Orlando Ashford, the president of Holland America Line, gave
an impassioned keynote speech at Carnival House last night, as part of the
company’s National Inclusion Week events programme.

Ashford, who is the first African American executive to be
president of a cruise line, spoke about creating a culture of inclusivity
within an organisation and why it was important to let employees be themselves.

The Holland America boss has previously held senior
positions within human resources for major corporations including Coca-Cola,
Mercer and Motorola. He has also written a book Talentism: unlocking the potential of the new human.

He explained that for companies to be successful they needed
to have “a broad range of experiences at the table”.

“If you can leverage the power of the collective you will
win,” he said. “Groups are smarter than individuals and diverse groups beat
homogeneous ones.”

To be a good employer to different cultures and nationalities,
Ashford said used the example of when he was at Coca-Cola and headed up HR in
90 countries.

To make employees feel valued across those markets, Ashford focused
on the common goals of employees, which he defined as working in a healthy
environment, providing for their families, the ability to learn and grow, and
contribute and feel valued.

Employers then need to “drive cultural change within an
organisation through authentic leadership”, citing times during his career when
he had not felt comfortable giving answers because they were different to
everyone else present at a meeting.

“We can’t celebrate differences if we’re not prepared to
talk about them,” he said, adding that companies are stronger “when everyone
can show up be themselves”.