DEIB Is Not Dead: Leading The Way In Inclusive Leadership For The Channel

In the ever-evolving landscape of the IT industry, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging have become not just buzzwords but vital components of success.

The Channel Company has always been driven by a fundamental commitment: to create the best avenues for partners and vendors to connect, whether it’s through print, in-person events or online platforms. From the highest levels of leadership down to every member of our organization, we have striven to be the best in our field while maintaining a steadfast dedication to hospitality, customer service, kindness and care.

I hope that each of you has experienced this commitment firsthand. If you have not, we encourage you to share your thoughts through our feedback channels. Our commitment to your experience is unwavering.

It is this unwavering commitment that brings us together, dear reader. In today’s rapidly changing world, CRN, and its parent organization The Channel Company, recognize that solution providers hunger for knowledge around not just diversity, equity, Inclusion and belonging (DEIB), but methods of inclusive leadership.

To that end, you’ll be seeing a lot more content around those topics on CRN.com as I join the editorial team as a columnist. Our paths might already have crossed through my work with vendors, partners and advisors for the past two years to build the Inclusive Leadership Network or at one of The Channel Company’s events, where I have led sessions on stage as well as our DEI Workshop at our 2023 XChange August conference. In addition, my background in Women’s and Gender Studies and a Master’s-level credential in Human Relations uniquely position me to advise, counsel and suggest actionable frameworks for change that you might consider within your own business.

The Channel Company’s Inclusive Leadership Journey

Inequities and injustice persist despite some of our best intentions and we, as innovators of technology, are well-suited to build an ecosystem focused on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.

Recognizing this, The Channel Company’s journey toward a more equitable and inclusive future began in 2019, a commitment that will continue in the future under new CEO Matt Yorke.

“The IT space is blessed,” said Yorke. “Our innovations change the world. Inclusion is a part of that change."

One of the first steps in this journey was the addition of inclusion as a core value at The Channel Company. Collectively, we committed ourselves to building a culture where everyone in our company and in our readership can be celebrated for being their authentic selves. We celebrate diverse perspectives, believing that our differences drive smart decisions, inspire fresh innovation and lead to powerful performance.

Our decision to make inclusion a core value reflects our belief that culture is something we can shape. It is often said that culture is built either by default or design. We choose to design our future culture in line with our aspirations, even if it means deviating from past defaults.

CRN has long been a champion of all types of solution providers, a commitment that now extends to a new space under CRN.com’s Running Your Business section. Inclusive Leadership has a new home, both online and via a new newsletter. In the coming months you can expect a data-informed approach to innovative leadership. We understand that decisions driven solely by feelings and ethics can fall short. Thus, we turn to internal and external data, both qualitative and quantitative methods.

The Channel Company and CRN.com strive to lead by example, putting our goals for inclusion into practice by conducting employee engagement studies augmented by an annual inclusion study. These studies provide a holistic view of our organizational culture. By analyzing the data, we can address challenges and plan effective solutions.

This approach is not only for our internal stakeholders. It extends to the wider ecosystem as we make the important distinction between being data-informed and data-driven. While the latter implies rigidly following data, the former involves using data as a guide to make informed decisions. We opt for the former, understanding that data can illuminate the path forward.

DEIB In The Channel At Large

Earlier this year, we conducted a comprehensive survey of more than 350 members of the IT channel to understand their perspectives on DEIB and its importance to their business. The goal of this CRN study was to ask the right questions, enabling us to gather insight that can inform our journey toward greater equity and inclusion.

I’m excited to share the outcomes of this survey in the coming weeks. I hope you all find encouragement in the data as it reaffirms that DEIB is not a fading trend but a crucial factor in the success of solution providers. It highlights the imperative for solution providers to invest in DEIB practices, and it reinforces that The Channel Company is the best-equipped resource for solution providers seeking to build their DEIB best practices.

To put it simply: DEIB is not dead; it’s very much alive and thriving in the IT industry. The Channel Company’s unwavering commitment to inclusion as a core value and its data-informed approach set the stage for a brighter, more equitable and inclusive future for solution providers and their vendor partners. As we move forward, let us continue this journey together, guided by data, driven by purpose and committed to making a real difference in our industry.

Welcome to Inclusive Leadership on CRN.com!