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Making diversity and inclusion part of our strategy for innovation

I recently had the privilege of joining leaders from Google, Coca-Cola and The Home Depot for a panel discussion at the Technology Association of Georgia’s annual Converge conference, where critical conversations on diversity in technology took center stage.

As I shared with the audience, a culture of diversity and inclusion at Sharecare is critical to our success, yet it must remain a “North Star.” Here, we are lucky that many of our founding employees and 40% of our executive team are women, and their leadership serves as a meaningful example for our entire organization. In fact, 70% of our workforce is female, which is an astounding statistic rarely seen in tech. But like many organizations, we still have a lot to do to achieve our goals of becoming a more diverse and inclusive company.

More often than not, I see companies approach diversity from outside, in – bringing in a diverse talent pool by adopting new policies and making sure inclusivity is ingrained within recruiting. These efforts are frankly overdue, and absolutely important to making the workplace reflect the populations these companies serve. But it cannot stop there: Companies must also foster cultures of inclusion from inside, out.

In our case, Sharecare has been fortunate enough to acquire 13 promising companies that each bring their own talent, experiences and unique cultures to the table. For reasons such as this, our definition of diversity must extend beyond the demographics of our people, but also speak to the cultural makeup of these employee populations. It’s imperative that we not only pay attention and listen to our people, but also meet them where they are and embrace their identities – just as we embrace the unique sets of skills, experiences, perspectives they choose to bring to our organization.