How can business accomplish this most successfully? The best approach involves every aspect of a company and the role it plays in the community Businesses must examine the way they interact with their communities, not just in terms of paying transactions, but at every possible contact point. Charitable giving, executives providing leadership for community organizations, event sponsorships and, importantly, relationships with vendors and business partners are all ways a business can send important signals about its commitment to a particular community. Naturally. every customer wants the same fundamentals: highquality products and services, expert advice and a relationship with professional representatives that they can count on. If at the same time your business can show that it understands and cares about individual communities, you have the opportunity to hit a home run.

For example, a program such as Bank of America's Volunteer Time for Schools can have wide-ranging effects in any community a company touches. We allow full-time associates to volunteer up to two hours of paid time each week in local schools. The impact our associates can have is huge, and combined with other programs such as United Way campaigns and Foundation grants, Bank of America has been a real leader in many communities.

At the same time, businesses need to make certain that their associate base reflects the community demographic. As your employees interact with an increasingly diverse population, they need to be correspondingly sensitive and knowledgeable. Associates who are in touch with a particular culture are more likely to avoid cultural gaffes, such as common gestures that may be considered rude in some cultures. They can also educate the rest of your associates. And just as all customers are attracted to the same fundamentals, so too virtually all employees, regardless of heritage or ethnicity, define a good job the same way. A good job offers fair compensation, adequate training and professional development opportunities, a career path to follow and the feeling of being a part of something larger than oneself. These basics will never change. At the same time, businesses must make it clear that they care about diversity and equal opportunity - and that their policies and actions bear this out.

At my company, we use the term "inclusive meritocracy" to refer to the way we address diversity in the workplace. Meritocracy simply means that we reward those who perform well, But inclusive means that we acknowledge there may be more than one way to perform well, In fact, it means that we encourage diversity of thought, diversity of approach and diversity period as we build our teams. It probably bears repeating that the more diversity you have on your team, the more routes to success you're likely to come up with. And that's a state of affairs no business can afford to be without.