Embracing the Power of Diversity at Lilly

Today’s guest blog comes from Lilly’s Chief Diversity Officer, Monique Hunt McWilliams.

DiversityInc revealed this week what I already know: Lilly stands out as a company embracing and valuing diversity. For the fifth year in a row, we have been named to DiversityInc's Top 50 Companies for Diversity list.

Lilly landed at No. 24 on the roster, jumping three spots from a No. 27 ranking in 2014. We also garnered one of DiversityInc’s specialty awards, tapped as a Top Ten Company for LGBT Employees for the second year in a row. I take personal pride in that based on Lilly’s leadership in opposing Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act this spring. It is this “unwavering support for all groups” (DiversityInc’s words) that finds me eager to rise and get to work every day.

Chairman, President, and CEO John Lechleiter, Ph.D., received kudos from DiversityInc for his own commitment to diversity leadership, as Lilly was recognized for its cross-cultural mentoring programs, employee resource group initiatives, and work-life benefits. As the public face of those efforts, I could not be more proud.

The DiversityInc awards are highly competitive: More than 1,000 companies participated in this year’s survey, a 30-percent increase from 2014. The 2015 rankings were announced on April 23 at the DiversityInc Top 50 dinner in New York City. You can see the full rankings here, and for more information about diversity at Lilly, visit our diversity page.

Here’s the thing: There’s a lot of work yet to be done to cultivate diversity. Lilly will not rest on its laurels. We will continue to lean in on diversity issues—even as we lean on each other.