To get to his current post, as Vice-President of a 250-store chain, Tim Williams beat the odds repeatedly. Born and raised in inner-city Milwaukee, Williams earned an academic scholarship to a Catholic boys’ school, then an athletic scholarship at the University of Michigan, where he started as linebacker and won three Big Ten titles. But Williams declined his fifth year, and a shot at pro football, to enter UM’s law school, and later turned down bigger money in private practice to become Vice-President at Meijer. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Williams preaches that diversity and inclusion entails more than race, gender, and ethnicity, and embracing it is a smart business strategy.