The Red and Black

Issue date: 8/29/08 Section: News

Media Credit: LESLEY ONSTOTT Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons, spoke about diversity in the workplace at a Terry College lecture. [Click to enlarge]

In building workplace diversity, filling certain quotas is a "mistake," Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur M. Blank told a packed audience at the Chapel Thursday.

"People often think of diversity from a racial or gender standpoint," Blank said. "I don't think diversity is something you can measure. You look for the most talented people you can find that represent the community you're serving."

Blank applied this belief when he acquired the Falcons in 2002, turning to disgruntled fans to try to restore their faith in the team.

"We just listened and responded to what (fans) said. We gave them what they wanted," he said. " We had a lot of people saying that Georgia was not going to be a good place (for a national football team). I certainly didn't believe that."

Before he turned to the NFL, Blank walked the floors of Home Depot stores nation-wide as co-founder, building relationships with the employees he said were the "most important" part of his billion-dollar corporation.

"We believe people are the center and heart of everything we do," he said.

Blank retired as co-chairman of Home Depot in 2001 after serving more than two decades.

Though he said he sees the workforce "tuning out" in the midst of a hurting economy, Blank is optimistic.

"We can still connect our deepest values to the work we're doing," he said. "By bringing people into the organization who represent the diversity we have in the world."

"I hope Barack Obama and John McCain are both listening to that because that is what it's going to take to move this country forward."

Blank's presentation was the first in a series of workforce diversity lectures sponsored by the Terry College of Business.

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