The Art of the Possible

John Thomas

Good morning, everyone. It's great to be with you, and I'm delighted to have this opportunity to speak about a subject that is close to my heart: succeeding in business by hiring the best, including people with disabilities.

This issue has taken on a new urgency in the past year, as men and women in our fighting forces come home from Iraq with injuries that will forever change their lives. Our companies must create positions for them, and for other fellow Americans with disabilities. You and I must take the lead on this by practicing what I call the art of the possible.

At my company, the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, we have learned never to underestimate the potential of someone who has a disability. Anything is possible.

History is full of examples. Take Thomas Edison. I'll bet you didn't know that the brilliant inventor was almost deaf. But why should that stop him from thinking and inventing? Obviously, it didn't. Later in his life, Edison said, "If we did all the things we were capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves."

Our CEO, Ralph Shrader, knows this first-hand. He has a passionate interest in our topic today, out of his own family experience. As the father of a son with disabilities, Ralph is deeply committed to a diverse workplace that enables everyone to reach their full potential. His son Mark has overcome many challenges and now works and lives independently. Ralph sends his greetings to all of you.

For him, and for all of us at Booz Allen, building a workforce that embraces people from all walks of life is not only the right thing to do — it's a smart business decision.

It's a special privilege for me to talk about this important subject with people who understand the vital connection between doing well and doing good. As Paul Harris Fellows, you lead the business community with your commitment to do good in the world. As Rotarians, you know that your job is an opportunity to serve.

So here is a service opportunity right on your doorstep. Help your company and your community benefit from the tremendous, untapped resource of talented, hard-working people who have disabilities affecting their vision, hearing, mobility, or other abilities.

That's our experience with people like Jeff Schaffer. Jeff is a Principal of our firm, a position comparable to Vice President in many mid-size firms. He's been with the firm for 21 years. Seven years ago, Jeff was in a serious accident, and he is still recovering from his injuries. He has undergone more than 80 operations, including the amputation of both legs.

Not only did Jeff return to work after his accident, he has maintained a leadership role on several firm-wide critical projects throughout his recovery. What Jeff has needed from the firm is flexibility in scheduling and the ability to work from home more than the average manager would.

Without making a monetary investment, we have been able to hold on to a veteran employee whose skill and training are just as valuable today as they were before his accident. Why is that? Because Jeff is a leader, and leadership is blind to disabilities. In its presence, we all grow, and so do our institutions.

Yet many employers are still reluctant to hire people with conditions that limit their sight, hearing, mobility, and other functions, even when they are capable of doing the job. Let's look at a few of the most commonly held beliefs behind this.

First, there's the idea that job accommodations cost too much. This is simply a myth. Federal studies show that at least half of the accommodations people with disabilities need in the workplace cost less than $500. On top of that, 15 percent of the time, accommodating someone with a disability doesn't cost anything at all — as in our experience with Jeff.

Think about it. That means that sixty-five percent of the time, your costs are no more than $500, and there's a good chance they'll be zero. Those are better odds than you'll get in your own Rotarian's reverse lotteries!

Take one case I heard about. A new employee using a wheelchair joined our firm. His desk was a few inches too low. So one of his colleagues went to Home Depot and spent $5 on a couple of two-by-fours and raised his desk. Problem solved.

What about fancier things, like computers and software for people with hearing or vision loss? Actually, this is often less expensive than you might think, especially today. For example, ten years ago, voice recognition software cost up to $7,000. Now it's around $250.

So think of making your company accessible as just one step in unleashing the potential of your people to make your business more profitable. The fact is, money is usually not the real issue, even for small and medium sized businesses.

So what is it that keeps employers from hiring people with disabilities? Some employers think it takes more time to work with someone who has a disability. Now that's an interesting one. It goes along with the idea that you may not realize a business return in the time invested in others. Our experience at Booz Allen is just the opposite. We have learned that some of our greatest returns come from the time we invest in others, whether or not they have disabilities.

Time can be more precious than money for unleashing the potential of our human resource. Sometimes, the investment is the time it takes to mentor a young employee, or provide training, or build in the kind of flexibility that allows those with disabilities to meet their commitments to the company.

Let me give you an example. Someone who has a disability may need a little more time or flexibility to get to meetings. One of our executives has impaired vision. He uses a car service to go to meetings outside the office, and he needs to schedule those pickups. So when meetings change, he needs reasonable notice so he can get there. We just have to be sensitive to this when we schedule meetings. No big deal.

Mentoring young leaders is another way we use our time to make a difference. This summer, we will have a group of bright young interns working in Booz Allen's offices. Some of them will be young people with disabilities who are participating in our Emerging Leaders Program.

The idea is to give these promising young people opportunities to develop their leadership skills, to network, and to make themselves and their abilities known to our leaders and our clients. It pays off for them — and it pays off for us. We have hired very capable full-time employees through this program.

So in our experience, investing time to help our people do their best builds our capacity, creates loyalty to the firm, and makes Booz Allen a more competitive organization.

So money is usually not the issue. Time is a totally manageable issue. So, what is it that really keeps employers from hiring people who use wheelchairs, or seeing-eye dogs, or sign language?

Let's admit it. People with disabilities often make us uncomfortable. We don't know what to say. We don't know what to do. Maybe we feel awkward around people who have trouble walking or hearing or seeing. Maybe we think that people with disabilities are fragile and will be out sick more often. By the way, the facts do not bear out this assumption. Or maybe we're just afraid of dealing with our emotions when we must do whatever is necessary to connect with someone who has a disability.

Here's an example. One of our people interviewed a man who was quadriplegic. When she asked him to sign the employment application, he said he could put an "X" on the line ... if she would put the pen between his teeth. She told me later, "I wasn't sure I was doing it right. But I've learned that when you don't know what to do, just ask the person with the disability! They'll tell you!"

All too often in the hiring process, employers find it easier to discount candidates with disabilities than to challenge their emotions and perform the simple human act of connecting.

For example, when a deaf person brings an interpreter to an interview, without realizing it we may speak to the interpreter instead of directly to the candidate. When we do, we're ignoring our own discomfort and discounting the candidate.

Whenever such things happen, the company has lost something important. It has lost its ability to hire the best, whoever they are, regardless of personal differences. It weakens the company by making it less competitive in product or service development and marketing. Because the truth is, there's real competitive advantage in hiring people with disabilities.

Take the work I do, for example. As a systems engineer, I oversee proposals Booz Allen makes to the Defense Department and other federal agencies. If you've ever done business with the government, you know that they look for evidence of a contractor's commitment to diversity. This is a good thing for business and for our country.

An amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, known as Section 508, now requires that the information technology used by the Federal government be accessible to people with disabilities. Companies like Booz Allen that deliver technology must ensure that it is accessible. We've found that the best way to do this is to include people with disabilities in the integrated product team. They help define system requirements, develop the design, and perform the product testing. The result is a better product.

When the client is the U.S. Government, Booz Allen's people programs accommodating those with physical disabilities actually give us an edge against the competition. Getting the edge up on government contracts is hardly, by itself, a reason to diversify the workforce. For us, integrating people with disabilities into the company is one piece of a larger strategy to build the best company possible.

That strategy is simple: we hire the best people, regardless of other factors. We don't put them in categories. We just look for excellence.

When you consider practicing the art of the possible, you access a wider pool of talent. In today's economy, that's a make-or-break issue. It won't surprise you that finding skilled employees is now the number one challenge for more than one in four small businesses.

By drawing from a broad talent pool, we diversify our workforce, which means that:

• We hear more points of view around the table
• We generate more and better ideas
• We reach a broader range of customers
• We come up with better solutions for our customers, and — surprise, surprise — our business prospers!

My friends, this is not brain surgery! But it also doesn't just happen. At Booz Allen, we don't just hire the best. We also do what's necessary to help them do their best.

So, for example, we have invested in things like closed captioning for presentations in meetings. This not only helps those who are deaf — it's a raging success among people with more moderate hearing loss who haven't wanted to admit they couldn't always hear everything.

We also have a sign language interpreter on site 40 hours a week. While smaller companies may not wish to have a full-time staff interpreter, you can hire these services by the hour at very reasonable hourly rates for those times when it would really make a difference.

There are so many technologies that make a difference:

• Talking watches for those who can't see to tell the time
• A track ball mouse for those with carpal tunnel syndrome or other limitations with their hands
• A mouse that's powered by eye movements

The Disability Forum our employees lead keeps us up to speed on these things, and what's needed, such as automatic doors on our headquarters campus and educational programs for families.

One unexpected benefit of our efforts is the positive PR they bring the company. Booz Allen has been named one of the top companies in America for people with disabilities to work for by WE Media and Business Week Magazine. Last year, the Department of Labor honored us with the prestigious New Freedom Initiative Award for our efforts on behalf of persons with disabilities. This kind of recognition not only feels good. It helps us compete in the job market for people who are top in their fields.

Here's another benefit. Hiring people with disabilities can actually reduce turnover. That's the experience of Washington Mutual, a financial services company in Seattle. In the late 1990s, the company's call center had a 45 percent turnover rate. This was costing a bundle, because it takes about $15,000 to recruit and train each new call center employee.

When they studied the problem, the company discovered that the turnover rate for people with disabilities wasn't 45 percent. It was 8 percent. They also found that employees with disabilities had better attendance, were more loyal, and were more committed to their organization's mission. For that matter, the study showed that when a team included someone with a disability, the morale and productivity of whole team improved.

Today, Washington Mutual actively recruits people with disabilities to help reduce costs for training and recruitment, increase productivity, and enhance their customers' experience.

Here's one more benefit you may not have thought of. Twenty percent of Americans today have some kind of disability — from carpal tunnel syndrome, back problems, epilepsy, and bipolar disorder to the more severe disabilities I've been talking about. That's one in five. And the population is aging, so that number will only grow.

People with disabilities have discretionary purchasing power of $175 billion, and research shows that they and their families are more likely to do business with disability-friendly companies. When you employ the disabled, not only do you gain insight into the products and services they need, you position your company to compete in the marketplace.

My point is this: recruiting and hiring people with differences of all kinds — including people with disabilities — is a win-win proposition. It's good business and it's the right thing to do.

As business and community leaders, you and I have a responsibility to exercise our leadership to shatter the myths that stand in the way of employment for so many people with disabilities. We win when we refuse to put people into categories. We win when we tap into the tremendous experience and talent of people who bring human differences to the table.

People like the football legend Tom Dempsey. Tom was born with half a right foot and no right hand. In 1970, he kicked one of the longest field goals in the NFL's history — a 63-yard field goal that won the game for the New Orleans Saints.

How did he do it? With a combination of talent, determination, and support. Technology helped. Tom wore a special shoe that allowed him to swing his leg and drive the ball like a polo player using a mallet. Talk about return on investment!

At Booz Allen, people with disabilities make winning plays all the time. Technology helps. So does a culture of diversity that recognizes every person's ability to contribute and succeed.

When you create that culture, everyone is affected in positive ways. That's what we saw in our own office last year when Jay Birch's seeing-eye dog passed away after many years.

Jay is a Principal of the firm. He is visually impaired. Jay manages and leads a team of 150 professionals who support Department of Defense computer operations. They bring in approximately $20 million dollars a year. But Jay's influence goes way beyond that. All 1,100 of the company's information security professionals look to him as a mentor and thought leader.

Jay's dog Vern was a German Shepherd who was as much a part of Jay's persona as Jay himself. Everyone knew him. When Vern died, Jay received more than 300 cards and e-mails of condolence from Booz Allen employees. The staff was so struck by the loss that within 24 hours, they had created an internal website to raise money to donate to Seeing Eye Inc., the school for seeing eye dogs. Within a week, they had $3,000.

But it didn't stop there. My colleagues, the Partners at Booz Allen Hamilton, learned about the website and matched the $3,000 in Vern's name. Several months later, a friend asked Jay how he was doing. "It was like losing a member of my family," he said. — "No, Jay," his friend said. "You don't understand. We lost a member of our family."

Edison was right. We are capable of astounding ourselves. We even do so once in awhile — thanks in no small part to those among us who live and work with various kinds of disabilities. They help our companies succeed, by challenging us to overcome our discomfort with human differences. Most important, they help make all of us more human.

What more priceless return on our investment could we possibly ask for? What those with disabilities give us far exceeds whatever investment we make. They remind us every day that anything is possible.

Thank you.