MANCHESTER – Developing a diverse work force is not just a politically correct idea, it’s good for the economy.

That was the overwhelming message from speakers in government, business and academia during Wednesday’s Diversity Conference for Business at the Center of New Hampshire Radisson Hotel.

This is the third such conference put on by the New Hampshire Cultural Diversity Awareness Council. The council is a not-for-profit volunteer organization founded in 2000 by Wayne Jennings, who serves as its chairman.

Ronald Langston, the national director of the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency, said that believing in and supporting minority businesses as well as diverse work forces is “not simply a symbolic gesture.”

“Let there be no doubt that the success or failure of minority businesses increasingly drive the success or failure of the overall U.S. economy,” Langston said.

A Dartmouth College study shows that between now and 2050, minority populations are projected to grow quite a bit, he said. “That will be fueled by immigration,” he said, saying the study showed the growth would be in people of color.

“Let us embrace them and welcome them,” Langston said. “Let us be inclusive of a diverse population because the role they play far outweighs the concerns about immigration that are caused by fear and ignorance.”

Stuart Arnett, director of the state’s Division of Economic Development in the Department of Resources and Economic Development, agreed that diversity is more than just words.

“It isn’t just a good idea for the future – for economic development, it is going to be a requirement,” Arnett said.

Both men said that although demographically, New Hampshire’s population is approximately 96 percent white, its minority populations have been growing.

“Diversity has been an important part of our economy moving forward,” he said.

And building a diverse work force is a mark of leadership, according to Langston and David Hall, a law professor at Northeastern University in Boston.

“To be an entrepreneur in this “To be an entrepreneur in this country is to be a leader,” Langston said. “Let us assist them as they take charge of their destiny and realize their dreams.”

Hall said that real leaders further diversity because they are in part more open, flexible and creative.

He said developing work force diversity is a business imperative if the economy is to continue growing.

“If we exclude people based on gender, on race or ethnicity, we don’t get the best, and we can’t compete,” Hall said.

Making sure the work force is diverse is a business imperative that’s necessary to compete and to do the right thing by everyone in society.

“There are leaders and there are managers. We’re not thirsting and dying for additional managers,” he said.

“We’re thirsting and dying for authentic leaders who can move people. If we fail to adhere to this important business imperative, then we’ve failed to uphold the integrity and soul of this nation.”