Growing up in Indonesia as Chinese Indonesian Mimi Kurniawan knows what it’s like to show up, afraid of being judged for being your authentic self. “I belong to an underrepresented group. I am very careful about what I can and can’t say. I am sometimes treated differently and that made me become a person who understands others who are in an underrepresented group. That makes me pay attention today” she said. Kurniawan’s father also died when she was young — only 17, and the role her mother played going from housewife to working mother inspired her to get her first job at Philip Morris International.
Years later, after having been employed by the company for nearly 30 years, Kurniawan is leaning into her new role as Chief Diversity Officer where she shows her passion and value for any individual no matter what background they are from, especially coming from an underrepresented group, to be treated fairly and equally.
“When they offered me this role, I quickly accepted because employees always have a special space in my heart. I am a person who loves to connect with people. I love to make friends,” she added. “I love to talk to people, regardless of whatever level they are. In this capacity, I must keep being a role model. Of course, the company has a big belief in inclusivity, but they also need someone to set an example of how this is done.”
When Kurniawan accepted this job, she reflected on the maturity level of diversity and inclusion at Philip Morris International. “The commitment is there, but it’s also a question of where we are going to take it next,” she said.
To ensure the company is elevating its approach to diversity, Kurniawan breaks it down to awareness and compliance. “The entire organization understands the importance of diversity and being an inclusive leader,” she said. “We are at the stage where we have started to see a lot of great results and grassroots initiatives coming from the top down and bottom up. Today we are harvesting.”
Philip Morris International has equal pay and salary certification on a global scale, has significantly increased representation of women in managerial roles (40%), and has six well-established ERGs for people to voice out their concerns.
“So, you see, we are harvesting there,” Kurniawan said. “However, what next?”
One of Kurniawan’s first priorities as PMI’s Chief Diversity Officer was to rebrand the Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) function as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
For example, imagine a car with one burst tire. It wouldn’t be roadworthy. “My mission is to cement a culture that ensures PMI’s engine—our people—isn’t just roadworthy on our journey toward a smoke-free future, but firing on all cylinders,” she said.
“Today we are focused a lot on workforce and workspace,” she added. “The greatest impact that we could create in our next step, is moving from the tactical to the integrated, where diversity, equity, and inclusion are embedded in our business, marketing practices, brand, positioning, society, community, supplier, etc.”
“I will take time in the next two years to focus on the workforce and workspace because, only by doing that will our 80,000 employees feel proud to talk about PMI as the best place to work because of its diversity, inclusivity, and well-being initiatives. PMI can then be a change agent for the world and help make DEI a sustainable world movement .”
Mimi Kurniawan’s 3 Tips for Inclusive Leadership:
Perform. Numbers never lie and your work will show for itself.
Expose yourself. It’s good for others to know what you have done.
Build your network. Everyone needs people in their corner.
It’s a big feat, but Kurniawan is no stranger to hard work “I wanted to finish university as quickly as possible so I could go to work and help my mother. So, I went to the local university in Surabaya as an industrial engineer. It’s a four-year program, and I finished it in three and a half years. The minute that I finished, I immediately looked at the whiteboard of announcements and saw a company that had a management training program.”
Kurniawan ended up applying and being accepted as a management trainee among 36 others who were selected from 3,000 to Sampoerna, the affiliate of Philip Morris in Indonesia.
Despite her early start at the company, she still faced adversity, but that only taught her that you shouldn’t let other people define you and to have empathy for others – a notion she will take with her as Chief Diversity Officer.
“One time, my team member told me (because of my age) that I should be their student rather than supervisor,” she said. “The acceptance level is not at all there. You can feel that you are a young leader with a small team, and you want to make it better, but then you get this complete rejection from a team member.”
“But it helped me,” she added. “Every time I look at people different than me, my empathy is even greater, because I remember that situation. Inclusion is when you really put your focus and attention on the minority, wherever or whoever they are, and put in that effort.”
Being a minority, herself, Kurniawan knows the power of what that can mean. “I am female. I came from an operation function, which is male-dominated. I am Asian. I have always felt it was important to have self-awareness and self-confidence, to prove others like me are just as capable of being successful.”
Kurniawan has fought, personally, against internal and external biases, and she plans to help others do the same through an “ideal state.” This means that achievement comes when employees feel they belong in the company and that they can unlocked their fullest potential to contribute to PMI’s journey for a smoke-free future. Essentially, she wants them to feel recognized and comfortable using their voice — something she didn’t always have as a young, female minority.
“As we work toward delivering a smoke-free future, it’s critical we instill a strong culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which is key to better attracting talent and improving decision-making, innovation, customer orientation, and employee satisfaction,” she said. “Even though I’m new to this role, I understand that we must take small steps toward our DEI ambitions. These are what will lead to giant leaps. DEI is the alignment of what we think. What we say and what we do.”
This article was created by BlogHer for Philip Morris International.