Karen Boykin-Towns – Chief Diversity Officer, Pfizer

Pfizer’s chief diversity officer tells how she’s making diversity a concern for the company’s 100,000-plus employees.

By Taylor Mallory

Diversity: Everyone’s talking about it – and has been for years – but how much, beyond lip service, are companies really doing to make it a priority? “For us at one time, it was seen as a reputational, “flavor of the month” thing to do,” admits Karen Boykin-Towns, chief diversity officer for Pfizer, which had sales around $48 billion last year. “Now we see it as a business imperative, because if you look at where we do business around the world and at the challenges we have as a healthcare company, plus the demographic trends shaping our major markets, it’s obvious why we need to make diversity a priority. It’s a turnaround strategy for us.” And in a year when many large companies cut diversity investments, she says Pfizer hasn’t.

So Pfizer has put in place a holistic, multi-pronged approach, focusing its diversity efforts on its customers, colleagues, community and suppliers – and every unit within Pfizer is involved. “For example, inventing and getting approval for a new medicine can easily cost $1 billion or more, and we want that medicine to be available to as many people as possible. So it’s important we engage people from different backgrounds in clinical trials.” For a number of countries, that’s a requirement. In order to market a product in Japan, for example, companies must conduct clinical trials with Japanese people. “Japan is the world’s third-largest market for medicines, so our speed and effectiveness there in enrolling people in clinical trials gives us distinct advantage. That’s where integrating diverse perspectives into the organization pays off.”

Then there’s making sure the workforce reflects the company’s client base. In India, where Boynkin-Towns says 84 percent of physicians and 87 percent of pharmacists are women, Pfizer had very few women on its sales force. “We wanted to increase the number of women, who would be able to connect better with our customers,” she says. But she quickly realized there were barriers that kept women from wanting to work there. “In the interview process, we were asking questions up front that could discourage women – like, ‘Are you able to travel?’ That can be an issue in India. So if this is a company I’m not familiar with to start, and if that’s the third question, the interview may be over before it’s barely started. We put that question near the end of the interview so that other discussions could take place and we’d have a chance to sell the opportunities in the company. And, by the end, the person would think about being mobile.” Pfizer India also regularly scheduled late dinners and business meetings, which put a stress on women with family responsibilities and brought up a host of security issues. “We changed our approach and dealt with that.” And the company has doubled its women sales representatives in just a year!

Here she talks to PINK about retention challenges, being true to herself and stopping to smell the roses.

PINK: During such financially tough times, should diversity still be a priority?
Karen Boykin-Towns: Putting aside the fact that diversity brings in customers and sales, leaders could certainly assume that it’s not as important right now on the employee side, that you don’t have to worry about them when the market for jobs is down. That’s extremely short sighted. Especially in our business, which is an “ideas” business, you have to have people who are motivated, engaged and excited about their work to keep you going. You want to keep attracting and retaining the best people. When times are tough, as they are now, it doesn’t mean you give up on that effort, because when things turn around, people will be flowing out your doors. We believe that our colleagues want to be here because they see our commitment to helping people stay healthy, preserving the planet and doing what’s right, so they feel good about where they work.

PINK: What is the biggest challenge companies are facing right now?

K.B.T.: For us, it’s change, and trying to keep the best talent in place. Demographics in the workplace are changing, becoming more diverse and complex. You have people from Gen Y, for instance, and they have different motivators. It’s not all about money for them; it’s also about balance and flexibility. We’re looking at what we need to do to attract and retain the best talent. The days of people coming and staying with a company for 20 years are pretty much over. A lot of young people want to be entrepreneurs. You didn’t hear that when I was starting out. They might want time off. They might want to take six months off for sabbatical. They might not want to sleep with their BlackBerry on. How do you meet their needs and the needs of your business? We’re still working on that.

PINK: What are your professional success secrets?
K.B.T.: Getting things done. Being the person who says what they’re going to do and then doing it. That has really been a huge plus for me – in my previous career in government and at Pfizer. I’ve been very surprised to learn that everyone does not operate that way. Speed, a sense of urgency, is also important.

PINK: How do you motivate your team?
K.B.T.: Having (and showing) respect for their expertise and what they bring to the table. People feel empowered and motivated when you treat them as experts in their areas. And I give regular feedback – not where you sit down and have big talk when something goes bad, just giving it along the way. And saying “thank you.” People don’t do that enough.

PINK: What are your best balance tips?
K.B.T.: I’ve been married for 14 years, with two girls ages 13 and eight. I recognize that it will never really be balanced, but I forgive myself if there are times when I have to spend a bit more time at work. I know that when that period subsides, I’ll look to bring the scale back to balance in other areas. There are a few personal goals I try hard to meet. For instance, I work to take my 8-year-old to school at least once or twice a week. But I’m a type-A personality, so I try not to make too many hard and fast rules for myself; that would just increase stress I already have. I’m very involved in my community (she’s president of the NAACP’s Brooklyn Branch) and helping others is relaxing to me. What I’m really good at it is working with my team and helping them balance their work and family lives. We work really hard. And like many people, we tend to burn the candle at both ends. When I see signs of burnout, I suggest they take some time to do something that will change their focus and help them refresh themselves and their thinking.

PINK: What do you do to relax and rejuvenate yourself?

K.B.T.: I take the time to pamper myself. I like to get massages once or twice a month. I take time out to get my hair done, to just connect with myself. Like most women, I need to go to the gym more often. I’m still a work in progress. I don’t have it all figured out.

PINK: What is the best business advice you’ve ever received?

K.B.T: I’ve gotten some great advice, but the best was to be true to myself. In politics and in business, knowing what you stand for is really important. Integrity is important. It’s certainly served me well. I’ve been really blessed to never have had one of those gut-wrenching, integrity-pressing decisions to make. But there are little things every day, like whether you skirt around telling the whole truth on something that happened at work. To me, nothing is more important than being able to look at yourself in the mirror in the morning and not worry that you compromised your integrity.

PINK: What is one personal goal you haven’t yet achieved?
K.B.T.: To enjoy things more than I do. I work really hard, am very involved in my community and have a great family. All of that keeps me running, and I love my life. But it would be nice to be able to sit back and enjoy it all a little more, to not always be planning and thinking about what’s next, to live more in the moment. Even when I’m sleeping, I wake up because I think of something I need to write down on the pad beside my bed before I forget it. But at the end of the day, when you love what you do and your life is in order, that’s a blessing. If I did not love all that I do, I would be miserable. It’s all very exciting and stuff I’m passionate about. I’m growing; I’m continuing to learn. I’m having an impact. I don’t know that it gets better than this.