? Who believes in the brand? "When you can answer these questions, this is who you hire, no matter where they went to college, their nationality, race, sexual orien- tation, or gender," she said. The Business Case for Inclusion I n the context of the workplace, diversity equals representation. "Without inclusion, however, the crucial connections that attract diverse talent, encourage their participation, foster innovation, and lead to business growth won't happen," wrote Laura Sherbin and Ripa Rashid in "Without Inclu- sion Diversity won't Stick" which appeared in the Harvard Business Review. Therefore, it's important to understand how diverse perspec- tives can strengthen customer and employee base. Explaining the importance to connect diversity with inclusion for business, Raimundi said that while diversity was about embracing dif- ferences of all types, inclusion was about making the conscious (or unconscious) decision not to shut out or exclude individuals based "D&I isn't just a side-of-the-desk, nice-to-do-activity. It's a collective responsibility that's important at every level of every business, and for every person at TD Bank. It's a strategic imperative for all." —Rick Bechtel, Head of U.S. Mortgage Servicing, TD Bank