I believe that the most important impact a business leader can have today is their ability to truly improve the lives of the people they touch — consumers, partners and, importantly, employees. I come into work every day knowing I owe a responsibility to not only my employees but also their families.

I have experienced how the values of a company can be a positive force for good, when we improve consumers’ lives with our brands, when we act with integrity and honesty in our business dealings, and when we create jobs and economic growth. Business can be a force for good when we use our voice to encourage meaningful dialogue.

The arguments today in favour of diversity and inclusion are no different. A diverse workforce matters because diversity drives increased creativity and innovation. This diversity of thought, cultures and experiences enables us to better understand our consumers.

Our brands are bought by billions globally, and the more we understand them, the better we’re able to create innovations that meet our consumers’ needs.

Historically, we’ve found that diversity and inclusion makes a profound difference in our performance as a company. Diversity and inclusion leads to inspirational leadership, by giving every single one of our people responsibilities and challenging them from their first day on the job. We believe there is no better way to learn than to participate in live projects first-hand and be responsible for their work.

Diversity and inclusion also provides an opportunity for every employee to succeed. We welcome every person, and our passion for inclusion has had a significant impact not only on helping teams to understand one another, but also fostering necessary conversations about our differences as individuals, as well as what makes us the same.

Today, P&G’s UAE workforce comprises of 30 nationalities and almost a 50:50 ratio of men and women. What’s more challenging is creating an environment where everyone’s views are listened to, respected and importantly, acted on.

When we genuinely value diversity and inclusion, we’re actually armed with more knowledge because we have a mindset influenced by people whose backgrounds, experience, ethnicity, gender, religion — are different than our own.

And it is not just about the business; Diversity and inclusion is a basic human value and a basic requirement for any society to develop and move forward. It means that no empathy and low respect for opinions or cultures different from our own reduces our ability to integrate more knowledge and regresses our learning.

While we have witnessed that diversity and inclusion is key for business success, we firmly believe that we have a responsibility to establish the foundation for gender equality outside of P&G as well. We’ve partnered with UN Women to make gender equality a reality on two fronts: by supporting the fifth Sustainable Development Goal in tackling gender bias by leveraging our voice through advertising in sparking conversations that motivate change and committing ourselves to expanding our “Supplier Diversity” programme to the Gulf region.

We will be working with them and governments across the Arabian Peninsula to help develop women-owned businesses through mentorship programmes. We’ll be spending more of our own purchasing budgets with women-owned businesses locally, and we’ll be influencing our business partners to do the same.

Diversity and inclusion is the smart choice for organisations to make, and it’s also the right one, as it can lead to more innovation, better access to talent and stronger business performance while simultaneously providing more opportunities for all in society. Each one of us must play our part to achieve the aspiration of building a better world, free from gender bias, and a world with equal representation and equal voice for both men and women.

Fundamentally, the basic needs and challenges of people are universal. What is different is the perspective; and perspective is the underlying principle of why diversity is the right human and business choice.

The writer is General Manager for the Arabian Peninsula at Procter & Gamble (P&G).