Tony Tenicela is a global leader and business development executive with IBM focused on workplace diversity and LGBT markets.  Because I have worked so closely with IBM for the past four years, I was extremely interested in talking with him.  I think his expertise is extremely valuable for any employees and executives of companies that have global ambitions.  In a world that is changing at a rapid pace, companies need to provide a place where all employees feel included and empowered.

Our conversation includes Tony’s career path, starting with his founding of a startup in San Francisco, and his work at IBM today advising multinational corporations and local enterprises around the world on how to leverage diversity and human capital in order to improve workforce effectiveness, address the needs of employees, foster collaboration, and stimulate innovation.

Additionally, we cover:

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• The Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) in the United States and the effect it will have on workplace diversity there and around the world. “Each incremental legal strengthening of LGBT rights under U.S. law helps to remove barriers to creating diversity in our organizations…. A success with ENDA in the U.S. would also provide global visibility for the topic of equal opportunity in the marketplace.  Even if it doesn’t pass in the House, the fact that it was a resounding success in the Senate, I feel that it already created that type of visibility that will really enable companies around the world to really consider, ‘What do we need to do in order to equally address every employee to give them every single type of opportunity that’s possible.’â€
  
• The career path Tony envisioned for himself when he was young:  A physician and a translator for the United Nations.
  
• Coming out, “Every day we all come out. Every member of the LGBT community is always challenged to come out in some way or fashion. But when someone like myself has the benefit of working for a company that has such strong commitment to diversity and especially to the LGBT community, it really does provide you with a feeling of security, a feeling of respect, a feeling of responsibility to help others in their journey of coming out.â€
  
• The definition of success, “Maximizing opportunity and embracing passion during our short lifetime but at the same time creating a home environment that’s supportive, fulfilling and loving.  The work-life balance is really critical for anyone’s happiness and for anyone to consider their lives successful.  From a career standpoint, I think taking risks, I think having mentors is incredibly important.  I heavily rely on mentors for their advice and their support and their encouragement to really help me make the right decisions and help guide me on this journey.â€
  
• Diversity in companies, “C Suite executives are becoming more interested in learning how diversity can stimulate business growth and how investments in diversity initiatives can improve customer intimacy, effectively address global markets, and help to customize products and services for target markets. And as a result of creating the business case for diversity in language that’s understood by C suite executives, it helps them understand the value proposition of diversity not only in the workforce but also as a marketplace competitive differentiator…. Diversity is multidimensional. It’s not just about women.  It’s not just about disabilities.  It’s really about an enterprises commitment to capture diverse ideas and experiences from its workforce in all facets of the organization in order to better serve customer and global markets.  The outcome of that effort and the momentum that we are seeing as a result of greater understanding and appreciation for diversity helps C Suite executives to be more curious to learn more about more specific elements of diversity that are more workplace related.â€
  
• Integrating diversity into a company culture:  Three steps 1) Education 2) Executive sponsorship “In any corporate environment it’s always essential to have the commitment and the sponsorship of some key executives who understand the business case and the reason for promoting and addressing diversity.†3) Encouraging an nurturing grassroots leaders at the employee level. “All companies have passionate employees about diversity. It’s really important to embrace that and have management realize and appreciate that these leaders really want to work with them on addressing diversity.â€
  
• Employee Resource Groups, “Help to organize employees who share an affinity or part of a particular community. They traditionally will encourage employees to work together to provide training and networking opportunities.  They also serves as an important driver for addressing the needs of those respective communities…. what has transpired over the past few years, is that employee resource groups are taking another focus in that a lot of companies like IBM are starting to transform the main objective of the ERG to also include a marketplace component.  ERGs are not only serving to address the needs of their respective communities but also starting to contribute to the business by working to perhaps identify new decisions in their communities, working with the sales and marketing teams to really start cultivating those relationships and leveraging those relationships in order to differentiate the company in competitive situations. IBM recently announced the nomenclature changing from “Diversity Network Groups†To “Business Resource Groups†with the intention of really encouraging our Business Resource Groups to work more closely with my organizations like my own team to really help understand which organizations we should be investing in, what kind of opportunities should can actually explore by leveraging their own relationship networks in their respective communities.  It’s a very exciting time for ERGs today in the corporate world because they really are emphasizing a greater concentration of work and really trying to contribute back to the business. It goes back to the importance of driving ROI because so many companies are focused on return on investment and so this is one way you can clearly see how employee resource groups are contributing back to the business.â€
  
• Best piece of career advice, “It is really important to find something you love and do it better than anyone else.â€
  
• Secrets for maintaining work-life balance, “One of the great things about IBM is the company’s commitment to creating a flexible working environment for its global workforce.  IBM’s philosophy today is that in a world that enjoys the benefits of collaboration tools, IBMers shouldn’t need to go to work, they should do work… From a personal perspective I think what really helps me to create that  work-life balance is, just as we make commitments to the business I’ve made commitments to my family.  It’s really important for me to continue balancing out the way that I’m able to keep the business going but at the same time also make sure that I have a fulfilling life at home.â€