CANNES\u2014 Longtime workplace diversity and inclusion champion Tiffany Warren likes the progress that the advertising industry has made with its workforce but says keeping them happy is the big challenge going forward. \u201cThe pipeline is fine. We have people who are interested and want to come into the business,\u201d says the SVP and Chief Diversity Officer at Omnicom.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut are they given opportunities, are they given strong client challenges, are they given chances to be promoted in the right way?\u201d she adds in this interview with Beet.TV at the recent Cannes Lions<\/a> International Festival of Creativity.<\/p>\n \u201cThe big fight right now is keeping people in the business. In order for us to grow, we have to invest in that middle group of individuals now who are excited and want to work in our business. If we loose that excitement, if we loose them, we\u2019re really going to be setting ourselves up for failure in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Warren has more than two decades of agency experience along with a stint at the 4A\u2019s managing its diversity programs. In 2005 she founded the non-profit organization ADCOLOR<\/a> to help drive diversity and inclusiveness in the creative and technology industries.<\/p>\n Not long ago, the only conversations about diversity and inclusion that Warren had at Cannes were informal ones on the beach. Now they have spread to Inkwell Beach<\/a> on the Croisette. \u201cIn the past, diversity was simply an appearance by Kanye. I think we\u2019ve moved past that,\u201d Warren observes.<\/p>\n In addition to Omnicom employees, she was joined at the festival by like-minded clients. \u201cI\u2019m here with Microsoft and P&G and iHeartMedia. These organizations that take diversity and inclusion really seriously approached ADCOLOR and myself to partner with them so that they could have an authentic representation here on the Croisette.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked by interviewer Jon Watts<\/a>, who is managing partner of research and strategy consultancy MTM, what the future holds, Warren says diversity and inclusion are always evolving. As a high-ranking executive of color she feels it\u2019s \u201cincumbent upon me not just to figure out how to make people rise up, but also in my spare time and also through work reach back and bring others along.\u201d<\/p>\n She doesn\u2019t consider herself a role model but \u201ca real model. I\u2019m transparent, I\u2019m vulnerable, I\u2019ve failed forward, I\u2019ve failed hard, I\u2019ve picked myself back up. This is who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n Partnerships with organizations like the 4A\u2019s and the American Advertising Federation are mutually reinforcing. \u201cIt\u2019s so refreshing to be able to rely on partners who know us well and know where our heart really stands,\u201d Warren<\/a> says.<\/p>\n Building authentic relationships with employees is particularly important when dealing with younger generations because they represent \u201cthe future of our business. What I\u2019m hearing is that they want authentic relationships with organizations.\u201d It goes beyond just having a job to \u201cwhere their values match the organization\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n