I welcome your feedback. Call me at 630-288-8250, or send me an e-mail.

We couldn't find a better example of a growing chain that serves an underserved market with such a high level of focus and depth than Pizza Patron, and CEO Antonio Swad is very much the face and day-to-day leader of the brand. We weren't going to not use him just because he's a white guy.

Those of us who are not white men still need their support. If you look at the Women's Foodservice Forum, for example, you'll find a far greater percentage of men serving on the board than men as a percentage of the whole membership. If that sounds unbalanced, maybe it is for now. But the organization needs and wants to take advantage of all the knowledge and executive experience it can get out of volunteers, so it would be foolish not to accept the help.

There is a lot to learn both ways. In his graduate social-work program, a close friend, a middle-age white man, is in a diversity class that has him learning things about working with other races, ages, genders, gender preferences, socioeconomic levels, etc., that he never learned in business school. Though he's a fairly liberal and generous guy, there are perspectives and experiences that he never dreamed of.

The power that he unknowingly wielded as a middle-class white man has him humbled. I don't think that's the reaction he should focus on; I think he should use that power for good. Now he's learning to ask questions or delve a little deeper to try to understand clients better, even at the risk of offending them.

If you relate that to a business situation, you might see that you're operating just fine, relatively speaking. The way you've always done things is the way you do things. But perhaps there are whole groups of customers that you're not even aware you're not serving. Maybe your franchise marketing doesn't reach large numbers of businesspeople eager to invest in something with bricks and mortar and measurable results.

Embracing diversity isn't just the right thing to do. In this operating environment, you need all the varied input you can get to attract all those potential franchisees and customers.

Take a lesson from my friend. Start investigating what you don't know; ask the hard questions in a sincere way; and then use your power for good.