DEI Expert Addresses Ag Biz Council and AFA

Corey Flournoy, cofounder and principal of Creative Outreach Consulting, provided Council members and ag student attendees at AFA’s Annual Leaders Conference with an energetic overview of how companies can introduce Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives that foster personal growth for their individuals and profits for their businesses.  Flournoy has more than 30 years of experience in strategy development, executive coaching and employee engagement. But his career path has taken an interesting route.

For one thing, Flournoy grew up on the south side of Chicago, not on a family farm, and he had no agricultural knowledge or experience. Yet not only was he the first national FFA president to come from an urban area but he was also the first African-American to do so. At the time, in the 1990s, fewer than five percent of FFA members were African-American. He garnered attention from major news outlets like The New York Times and USA Today.

Although he is no longer directly employed in agriculture, Flournoy is an FFA life member and still makes time to speak at FFA leadership conferences and to lead agriculture-related workshops each year. He is a keynote speaker for various agriculture organizations when his schedule allows. He says he also makes a point to personally reach out to minority leaders in FFA, offering them encouragement and pieces of advice he has picked up along the way.

In his talk at KC Ag Business Council’s November breakfast meeting at the Sheraton Crown Center, Flournoy focused on Five Lessons About Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.  DEI must start with developing empathy from within, [Lesson #1], he said. “Take time to learn about the person, group, or culture,” he advised.  “Start with authentic conversations with others; move beyond the fear; seek to understand then be understood.” Empathy starts with connections and relationships [Lesson #2] but requires personal work first [Lesson #3], Flournoy added. Lesson #4, warned Flournoy, is that change in a company or organization must be transformational, not transactional.  “Do things that count; avoid easy fixes,” he said.

As for Lesson #5 – the business case for investing in workplace DEI: Many business institutes, schools and publications back up Flournoy’s claim that DEI bolsters the bottom line. Forbes Business Development Council is one that espouses the idea (see 11 Ways DEI In The Workplace Can Boost A Company’s Bottom Line).