C orporate America defends the concept of erasing regionalisms because business is increasingly global. If English is to be the language of international business, then the least we Americans can do is speak with a consistent, pleasant and inoffensive voice. It sends our Japanese business partners diving for the dictionary instead of the dotted line. It wastes time, and time is money. Some employees are told outright to either lose the accent or lose the promotion.
Some firms even pay for the speech therapy.
Southerners have long been the targets of such discrimination. It's not just southerners, of course. New Yorkers and New Jerseyites are equally encouraged to lose their accents so as not to sound rude, or pushy or whatever. Perhaps it is the export of these stereotypes to overseas business partners that has prompted Corporate America to act. Or the companies that poison the earth in Mexico while bragging about their EPA compliance.