26 Oct Men at Work: We Are Family

Ecolab’s Dexter Davis has applied his earlier incarnation as a family therapist into leading with empathy

By Jackie Krentzman

When Dexter Davis was growing up in a majority white community in Columbus, Ohio, he played on his high school basketball team. But sometimes he did not have transportation to practice, which he worried would hurt his standing on his team and its success.

Fortunately, whenever he couldn’t otherwise get to practice, his coach would pick him up and drop him off at home afterward. The coach would also talk with Davis on these drives to make sure things were OK in his life.

Years later, Davis—now vice president of global diversity, equity, and inclusion at the international food-and water-safety giant Ecolab in Minneapolis (which is celebrating its centennial this year)—realized that those seemingly small acts of kindness were actually the first leadership lessons he learned.

“That was how I learned what it means to be a leader and be accountable,” he says. “Leadership means being there for your team or colleagues, and it also means believing in people.”

Davis says his greatest takeaway from that modeling by his coach was the importance of allowing time to get to know people, no matter how busy you are. “That’s how you build empathy and connections, and that’s how you succeed as a leader and make your team and then organization better.”

After getting his MBA from University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Davis rose rapidly. He spent many years in leadership positions in sourcing and procurement at companies such as Target and General Mills. He also had his first stint at Ecolab, as its senior procurement manager. He moved to Securian Financial, where as vice president of talent management and chief diversity officer, he was charged with talent acquisition, learning and development, management development, and leadership of the firm’s DEI efforts.

In 2022, Davis returned to Ecolab and took on his current role. He came back to a company that was assembling an impressive record on internal and external DEI measures. For example, CNBC named Ecolab one of the country’s Most Just Companies in 2022, honoring it for its record on environmental, social, and governance performance.

Diversity Woman: You say your work in DEI is a calling. What do you mean?

Dexter Davis: Initially, I did not want to be a diversity, equity, and inclusion leader. I was skeptical that organizations really wanted to make significant change. Plus, the office is often marginalized within a company. Then, when I was offered the opportunity at Securian, I decided to put aside my misgivings—
in part because I saw that their commitment was genuine, and that I reported directly to the CEO.

When I dug in, I quickly realized, Oh my gosh, I’ve been preparing for this my entire career but didn’t know it! I had majored in psychology in college. I then became a marriage and family therapist. I loved working with families. I loved working with people and helping them maximize who they are and their potential.

DW: How did that role as a family therapist prepare you for human resources and DEI work?

DD: I worked a lot with family systems, and I think that approach translates well to a corporate environment. I realized that I could implement the methods I was using with individuals and families to make an impact with a larger scale of people—a team, a corporation.

DW: You left Ecolab for seven years, then returned. Why?

DD: I know this is a cliché, but first, I realized that it is not always the case that you can find a company that’s truly aligned with your purpose and values. I had a very positive experience the first time there, and I only left because I was recruited to a company where, frankly, at the time I could have a bigger opportunity to make an impact.

Then I saw that Ecolab had made a great deal of [DEI] progress in the seven years I was at Securian. I came back and felt I could be truly myself from the get-go. It’s rare to find a culture in which you feel you can fit in so well. Maybe sometimes you have to leave to realize this. I had a good experience at Securian too, but I had forgot how much easier it is to work and be productive someplace where you feel like you can bring your authentic self to work. That’s what I want for everybody. If we can do any one thing in our job, I believe it is to make people feel confident and able to bring their authentic selves to work.

I know that, like any company, we’re not perfect. But from a fundamental standpoint, Ecolab really cares about people, and that makes all the difference and that’s what drew me back.

DW: Describe some of your goals and progress toward them.

DD: If you look at our impact goals, many are focused on where we’re going from a representation perspective. For example, we want to have 35 percent women in senior management. We want management to be 25 percent people of color. We know having diverse leaders helps us perform better as an organization. We have seen a 35 percent increase in BIPOC executives since 2018.

We have also been successful at building out our employee resource groups. We now have 11, and they are all becoming more and more aligned with our business goals and doing work that also can be leveraged by a broader audience to grow our impact [in the community].

DW: How can men better support women and be allies in the workplace? What is Ecolab doing in this area?

DD: Number one, we need to make sure all voices, especially women’s voices, are heard in the workplace. You must be intentional. This means you must prioritize that in one-on-one meetings, and in larger meetings. For example, if in a group setting somebody brings up a good idea, when you build on that, make sure to say “to Nancy’s point,” so it reinforces it was her idea first. It’s not good enough just to say we think it’s important that [diverse] people are there—we need to make sure their voices are heard, and that they feel in a psychologically safe environment to be able to communicate their ideas.

Mentorship and sponsorship are also key. And once again, it goes beyond just saying we promote mentorship and sponsorship—you must be very intentional and actually do it. We have done that in several ways. For example, with our Black Leadership Forum, we have set up mentorship and sponsorship opportunities. We also do work around this with our Leadership Development Group. We set participants up with sponsors and mentors, and we also have cohort gatherings where women can freely share ideas.

DW: What do women leaders bring to the table that people may not realize?

DD: Once you get more women in leadership roles, it’s amazing how you start having more diverse teams—in every which way, not just gender. We have discovered that women tend to hire more diverse teams. In turn, that helps our larger goal of more diverse and balanced representation.

DW: What are you most proud of in your career?

DD: Being here in the Twin Cities when George Floyd happened had a tremendous impact on the city and all its residents, and on Ecolab. I am proud of how I showed up during that. That’s where I think I found my voice.

We did about 20 listening sessions, and I could just say how I feel and how my views came from my psychology background. Really, it was simply being there for people that most resonated.

It was so inspiring how this impacted people from all different backgrounds. It changed me and really showed that [my team’s] being there made a difference, as well as how our CEO being there made a difference. We related how we would talk to our families, how we would now look at the world differently. Hearing that from the top meant so much to people.

Also, facilitating these discussions and listening helped me process this horrible event. By taking action, and being with so many different voices, I felt less helpless and more encouraged that there can be a reason for hope and happiness. DW