When I think of our best future, I am reminded of our best selves. A shared and collaborative unit that requires different opinions, preferences, and experiences. A place where knowledge and experiences are sought out, celebrated, and embraced. You see, diversity is NOT about compliance and being transactional. It is not about tolerance, sensitivity, or giving special treatment to a certain group of people.

Instead, it is important to understand that diversity is proactive and transformational. In fact, strong evidence supports this understanding. The evidence reveals that diverse teams often out-perform homogeneous ones. That inclusive teams are two times as likely to meet or exceed financial goals, three times as likely to be high performing, six times more likely to be more innovative, and eight times more likely to achieve better business outcomes.

You see, workers with diverse cultural backgrounds have unique experiences and perceptions that strengthen productivity. When properly managed, diversity makes it possible to leverage the strengths of employees and complement their weaknesses. Instead, diversity can strengthen relationships with customers by making communication more effective.

Just as important as these facts is the shift in our own behavior and mindset. It appears our future selves are the key to our own success. When we are open and diverse in our most cherished places of success, then, and only then, can our best work be achieved. You see, our future world is changing in front of us and we have to adapt to that change.

We know this because we are seeing a shift in the workplace. It is estimated that, by 2055 (less than 36 years from now), the U.S. will no longer have a single racial or ethnic majority. This shift toward a more diverse population is already having major impacts on the future workforce and therefore impacts how we address diversity in the workplace. It appears our future workforce is demanding a more collaborative and cohesive workplace experience.

When reading the results from the World Economic Forum on the need for diversity on Board of Directors, for example, whether you believe in quotas or not, the almost undeniable truth is that companies with women on their boards outperform companies with all-male boards. In fact, the companies that act quickly will not only reap the business advantages of board diversity sooner rather than later, but also set the gold standard among their peers and send a strong message to their clients/customers and employees that diversity matters.

Remember, we are a competitive society, and therefore, we seek competitive advantages. Organizations who best understand this breakthrough and apply this wisdom will effectively hold a distinct advantage when it comes to recruiting, hiring, and attracting the best talent. Oh, you haven’t heard? There is a war on talent. Keeping and recruiting the best talent is under siege, and the key to unlocking that door is a “diverse and inclusive” culture and workplace. Now that I have your attention, let’s review what the talent is saying.

According to a survey conducted by Glassdoor, 67% of job seekers said a diverse workforce is important when considering job offers, and 57% of employees think their companies should be more diverse. Creating an environment, a workplace that acknowledges differences, provides mentors, offers sensitivity and bias training, encourages people to learn and excel by doing, ask questions, forces story-telling, and values all diversity is key to this future success.

Kim Abreu, a recruiting trends analyst at Glassdoor explains, “recruiting and retaining a diverse, inclusive group of employees lets your company reflect the world around you and makes your team better able to develop fresh ideas that will meet the needs of the whole marketplace.” So, with this new workforce requiring us to shift our behavior, we see a more diverse talent pool emerging. A shift in the old paradigm will force a change in the tide.

This change is so critical that it must be seen as “intentional,” because our future workforce demands it. It’s not just about who we hire, but how we hire. Not just what we say or do, but how we say it and how we attempt to do it. A diverse workplace does not simply seek workers from various age groups and balance its ratio of men to women; rather a diverse workplace includes people with experiences, varying personalities, and fosters creativity with a wide range of viewpoints and ideas. A true diverse company requires some bold changes to its past inherent biases. The new workplace thinks and acts differently and sets the pace for others to follow.

An example of a technology conference being embarrassed by not addressing diversity in 2018 was the Consumer Electronic Show (CES). A conference that attracts hundreds of thousands of attendees in the world of technology never truly attempted to address diversity when hiring its keynote speakers. In fact, every keynote speaker at the conference was a man – and most of them were white.

Yet another technology-based company, HubSpot, at their Inbound conference in Boston, displayed greater focus when addressing this same issue. They understood their audience and attendee base and addressed diversity along the lines of gender parity. With more than 250 speakers, they were able to achieve a 50/50 gender equity across all content, with 67% of the women keynoters being women of color. They knew good results would not be easily achieved, unless they were “intentional” in their efforts.

So, they set goals in writing, searched in unconventional places (like Facebook groups and other underrepresented group hangouts for speakers), asked for help, and consulted with their own company colleagues, made lists to track their progress, and got organized. Laura Moran, the person in charge of conference content, said, “It’s impossible to get a diverse group of people if the pool that you’re selecting from is not diverse.” They expanded the pool to better accomplish these goals. It just goes to show that things are in fact changing and the workplace will need to change as well.

In my opinion, there is no doubt that diversity in the workplace is beneficial to our new and emerging workforce and is helping to shape our future. A shift in the old paradigm will force a change in the tide. Diversity requires a change in culture and that, my dear, is changing our best selves for the betterment of our future selves.