Last week I had the opportunity to attend the 2015 Diversity Summit sponsored by Portland General Electric (PGE).

The theme of this year’s summit, “Diversity and Innovation,” spoke to the desire of organizations that are looking to a diverse workforce for innovative ideas in order to provide their customers with exceptional services and products.

The first keynote speaker, Frans Johannson, CEO of The Medici Group, presented the idea of “the intersection of thinking” – using a diverse thought process to drive innovation. How do organizations deliver a diverse thought process? By allowing diverse groups of people to work together to develop new and exciting ways to conduct business. One person’s view of the world or issue is combined with other views from a diverse group of people to come up with innovative ideas. Diverse teams can unleash an explosion of new ideas.

The second keynote speaker, Bruce Tulgan, CEO of Rainmaker Thinking, gave a great presentation on the generations in the workplace. Bruce was quite entertaining while describing the results of his many years of interviews and research which delved into the differences that the generations are presenting in the workplace. He provided action items for employers as they plan for the departure of the Baby Boomers and the emergence of Generation “Z”.

Also included in the summit were numerous breakout sessions. I attended, “Developing Intercultural Competence” presented by Dr. Janet Bennett, “Leading Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives in Our Organization” presented by Steve Hanamura and “Building an ROI-Focused Diversity Scorecard: A strategic Six-Stage Model” presented by Dr. Edward Hubbard.

I was most impressed by the conversations that occurred before the summit began, at lunch and in between the break-out sessions. With over 300 attendees, you can imagine the variety of thought and strategies discussed. From the small non-profit just beginning to work on their diversity initiatives to large corporations that have complete departments devoted to their already diverse workforce, conversations ran the gamut from “Where do I start?” to “This didn’t work for us, so I suggest you try something else!”

I look forward to incorporating the gems of knowledge given at the summit into our diversity and inclusion efforts to help make MacKay Sposito an even stronger company. A diverse workforce isn’t just about gender, race, or age. It is also about life experiences, work styles, education, learning & communication styles, attitudes, and many other aspects that make up a human being. Our already diverse culture can only be strengthened and empowered by increasing opportunities to work together, learn from each other, and continue to develop innovative & exciting approaches to our business.