According to CEO Ginni Rometty, IBM was built on a culture of diversity and inclusion. She points to the fact that IBM was one of the first to hire women. It was in 1943 and that woman was 27 years old.

And it’s this history and ingrained culture of openness that has enabled IBM to maintain trust with its clients and strategic partners over such a long period of time.

There are the practical yet significant benefits of course to seeking diversity. When all the world is competing for the best talent from IBM’s perspective the pool they can draw on is immense. They can assemble the most talented workforce possible. And when people understand that diversity is welcomed, they can be themselves and give their best.

Secondly, as artificial intelligence takes main stage, the ability to design systems and solutions that are effective and rooted in reality without bias best comes from developers and teams that are fully aware of all the unique views of the broader global population.

In the end, the purpose of technology is to augment what man does. And man today can think, prioritize and establish value sets in many different ways.