A New Way of Life for Hitachi’s First Diversity Chief

Moving from Milan to Tokyo, Lorena Dellagiovanna will lead Hitachi’s diversity program, as the company places inclusivity at the center of its global expansion plans

Hitachi executive Lorena Dellagiovanna has packed her bags—again— to move from Milan to Tokyo to assume her new position as Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the headquarters of the Japanese technology company. After being appointed to the newly created role on Hitachi’s global executive team in June, Dellagiovanna expected to relocate to Tokyo soon after, but was thwarted by the coronavirus lockdown. November is her anticipated new departure date.

“I have visited Japan many times before, but recently I spent a week there just to give me the flavor of my new life,” she says. “It will be quite different from my current life—it is a really different culture, a new way of living, enriching and creating value not only for me, but for the company as well.”

Making a difference to the company culture is key to Dellagiovanna’s new position, which carries the responsibility of embedding diversity and inclusion across Hitachi globally. She explains that Hitachi’s increased emphasis on promoting diversity in its workforce and management is essential to the company’s ambitious global expansion plans.   

Investing in Social Innovation

As part of the company’s 2021 Mid-term Management Plan, Hitachi will increase its investment spending by four to five times between 2019 and 2021 up to ¥2.5 trillion ($23.6 billion), compared to ¥0.5 trillion ($4.7 billion) invested between 2016 and 2018. These investments will include mergers and acquisitions with the aim to advance Hitachi’s Social Innovation business and improve social, environmental and economic value for its customers. 

In light of adverse impact of Covid-19 on financial performance, Hitachi is prioritizing M&A projects to maintain sufficient financial stability and liquidity, but its intention to continue to strengthen the Social Innovation business remains solid. The company also plans to expand its digital business globally, using its Lumada data insights platform to accelerate innovation through collaboration with customers. Diversity is an important element of its expansion strategy.

“To become a global leader, a company needs a diverse pool of talent that helps bring innovation and creative problem-solving. Nurturing diversity among employees can really pay off and can help the business to grow,” Dellagiovanna says. “If we don’t take into consideration that our stakeholders, customers and our customers’ customers are diverse, we will never be able to develop solutions that meet their needs. That’s why diversity is a business imperative.”

Diversity for the Next Century

Hitachi, founded in 1910, has grown over the past century into a leading global conglomerate, and 50% of its revenues come from outside Japan. To support its international growth, the company has put diversity at the heart of its corporate strategy.

“The decision to appoint me as Chief Diversity Officer really signals Hitachi’s strong commitment to move in the right direction.”

Lorena Dellagiovanna, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Hitachi

The company is boosting workforce inclusivity through its Diversity for the Next 100 initiative, and the creation of the post of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer is the latest stage in this plan. “The decision to appoint me as Chief Diversity Officer at this stage, in the same industry, really signals Hitachi’s strong commitment to move in the right direction,” Dellagiovanna says.

The need for inclusivity has climbed the corporate agenda as demands have increased for a workforce that more accurately represents the world around us, in terms of gender, nationality, race, religion, background, age and sexual orientation. All sectors, ranging from finance and investment to tech and retail, are realizing that future growth and prosperity for global businesses depend on creating a vibrant workplace environment where all employees can bring their skills, values and ideas to the business. In September, 34 of the largest U.S. firms, from Amazon to General Motors, announced plans to share diversity data.

The breadth of sectors involved is particularly important for Hitachi, which owns businesses spanning a range of fields from data management and medical technology to energy, car parts, construction and railway infrastructure. The company’s diversity and inclusion strategy recognizes that the company’s 300,000 employees worldwide all bring unique perspectives to the organization. 

Hitachi’s Inclusion Plan

The company’s commitment to inclusion and diversity is part of its wider strategy to support the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals, which Hitachi views as an important initiative for achieving a sustainable society and improving people's quality of life through solving global, social and environmental issues.

Dellagiovanna’s first task is to understand the strategy of business growth of Hitachi and assess the extent of diversity across the organization, and align the two. She then plans to develop a global framework to promote diversity across Hitachi’s different companies and markets. This framework will need to be flexible, since each company and country where Hitachi operates has its own diversity challenges.

“A diverse pool of talent helps bring innovation and creative problem-solving.”

Lorena Dellagiovanna, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Hitachi

The final plan may include unconscious bias training for staff to educate them about different cultural behaviors. Other moves to promote diversity include finding innovative ways, such as flexible working, to attract different groups of candidates to work at the organization, and working closely with universities and other associations to make the recruitment process more accessible and inclusive.

“These kinds of initiatives are very important to attract diverse talent,” Dellagiovanna says. “The greatest challenge is cultural transformation, and getting buy-in to the idea of diversity from the workforce and management. This is about creating an environment where people feel free to express their opinions about the business and how they will be able to contribute to the growth of the company.”

Dellagiovanna believes her experience has prepared her to lead the push for further diversity, having worked in a wide range of roles at Hitachi. As country leader for Italy since 2015, she has overseen acquisitions in sectors including rail, energy technology, IT, engineering and automation. She has also experienced life outside Italy, and worked for Hitachi in London for five years. “That was a time when I really touched different cultures because I was working with an international team and I had to start thinking in different ways.”