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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When author J. K. Rowling addressed the graduating class at Harvard last June, she didn’t focus on success. Instead, she spoke about failure. She related a story about a young woman who gave up her dream of writing novels to study something more practical. Nonetheless, she ended up as an unemployed single mom “as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain without being homeless.” But during this rock-bottom time, she realized she still had a wonderful daughter, an old typewriter, and an idea that would become the foundation for rebuilding her life. Perhaps you’ve heard of Harry Potter?
“You might never fail on the scale I did,” Rowling told that privileged audience. “But it is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all–in which case, you fail by default. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.” (Excerpt from “The Bounce Back Chronicles” by Joe Kita, as printed in the May 2009 Reader’s Digest)
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Ever since I was a little boy I’ve wanted to be a leader in whatever activity I’ve participated in. When I was six years old I was the “captain of the police force” with my school mates. As a young person in high school and college I held numerous student body offices. Admittedly in part my reason for wanting to be a leader was so I could be “the boss” or be known as someone who was “important.” The drive to be recognized was pushing my desire to lead.
Could it be that this is why we are having difficulty with leaders in the world today? Are they being driven by the need to be recognized, to be important? Is greed their driving force?
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