JoshLuke Visconti launched DiversityInc in 1997. Under his leadership, as CEO, it has become the leading publication for diversity with a worldwide rank of number one when it comes to total traffic and social media reach. DiversityInc has an impressive following on Facebook and Twitter and a subscription of nearly 250,000 to its email newsletter with nearly 200,000 people subscribing to the magazine itself.
Visconti is also responsible for the creation of the DiversityInc Top 50 which highlights corporations leading the way in diversity. Visconti developed the methodology used to determine which companies have the greatest diversity and the information gathered in the process to create a thriving consulting and benchmarking practice as well. He personally meets with more than 40 CEOs each year to discuss diversifying the workplace, not just among rank and file employees, but in corporate leadership as well.
Why is Diversity so Important?
To Visconti, diversity is so much more than a buzzword and isn’t limited by race but extends to disability, gender, and more. Visconti once pointed out that women are discriminated against in much greater rates. He believes that if businesses focus solely on attracting hiring, developing, and retaining top talent than focusing on race and gender, they will be much better served by employees who are engaged and trust their employers.
Engagement, after all, is the difference between having employees who work for you until something that looks better comes along and having a committed team of talented experts who are active, loyal, and dedicated to making YOUR business better than ever before. Visconti believes it’s an important distinction that should not be overlooked.
Businesses that invest in minority, female, and handicapped employees have the added benefit of giving them the tools they need in order to succeed and benefiting from having a pool of diverse thought processes, backgrounds, and talent on their hands. Men and women, for instance approach problems from different directions. This allows for a wider range of potential solutions when problem solving becomes necessary.
He believes that businesses with diversity at all levels of the ranks have more to offer because diversity drives innovation. Handicapped people are often overlooked as having a contribution beyond simple tasks and low wage employment. The problem with that it discounts the fact that they see problems differently – and that sometimes, even those with mental handicaps can offer simple solutions that all the brain power at NASA would never come up with. We all know that those simple solutions are often the best and most cost effective solutions available.
The bottom line for businesses is that diversity is important because they are marketing their products to a diverse audience. In order to meet the needs of that wider audience, you need to understand the people you’re marketing the products to. A diverse workplace gives you the insight of the very people you’re targeting with the products you create. What greater opportunity do you have to serve the needs of your market than by getting their insight when the products are being designed, created, packaged, and marketed?
Luke Visconti Qualifications
For the past 18 years, DiversityInc has been Luke Visconti’s passion and his work. In addition to his responsibilities at the magazine, Visconti also consults with corporations about their own diversity needs and how they can create a more diversity oriented workplace for the future. He also does tours and lectures explaining the benefits of diversity in the workplace, at all levels. He has made appearances on MSNBC, FOX, CNBC, and NPR and is often quoted in articles appearing in the Chicago Tribune, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and The New York Times.
In addition to his duties in the field of diversity, he also serves as an Overseer for the Foundation Board at Rutgers University, Foundation Board Chair at New Jersey City University, is a Member of the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel, a Board Member of the PhD project (dedicated to increasing diversity in board rooms by increasing diversity among business school faculty.
Luke Visconti attended Rutgers University here he earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology and has received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Bennett College in May of 2015 and an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from New Jersey City University in May of 2013.
He has received many awards and honors over the years resulting from his commitment to diversity in all forms and feels gratitude that something he feels so passionate about and that he has dedicated his life to promote is finally being addressed in workplaces, large and small, throughout the country. The greater the demands for his services become, the more he feels he is accomplishing his mention. The true, hope, though is that one day we will not need lessons in bringing diversity into the workplace because it will become the new normal in all workplaces.