Nissan sees diversity as a driver of innovation
| Data de publicação | 25 Março 2024 |
Born and raised in India—the world’s most populous country with more than 1.4 billion people with different cultures, customs, and religions speaking 22 official languages and more than a hundred dialects—, Lavanya Wadgaonkar, Nissan’s Global Vice President of Communications, learned from an early age how to live with difference
"Diversity is something I’ve been involved with not only in my professional life but also personally," she said in an exclusive interview with Valor during Nissan People Week, the carmaker’s theme week in Brazil to discuss issues related to people, cultural transformation, new office concepts, exported talent and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)
Although her main role at the company is in communications, Ms. Wadgaonkar is part of a group of people the company has selected to share content on DEI across the different areas and countries in which it operates. The focus is on understanding where progress needs to be made, and the shortcomings and barriers to a good working environment
The executive argues that an inclusive, diverse, and equal working environment can be good for business. "Diversity drives innovation," she said. Ms. Wadgaonkar added that in the automotive industry, it is important to understand that the customer base is not homogeneous
"We deal with different generations, different tastes, different interests. Not everyone has the same taste in color or type of car; different regions of the world have different preferences. If the customers are diverse, but the people who create them aren’t, they’ll never match," he said.
Ms. Wadgaonkar cited cases where Nissan has innovated by bringing together people with different histories, experiences, and backgrounds. For example, a color and materials designer in Thailand, who was a photographer before joining the company, gets her inspiration for car colors from photographs of colorful things she takes in her spare time.
After noticing women’s habit of throwing their handbags in the back seat, Nissan India created a compartment in the gap between the driver and passenger seats to store the item so that it doesn’t get in the way of driving but remains "close at hand."
To achieve this, she said, it is essential that employees feel safe and comfortable to express their opinions and make suggestions.
Unlike diversity and equality, which can be measured by indicators such as the number of women and the...
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