Fields like advertising may have a problem attracting female talent right out of college, but even companies who’ve hired them might be stifling them in some ways, said Greg Jones (pictured), chief diversity officer at United Airlines Inc.

“I have a theory that corporate America is probably operating at about 60 percent capacity, because people can’t fully pull the trigger on their skills and talents,” Jones said.

He spoke to Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile live streaming studio, during the Professional BusinessWomen of California Conference in San Francisco, California. (*Disclosure below.) 

Any group that is underrepresented in the workplace may find its dominant culture inhibiting, Jones explained. This is not always due to conscious discrimination (Uber Technologies Inc.’s recent harassment scandal aside). Many companies with the best intentions will hire atypical employees and fail to adjust the culture accordingly.

Top-down transformation

The upper tiers of an organization need to reach out and get acquainted with the odd men (or women) out, he said. By working closely with different types of people, “what happens over time is you wind up developing a skillset,” Jones said. “Once you do it and you find out it doesn’t kill you, it turns out that by definition it makes you a better leader.”

Having broadened their understanding of the ways different people perform at peak, leaders can transform the culture to raise everyone’s productivity, Jones said. It’s a business play, he argued.

“We’re talking about, how do you actually get the most out of all the people that you have working for you at every level? If people are afraid to fully commit themselves to work, your productivity is just not what it could be,” he said.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the PBWC Conference. (*Disclosure: Some segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE are sponsored. Sponsors have no editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE