PwC chairman on CEO diversity pledge and infamous Oscar mistake

PricewaterhouseCoopers is the company behind this year's huge Oscar night mix-up, when an accountant with the firm gave the wrong envelope to the presenters for Best Picture.

Now, PwC is back in the headlines for a more positive reason: its big leadership role in the new "CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion" pledge.

More than 150 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies have signed up for the initiative. They include IBM's Ginni Rometty, Procter and Gamble's David Taylor, Under Armour's Kevin Plank and CBS' own Leslie Moonves. In full disclosure, CBS is a client of PwC.

Tim Ryan, PwC chairman and senior partner, joined "CBS This Morning" for his first-ever television interview to discuss the company's diversity push, his own background and PwC's infamous Oscar night mistake.

Ryan had only been in his current role at PwC about a week when a tragic event — the ambush of five Dallas police officers — made him rethink the way workplaces cope with difficult issues roiling the country.

"What our people told me was when they came to work the morning after the Dallas shootings, they told me that the silence was deafening. And for an organization like ours, that hurt a lot," Ryan said.

As Ryan spoke to more people, it became clear that they needed to do more.

"We actually gave permission across all of PwC to talk about the issue of race. And what we learned is, as progressive as we were, we were missing the foundational issue of understanding one another."

Race can be an uncomfortable topic to discuss and, according to Ryan, most CEOs will admit to that behind closed doors. 

Asked how often he talks about diversity in conversations with other company CEOs, Ryan said, "Almost every conversation I have with a CEO goes to talent and talent is how companies distinguish themselves. Diversity, inclusion is part of the talent. Every conversation it comes up."

Soon, he decided to take that focus outside of the company. Ryan says the conversations inside his organization inspired him to get the group of CEOs together, which ultimately inspired "CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion."

"What I learned from our black professionals is many of them carry their business card in their pocket in the event they get pulled over so they can show they are entitled to the car that they drive," Ryan said.

Ryan, who grew up in a working-class neighborhood in the suburbs of Boston, said one of the most important lessons he's learned didn't come during college or while at PwC, but instead while working at a supermarket years ago.

One day, Ryan and his friends were making fun of one of the other employees who had special needs. Ryan even admitted he was leading the charge.

"The store manager came by, who never went to college, and he heard us doing it and stopped in his tracks and pointed at me and said 'Hey, knock it off. He's giving you 100 percent of what he can give you.' And that lesson taught me more about leadership than anything in college," Ryan recounted. 

Ryan was in the audience on Oscar night when his company became infamous for giving the wrong envelope to the presenters for Best Picture.

As soon as he saw two PwC employees on the stage, he knew something was wrong. Yet he still finds a reason to be proud.

"What I'm incredibly proud of is that after gathering the facts within two short hours we stepped up and owned the issue. One of the things I've learned in my career is bad news doesn't age well. When you make a mistake, own up to it."