About four years ago, Putri Realita, who leads the diversity and inclusion program at global food and beverage company Danone, was asked to build the role and strategy from scratch.
Although she knew very little about how to do so in such a large organization (Danone has over 100,000 employees), she did have the advantage of living with diversity and inclusion every day. Realita is Indonesian, her husband is German, she studied in Australia, and she has lived in Malaysia and now France.
The INSPIRE 20 podcast series
Realita is one of the executives taking part in INSPIRE 20, a new podcast series that showcases 20 executives from around the world who are making a difference in terms of inclusion and diversity in their organizations, communities, and/or industries.
Listen to the podcast with Putri Realita on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, or Spotify. Plus: Listen to all of the INSPIRE 20 podcasts here.
A passion for fairness
In the interview, Realita talks about how Danone approaches its diversity and inclusion agenda, how the company supports a program against violence toward women in Mexico, and how it encourages employees to come up with their own ideas to promote diversity and inclusion.
"At Danone we call it inclusive diversity," or ID in shorthand, she says in the podcast. "And ID is like identity. And when it comes to our approach implementing ID, it is crucial to first embed this as part of the overall company's goals and strategy."
For Danone, ID is key to delivering its mission within its "One Planet. One Health" framework, which reflects the company's vision that the health of people and the health of the planet are interconnected, Realita said.
The company has set nine goals for 2030 to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the ongoing food revolution, a movement aimed at nurturing the adoption of healthier, more sustainable eating and drinking habits.
The role individuals can play
Though Realita strongly believes that diversity and inclusion need to start with commitment from the top, she also believes that Danone's employees can play a fundamental role in embedding inclusion as part of the company's culture.
As such, Realita has initiated diversity and inclusion programs at a global level and deployed them in over 55 countries where Danone operates. The company has created a bottom-up #ActInclusive movement with around 300 champions—passionate Danone staffers—representing different functions and regions across the world.
In the podcast, Realita shines a light on Danone's innovative governance model, "One Person, One Voice, One Share," a program that gives each employee the power to have a voice in and an impact on the company's decisions.
"We want to promote inclusive growth," she said. Inclusive growth means that not only "do we ensure equal opportunities within the company," but that Danone also "supports the most fragile players throughout our supply chain and in our ecosystem. And we believe that only by working hand-in-hand with our partners, can we create a sustainable impact."
