Harvard Business Review

As a keynote speaker at Sodexho's Inclusion Summit in Paris last month, I got an inside take on where Europe is at on the diversity front.

I encountered some residual suspicion of the diversity and inclusion agenda. At the kick-off event, a "meet and greet" cocktail hour, one recalcitrant French executive put it succinctly, "none of us like the fact that this entire field was developed in America. In a George W. Bush world, U.S. exports just aren't that popular."

But practical business realities are fast undermining such attitudes.

Take Sodexho's situation. According to Rohini Anand, Sodexho's Chief Diversity Officer, over the next decade the giant food and facilities management company (which employs 300,000 people worldwide) needs to recruit two million young people to meet its growth objectives. In her words, "there's no way to accomplish this without becoming an 'employer of choice' for all talent, including female and multi-cultural employees."

So Michel Landel, CEO of Sodexho, has pledged to become a leader in D&I . This commitment was on display in Paris on January 24. Landel insisted that his entire global leadership team attend--men as well as women. He showcased successful diversity initiatives at Merrill Lynch, P&G, IBM, and Sanofi-Aventis. This spoke volumes because these firms are important clients of Sodexho. Finally, he had the good sense to attend the conference himself. I don't mean that he ducked in and out--he was physically present for the entire daylong summit.

In an interview, Landel talked about his motives. "A commitment to diversity is essential to tap into the best talent. But it's also the only way to come through for customers. This company intersects with a huge array of customers--each year there are 50 million 'touch points' globally. If we cannot understand the values and attitudes of men and women around the world, we're dead."

"Some years ago I lost an account at a Jewish university in the U.S. I hate losing accounts and I went back to find out why. I was told that the company had been less than fully responsive to a request for more Kosher meals. We'd agreed to supply three Kosher meals a week, which, from the vantage point of the university was meager in the extreme. Even part-time Kosher people need more than that."

Landel is not just talk, he has clear, concrete goals. He fully intends moving the dial on diversity at Sodexho. For example, he is significantly increasing the number of women in top ranks over the next three years.

Landel exemplifies a new breed of European CEO, one who is unafraid to take on board some of the best elements in American-style talent management practices to succeed in a fiercely competitive global marketplace. His French/German/Italian counterparts have much to learn here.

What are you doing to further your company's diversity and inclusion agenda?

Read all of Sylvia Ann Hewlett's "Winning the Talent War" posts.

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