Mark Latchford, the Vice President of IBM’s Systems and Technology Group in Australia and New Zealand, gave a presentation at the Rainbow Conversations Human Rights Conference in Melbourne about the role of businesses in fostering sexual orientation and gender identity diversity. OUTinPerth’s Megan Smith caught up with Mark following the conference to find out more.
Megan Smith : Why do you feel it was important for IBM to be a participant at the human rights conference and a sponsor of the Asia Pacific Outgames?
Mark Latchford: In Australia, we have a fundamental war on talent in attracting and retaining the best people we can. Twenty years ago, it was not an issue in this country, but the reality is there are not enough people available to do much of the work that we want. Part of the focus of IBM is that an inclusive organization, an organization that is visibly supportive of the diversity within their population, is one that is much more likely to attract people and much more likely to retain those people. The argument that I elaborated on in Melbourne was you can’t profess to have the most vigorous innovative culture and capacity unless you are able to attract the most diverse population of thinkers and doers. I argued that diversity begets creativity, which in turn begets innovation.
MS: What was your impression of the conference and the discussion generated?
ML: I was delighted to give a corporate, or business perspective at the Human Rights Conference about why a company would spend energy and resources on this whole issue of diversity and the GLBT community. The feedback I got from the members of the IBM LGBT community – we sent about a dozen representatives to the conference itself from around the country and New Zealand – was that they found the conference built their confidence that these issues are being discussed and supported.
MS: IBM was the first corporate float to march in Mardi Gras. Why did IBM feel it was important to have a corporate presence at Mardi Gras?
ML: It wasn’t a strategic or marketing decision, in its original format. Part of the ethos behind the GLBT community within IBM in Australia was that the community itself should set the agenda for what is important and what’s not. It was a group of gay folks within IBM who said we want to be in the parade, we are pleased to be part of the IBM work force, why don’t we join the two together?
What was very interesting from my observation was that as they marched along the route, another 50 or 60 IBMers from around the world who were on vacation said ‘that’s my company, I’m going to join the parade.’ Now, I don’t think you can actually do that…
MS: IBM’s slogan for the Asia Pacific Outgames was ‘Stop Talking, Start Doing’, What has IBM done to make diversity more than just a discussion?
ML: We’ve sponsored Mardi Gras, Midsumma, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Business Association Annual Awards Dinner. We’ve provided some IBM infrastructure for Joy FM, a gay radio station.
Some of the other things, which I think are equally important, come back to the people and their relationship with the company. I first got involved with this because I discovered that one of my top performers when I was based in Europe was really stressed about putting his hand up for a more aggressive career path because he wasn’t out at work. He said, ‘there’s no point in me striving to be an executive or whatever because I’m gay and I’ll get a hard time.’ It was an epiphany for me to realize that this guy’s contribution may have been diluted because he was worried about this. It dawned on me that it was not unusual. One thing I thought was particularly important was to focus on the mentoring program. If anyone is interested in having a mentor beyond his chain of command as part of the career development, they can identify a career mentor that is empathetic to some of the unique issues [GLBT] people have and have that career counsel access.
MS: How does IBM approach fostering GLBT inclusion in the workplace in the more conservative cultures of the Asia Pacific?
ML: We have westerners in these geographies, but in this community, we’re pretty adamant that the sponsor needs to be a local. Otherwise, having a western person saying we should open the window to come up with these proactive GLBT initiatives, the longevity of those initiatives would be abysmal. So, it has to be grown from within. By making the Asia Pacific Outgames an Asia initiative and not just an ANZ initiative, we showed a little leadership to the other countries.
