Are businesses that are focused on becoming diverse hitting the mark with actionable, data-based research in advancing equitable outcomes? The focus on equity has become increasingly critical.

Equity necessitates an intentional focus on the needs of the historically marginalized. It requires deliberate and often courageous actions that acknowledge and eliminate the societal inequities ingrained in people, processes, and systems. It takes commitment to examining and redressing the bias and racism built into everyday decisions, which may appear fair on the surface, and which may have even been designed with good intentions, but ultimately have disparate effects on racial and ethnic minorities and other marginalized identity groups. And just as business leaders focus on financial and operational outcomes rather than just inputs, they must also focus on the outcomes of their efforts to drive systemic change.

To achieve equity, organizations must be willing to transform their beliefs and values and then change their decisions and behaviors. That work should start inside the organization, but also extend to the full range of their external relationships in the marketplace and society.

Deborah Brenner, Women of the Vine & Spirits will be joined by Kimberly Betts, Deloitte Consulting.