Mary was recently hired as the Chief Diversity Officer for a major credit card processing company. The company has more than ten thousand employees across the United States, one-third of whom are in the sales department. The industry was facing a huge influx of start-up, Internet-based processing firms with innovative solutions. Use of credit cards was up, but clients saw credit card processing as a commodity and often sought the cheapest alternative. The Business Case for Inclusion 51 The CDO position was new for the company and was initiated mainly by its legal counsel. Mary was tasked by the VP of HR, her direct manager, with assessing the company's current "diversity pro- file." She was to determine any areas where the company fell short and create a plan of action to move the company forward. Mary understood the need to be in compliance with legal guide- lines, but believed that focusing on diversity alone, without atten- tion to inclusion development, was a mistake. At the time, there was no budget allocated to her one-person department. Her first presen- tation, after one month, to the VP of HR and his team was meant to provide her assessment and suggested course of action. Given the information above, how would you answer the follow- ing questions? Putting yourself in Mary's shoes, what is your first opinion of the company's view of D&I? Why? Do you believe there is a business case for Mary to make for inclu- sion development? Why? Who do you suggest Mary should speak with to build the business case? Is the VP of HR an optimal senior leader to manage Mary? Why or why not? Is there a business case in a commodity-based, price-driven indus- try for developing the staff on diversity and inclusion? Explain.