Executive Diversity Services
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging Training & Consulting Consultants Make An AppointmentAbout MeOur Training and Consulting Services
We are in our 37th year as an organizational development company offering various services, including strategic planning, leadership development, consulting, coaching, meeting facilitation, and training. All services are directed toward expanding the value of diversity, advancing equity and growing inclusion and belonging within organizations.
What Sets Our Training and Consulting Apart from Others
We don’t use an “anti-racist” methodology. Rather, our approach is “value based,” because our research and experience tell us that it best helps participants understand the visible and invisible aspects of culture. This, along with understanding the implications of race and gender, allows participants to recognize their own biases both conscious and unconscious on everyday interactions. We believe it is important to provide a framework of understanding culture and values that is applicable to a broad range of interactions across differences.
Our approach results in increased productivity, improved teamwork, greater innovation and achievement of the organization’s mission and goals. Training and coaching programs are designed to help individuals improve their effectiveness and create more inclusive, creative and culturally respectful environments.
Why DEIB Training and Consulting Services?
As today’s U.S. and Global markets become increasingly diverse, businesses are adapting in order to stay competitive, reach new markets and maintain the highest quality of staff. Listed below are five reasons a well-managed diverse workforce contributes to long-term success.
Diversity enhances the quality of problem-solving, decision making, and innovation.
Many studies now show that diverse teams view situations from a broad range of perspectives, producing more creative solutions to problems and greater product innovation. Additionally, diversity within a group allows longer deliberation, consideration of more facts, and more wide-ranging discussions during decision making.
About Elmer Dixon
“I live to make a difference in the world.”
Elmer Dixon is a revolutionary for the 21st century with more than 38 years’ experience in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB), sharing keen insights and cutting-edge programs relevant to business leaders and community activists alike. The executive trainer, author, and speaker draws from his life-on-the-line experiences as a Black Panther Party leader in the early movement days to his journey as an internationally renowned DEIB expert to convey the real “why” of the movement and its relevance to today’s growing need for more inclusive and equitable workplaces, societal divides and other pressing issues.
Elmer, who has more than 38 years of experience in DEIB, became president of Executive Diversity Services (EDS) in 2010. He parlays his knowledge of intercultural fields of study, inclusive best practices coupled with his revolutionary roots to lead the Seattle-based company’s diverse teams in designing and delivering impactful high-level training in cultural competency, organizational development, team building, and conflict management to more than 200 companies including Microsoft, Goodwill, The MacArthur Foundation, PepsiCo, United Airlines, J C Penney, U.S. Gypsom, the State of Washington, the City of Berkeley (Calif.), and Houston Methodist, one of the largest hospital organizations in the country among others.
He is also the current president of SIETAR USA (Society for Intercultural Education, Training, and Research) U.S., often presenting at SIETAR Europa Congresses on a variety of topics including Intercultural Conflict, Inclusive Leadership and the Challenges of Policing in Diverse Communities. Elmer’s 2023 TEDx Talk at the University of Tulsa is titled, “Stories from the Revolution’s Front Lines.” He has been a popular guest lecturer at JAMK University of applied Sciences in Finland for the past 13 years and taught at Espeme University, an undergraduate program of Edhec Business School in Lille and Nice, France.
Some Companies & People We Work With
“EDS has demonstrated a strong commitment to understanding our business and organizational culture”
EDS has demonstrated a strong commitment to understanding our business and organizational culture…..The workshops they lead have received high reviews from our employees as being relevant, impactful and actionable. The end result as measured by our organization’s culture surveys indicates that our employees work more effectively with each other, because our managers are more effective and practical. Their work is making a difference to our bottom line.
Valuing diversity and creating an inclusive environment is a core value at USG. In addition to helping us develop a sound business case, EDS has worked with us to develop strategic plans that have guided our multi-year culture change process. EDS is providing our management team with practical and effective tools to manage diversity through its training programs. Our partnership with EDS and its work with our diversity council and Diversity Manager is a significant factor in the long term success of our diversity initiative.