“I am a big believer in the core of Thrive’s mission: well-being. And as a corporate CEO, who has started companies from scratch and worked inside big ones such as IBM and Oracle, my single most important ingredient to promote well-being for my team is simple—diversity.
Building diverse teams encourages individuals to appreciate and support all viewpoints, making business personal and allowing our natural empathy to care about individual well-being ahead of corporate goals. If the individuals inside of an organization are not well, chances are the long term corporate goals will suffer, too, even if the short term ones are being met. But if we have empathy for the well-being of our people, which happens naturally through diversity, our long term corporate goals will come to fruition.
Today’s tech companies are hyper-focused on STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and while these subjects feed the core building blocks in a tech company, I believe they are over-emphasized against the humanities and arts. Diversity demands not only gender and race equality, but knowledge equality, as well. And today there is a hyper obsession with the sciences and technology–to the point where many are predicting that most of our future jobs will only be available to those who pursue these subjects.
In a recent Ted Talk, I argued vigorously for the humanities and arts, even inside of our most prized technology companies. I believe they need to stay on equal footing with science and technology, for the well-being of all. Please take a look and let me know your thoughts!”
https://www.ted.com/talks/eric_berridge_why_tech_needs_the_humanities