Diversity and Inclusion in Shanghai

How lovely to have Morgan Stanley Vice President Wilson Qiu as the host of our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy Executive Roundtable, held Friday, May 17th, 2019. Wilson welcomed eight guests from a wide range of industries to the 77th floor of their WFC building in Shanghai’s LuJiaZui wearing a purple t-shirt to show his support for International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. May 17th is the Firm’s “Wear It Purple Day” all around the world. 

In opening remarks, Wilson shared about Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) at Morgan Stanley, emphasizing how the global CEO embeds a D&I approach across the business and supporting organizations. Because Morgan Stanley has been working with Em for the past several years, especially with the Woman’s Business Alliance (WBA), their internal women’s employee resource group, Wilson highlighted some of the projects we’ve collaborated on.

Key takeaways from the dynamic discussion included:

• D&I motivation varies greatly across different industries, and the more connected it is to the mission & values and business the better  – from product innovation and competitive advantage in technology companies to belongingness in companies experiencing big change to ensuring front line employees are at their best in the service industry.
• People of different generations are approaching and understanding topics related to diversity and inclusion differently and there is a need to bridge them together and to form more meaningful connections across generations.
• Offering inclusive leadership is an important step for leadership teams so that they are appropriately modeling inclusion in their day to day interactions both internally and externally.
• Diversity Councils, at the global, regional, and in-country levels have proven as effective ways to localize initiatives, get traction and keep momentum in China.
• It takes courage to open yourself up and see things in a new way. We acknowledged this in the room and the importance of honoring this in all of our D&I endeavors.

If you’re looking to grow diversity and inclusion in your organization and are interested to learn more about the programs we offer for organizations, including workshops and experiences around Inclusive leadership, unconscious bias, diversity and inclusion strategy, reach out to us!

Em Roblin has been passionately creating experiences for people to grow professionally and personally for over 15 years, and has worked with thousands of people and partnered with top global organizations. She is the founder of two brands: one focused on Inclusion and Diversity with an expertise in localizing D&I strategy in China. The other brand, Inner Circles, offers courses for women to grow personally and professionally. With lots of programs going on - from their sought-after offline experiences to online workshops - be sure to follow Em to stay updated.