Name: There’s a meaningful difference between ‘targets’ and ‘quotas’
Uploaded: 2020-09-29
Duration: 2 min 38 s
Description: Ariel Investments’ CEO Mellody Hobson explains.

 SPEAKER 1: Part of the challenge in having these conversations, and it's certainly not the only one. But I think for some people. And it's even just knowing the vocabulary to use like I said, it can be uncomfortable and difficult to find the right words. Can you talk a little bit? I know you have a lot of thoughts on this. But just for starters, talk to us about targets versus quotas, and why you don't think we should be using words like quotas. SPEAKER 2: It's interesting. I think that some people find the term quota to be it's a non-starter for them, and it ends the discussion before it begins. There is actually a meaningful difference between the two terms. And people get hung up on terminology. Terminology matters. Targets or objectives. It's something you're trying to measure. It's a goal that you're shooting towards. And in corporate America, we are very, very familiar with targets. So first and foremost and public companies believe earnings targets. We give a range to Wall Street and say we should be within this range of profit targets. We've launched eight targets. I mean, there's a whole there is a whole nomenclature around target that is directly correlated to what we deliver and produce in corporate America on a day to day basis. We even have performance targets as it relates to being an investment manager in my business, versus our benchmarks. Quotas. by, contrast, are their mandates. They are not-- they're hard numbers. It's not a goal. It is a number that you have to make. And as a result of that, I think people get very, very, very uncomfortable because they become non negotiable objectives. They're usually imposed upon organizations. And so I think that immediately gets people's backs up and they bristle at that idea. I don't think we have to do that to get where we want to go. I think we can stay within the language in the nomenclature that we are very used to and very comfortable with around targets and still hit a goal. Because we know in corporate America, if you set goals and you continually don't hit them, you don't have your job. And so I think the same should apply when it comes to issues around diversity and inclusion. Not to mention, I think you get what you incent. And in corporate America, many of our incentives are directly tied to the outcomes that we want. And so if we want better outcomes when it comes to diversity and inclusion, we need incentives around that that hold people accountable. 

There’s a meaningful difference between ‘targets’ and ‘quotas’

Ariel Investments’ CEO Mellody Hobson explains.