By Grace Austin
How does a company unite 62,000 employees under one corporate culture? For Las Vegas’ MGM Resorts International, the company that set fountains to music in front of Bellagio and brought Cirque du Soleil to Sin City, the decision was easy: a Vegas-style production.
Created for employees, by employees, Inspiring Our World is a musical production formulated by MGM Resorts to deepen the company’s corporate culture and motivate its employees to become involved in areas of social responsibility, including diversity and inclusion. The production, which features an all-employee cast of seventy, original music, costumes, and choreography spanning multiple cultures, was introduced and performed nine times over three days last winter with an audience of 41,000 southern Nevada employees. The 1.5-hour production was simultaneously presented in English, Spanish, and American Sign Language.
Designed to complement the company’s Diversity Champion workshops, Inspiring Our World serves as larger platform to promote the principles of diversity and inclusion with company employees.
“The roots for Inspiring Our World flow from our commitment to being an organization that embraces diversity and inclusion. Through education sessions over the last decade, we have graduated more than 10,000 Diversity Champions,” said Jim Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International. “While that’s a good start, it’s not good enough for us on this issue.”
In addition to promoting the company’s commitment to diversity, the production motivates employees to live out the company’s mission to “engage, entertain, and inspire.” Furthermore, the production encourages employees to make positive contributions to their communities and be environmental stewards both at their workplaces and in their households.
“We respect and value our diverse and immensely talented team members as the foundation of our success as a global company,” Murren continued. “By engaging our employees in the core values of our company—from teamwork, to integrity to excellence—we foster a healthy workplace, as well as dynamic and sustainable communities where our employees live and work, and where our guests visit.”
A unique take on diversity training, Inspiring Our World has not only rallied MGM Resorts around a company culture rooted in social responsibility, but also broadened the corporate diversity world’s consideration of what diversity training can be.