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Naperville panel: Diversity brings 'something amazing' to business

Diversity can come in any number of forms - race, age, gender, religion, nationality, sexuality, politics, perspective - and panelists at a Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce event Monday encouraged business people to embrace them all.

Welcoming diverse characteristics among employees and business partners brings a variety of ideas, which leads to success, panelists said.

"The world is changing and requiring us to embrace perspectives different from our own," said Mario Lambert, director of sales for a contract employee management company called Populus Group and former president of the DuPage County NAACP. "It's hard to do that if you don't have the right diversity of perspective and thoughts and creativity."

Lambert was one of five on a panel that also included Lillian Harris, owner of a recruiting firm called AJO Associates and founder of a women's career development nonprofit called Lillian's House; Harland White, small business liaison officer and supplier diversity analyst for Navistar; Rod Young, project manager in construction at The Will Group, a certified minority-owned business; and Jackie Camacho-Ruiz, an entrepreneur, speaker and author who owns JJR Marketing.

"Everyone is recognizing the importance of embracing something that goes beyond your primary target audience and including other cultures to build your brand," Camacho-Ruiz said. "We all bring something amazing."

Chamber President and CEO Nicki Anderson convened the panel at a time when she said more businesses are adding chief diversity officers to run recruitment and inclusion programs. Diversity is a key ingredient to growth because it brings greater access to talent, she said.

"I believe diversity is really the secret to success with a lot of companies," Anderson said. "Bringing different perspectives together can create some fantastic solutions."

Panelists offered advice both for diverse-owned businesses trying to grow and for those looking to diversify their employees, business partners and customers.

For businesses that are certified as minority-owned or woman-owned, White said it's important to use that designation as an added bonus instead of a main selling point.

"Lead with your business case and then it's, 'Oh, we're also a small business,' or 'Oh, we're also diverse,'" White said. "Know what value you're going to bring."

For businesses that want greater diversity, it's all about making a conscious effort to find it, Young said. This requires a real dedication to changing workplace culture instead of a surface-level desire to "make our company look better and more colorful," he said.

"Be more intentional," Young said. "Really go out and look for companies that have not had access to the contracts in the past."

  Harland White, small business liaison officer and supplier diversity analyst for Navistar in Lisle, says he works to find small and diverse businesses that can provide the parts and services Navistar needs to build engines, trucks, school buses and military vehicles. White was joined Monday on a business diversity panel hosted by the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce by Mario Lambert, Lillian Harris, Rod Young and Jackie Camacho-Ruiz. Marie Wilson/mwilson@dailyherald.com
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