CEO Remarks

We must excel at the traditional measures of diversity, but that's really only half of the story. We also need to excel at inclusion – we need to value the opinions and perspectives of everybody in the organization, no matter of their culture. In order to be a truly globally diverse company, we must see various countries and regions not only as markets for our products but also sources of talent and innovation. Today, 50% of our employees are in 37 countries other than the United States. This needs to be a source of competitive strength.

By making Grace more welcoming to diverse voices, we expand the talent pool. We also expand the number of perspectives and ideas that are available to us. The real value lies in this richness of perspective and thought. To be a truly diverse company, we need to embrace and leverage the differences among us. Because when we do so, we make our company stronger, more effective, more flexible and more innovative.

In this respect, diversity is very closely related to open communications. Our culture needs to respect open debate on our ideas and methods in a way that encourages all people to participate because they know that all contributions are valued.

Diversity is not an American phenomenon, by the way. In the U.S., it means creating a culture that is more welcoming to the differences and backgrounds that make up our population. However, the U.S. has only 5 percent of the world's population.

As our company becomes increasingly global, as we put feet on streets all over the world, we are giving ourselves the ability to draw the best ideas from some of the brightest minds in the world. We must look beyond American shores to grow our workforce and our leadership, to include as wide an array of backgrounds as possible.