Equality issues are all over today's news, boardroom meetings, and social media feeds in our country and world.

Plenty of individual trailblazers and companies are taking a stand for equality for all. As a business leader, there's never been a better time to join the movement and become an equality leader.

Want to know what an equality leader looks like at work? We see it as someone who helps to create a workplace that's free from discrimination, mirrors the communities it serves, and is representative of all identities — someone striving every day to advance equality in their community.

Are you ready to take an active role in making this important change? We’ve created a new e-book to show you why we at Salesforce believe that every company’s higher purpose should be driving equality for all. This e-book also shares key action steps to help you become an equality trailblazer and assist your team members in doing the same.

For much more data, action steps, and resources, get the Path Toward Equality e-book.

Now take a look at these four reasons why it's the perfect time to join the movement and become an equality leader today.

1. Unfortunately, equality hasn't kept pace with innovation.

Technology has improved tremendously over the past 50, 20, and even five years. Being able to hail a rideshare from your smartphone or receive weather updates from a talking AI device is impressive — and these are clear indicators of how far business has come through innovation and technology.

But sadly, equality hasn’t kept pace with modern innovation. When it comes to ensuring that all groups get a seat at the table, many companies are still lagging behind. So there's never been a better time to pick up the mantle of equality leadership.

2. Being an equality leader helps you better understand your customers.

Customer experience truly forms the basis of competition among businesses today. Crafting a better customer experience is probably top of mind for most of your employees, whether they're in sales, service, marketing, IT, or another department.

When your organization promotes greater diversity internally, you'll have a more diverse group working on your products, services, and experiences. That means you'll better be able to evaluate how a broad group of people experience your offerings and avoid unintentional discrimination in the process.

3. Your customers will thank you — and help you grow even more.

According to Nielsen, 66% of global online consumers say they're willing to pay more for products and services provided by companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact.

Similarly, companies that are more gender-diverse are 15% more likely to financially outperform other companies. Those that are ethnically diverse are 35% more likely to do the same, according to data from McKinsey.

It's clear that leaders on the path toward equality have a special ability to create strong, emotional connections with their customers, and that bears out in business performance.

4. You'll unlock more creativity and efficiency among employees.

By hiring more diversely and focusing on inclusion, employees will feel free to bring their authentic selves to work — which has a ton of benefits in terms of innovation, freedom to be creative, and expressing new ideas.

One Kellogg study showed that thought diversity helped organizations make better decisions because it triggered more creative information processing, which is often absent in homogenous groups.

At Salesforce, we believe our company’s higher purpose is to drive the Age of Equality, but we can’t do it alone. Are you ready to join us on this path and help lead the change? 

Download the new Salesforce e-book for more information on why it’s important to be an equality trailblazer — and how to get started.