When talking about the potential benefits of diversity, Chief Diversity Officers often cite diversity of thought as one of the most promising. President Barack Obama’s efforts to achieve thought diversity in his cabinet provide an evolving case study on the requirements for realizing this benefit. The analysis below suggests that accessing the advantages of thought diversity may be easier said than done.
Requirement 1: Specify your Diversity Mission (what you seek to achieve thorough diversity) and your Diversity Vision (what will constitute success).
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Where is America “at” with respect to diversity?
The 2008 Presidential election led many of us to believe that there is a widespread hope, even a longing, for a post-racial society. The incident between Dr. Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley in the summer of 2009 reminded us that confusion and uncertainty remains.
To me, the ongoing conversation about race in this country demonstrates two challenges that may thwart the progress that has been made. We have an inability to distinguish pluralism from diversity; and we have an intense aversion to diversity tension. Many Americans who think that they are comfortable with diversity are in reality comfortable with pluralism. So what is the difference?
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Over 20 years ago, I raised the question of whether corporations were prepared to recruit, select, develop and utilize a diverse talent pool. I also wondered aloud whether managing a racial, gender and ethnic diverse pool of human resources called for a different capability than that of managing a relatively homogeneous group of people. I contended that two different sets of processes were called for, and I labeled the process for a diverse pool “Managing Diversity.”
The goal of this process was “full utilization of human resources” in pursuit of competitive advantage and productivity gains.
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