Dan Wieden Makes Impassioned Diversity Pitch at 4A's

Speaking plainly, directly and at times profanely, Wieden + Kennedy's Dan Wieden used the platform of the American Association of Advertising Agencies to urge agencies to finally address the relative lack of diversity in the industry.
I was not at the conference but from what I read, he seems to be genuinely sincere.
He mentioned in his speech that the issue of diversity "continues to gnaw at me because, like it or not, in this business I essentially hire a bunch of white, middle-class kids, pay them enormous, enormous sums of money to do what? To create messages to the inner-city kids who create the culture the white kids are trying like hell to emulate. But if you go into the inner city, odds are these kids aren't even going to see advertising as a possibility, as an opportunity for them. Now that's fucked up," he said.
Wieden added: "Don't get me wrong. I'm not bringing this up today because I think Wieden + Kennedy is doing this phenomenal goddam job at rectifying the situation. I think we've made some progress. But we've got miles and miles to go before we sleep."
Wieden concluded by saying that "there are many, many undiscovered voices out there -- voices that against all odds can rise up and enrich this culture and perhaps one day change the very nature of the marketplace for the better."
Wieden's address on diversity was unexpected -- the conference agenda said he would talk about the "new realities of global brands" -- but far from the only perspective aired on the topic during the two-day general session. On Tuesday, 4A's CEO Nancy Hill and chairman Tom Carroll spoke about the importance of addressing the relative paucity of minorities at agencies.
I really admire Mr. Wieden's speech. Just hope the others in the industry can finally act on it.
When I mentioned diversity to the General Manager of the media company that I previously worked in , the only answer he gave me was "I always hire the best people," and apparantely, they all look alike ... "white, middle class kids" ... just like Mr. Wieden said.