John Hewitt0:04
They have Understanding is an initiative by the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, which creates a safe day in the corporation where fellow employees can talk to each other and share the things in their lives that they've gone through that's impacted them, whether that's harassment issues or phone line from a race or sex or gender bias, to create a more inclusive and a safer work environment where people feel comfortable bringing their whole self to work. I've had the opportunity to talk to other CEOs in some pretty major companies that have been doing this for a couple years, and the outcomes of those days of understanding, the dialogues, the open dialogues between employees, has been exceptionally powerful. As we grow up and mature both personally and professionally, you start to look at things differently. Hopefully you start to look at things differently. There's a lot of people that are my age that haven't changed the way they see things from where they grew up. I know I'm not perfect on all of these topics, but I know I've changed a lot. I'm starting to see better through other people's eyes the roadblocks that they have, not just to their careers but just in everyday life, because they're either their race or because they might be LGBTQ or they might be disabled. So because they're different, we've got to do something as a society, and I feel obligated as the CEO of a company that I can help, I can make a difference. So in a sort of indirect way, this is a way for me to give back to the community and to society, but I can drive this topic within our company. As I look into our organization and think about all the employees that to some extent I feel sort of responsible for, to make sure that they've got a safe work environment to come to work, every person has an opportunity to be at the table, not because of how they look or what their race is, but because they earned their spot because of what they know, their work ethic, their values, their culture. Everybody has an idea about something, so we have to be an organization where those ideas, people are comfortable to give those ideas, those ideas flow up freely, and everybody can be part of the process within the company. So when you think about bringing that diversity into a room at work, it's an opportunity to be inclusive, to bring everybody together and get really great ideas instead of everybody who maybe grew up in the same town, went to the same high school, all played on the same football team, and now they all work together, they're all gonna think the same. So when you think about the whole topic of inclusion and diversity, yes it's a broad topic, yes it's race, yes it's gender, but it's also all the other things that go on behind the scenes. Our ability as a company to harness the power of the diversity of the people in the room and make sure that they are comfortable to engage with everybody else in the room to solve problems, to help make decisions, to help guide the company to think strategically, is going to be a real key to our success. At the end of the day, it all starts with me, because people appreciate the fact that the CEOs of companies are the ones that can make the most impact. Leadership at all levels creates action and helps with direction. So on this specific topic of inclusion and diversity, it's something that can't be led out of the human resources department, it has to be led from the top. I have to be personally invested and engaged in the topic, which for me is easy because I personally believe in it. I believe that we make the topic real, pushing it in our organizations, leading by example with our engagement, dealing with those issues up front and openly, and creating an inclusive environment is the only way we're going to make a change in society. On Tuesday, February 25th, Matrix Service Company is going to do our first Day of Understanding. I invite everybody to make sure that you engage with that, come with an open mind, and I think and hope that everybody who engages in it is really going to get something out of it.
