VisionWorks' Breakthrough Solutions
Harnessing the Forces of Change
Seven Keys to Harnessing the Power of Diversity in Your Community - February 2006
In a highly competitive global economy, successful communities,
businesses, and regions recognize the importance of equipping their
workforce with the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful.
They also recognize the importance of the entire community coming
together and moving toward a desired future. Both of these critical
tasks require community leaders and citizens to not only handle
cultural and racial diversity issues, but to take advantage of the
diversity within their community.
While cultural and racial diversity is embraced by some as obviously
valuable in and of itself, it is viewed by others as a problem or
even a threat to the status quo. This article explores how cultural
and racial diversity can enhance community and economic development,
based on insights from the fields of innovation, social capital, and
community development.
"Our diversity is our greatest strength" is a statement often heard
in discussions of diversity. But what does it really mean? Is it
even true? Would the citizens of Paris and other French cities that
have recently been terrorized by riots and burning vehicles claim
that diversity is their greatest strength? Perhaps a more useful
question would be "How can diversity be used as a strength?"
The issue of diversity is becoming increasingly important because
our society is becoming increasingly diverse:
• Students in the Little Rock school district speak over 40
languages.
• Three of us involved in the Breakthrough Solutions Program each
have a son or daughter married to someone from another country -
South Africa, Romania, and Hong Kong.
• Successful businesses increasingly require individuals able to
work across cultures and national boundaries. Infosys, a major
software provider, holds virtual conferences with American
designers, Indian software writers, and Chinese manufacturers.
• Whether it is ethnic and racial groups that have been in the same
community for decades, or a new group of immigrants that have moved
into your community from Chicago, Vietnam, or Azerbaijan, diversity
impacts communities in major ways,
So what are the keys to taking advantage of diversity? Remember that
the word "strategy" in Greek means "the art of the general." Taking
a strategic perspective on racial and ethnic diversity leads us to
explore how diversity can be an asset and to develop strategies that
will harness and leverage this asset.
Key #1: Recognize that every ethnic and racial group has its own
norms, values, celebrations, food, clothing, and social habits.
They also have their own problems, emerging out of their unique
history. They see the world in different ways – in some ways that
may impress us, and in some ways that may appall us.
I’ll never forget hearing a leader of a rural Arkansas community
remark: ‘These people just have to realize how we do things around
here." As long as people don’t break the laws of the land, they
should be free to express their culture in the ways that they
choose.
A Homogenized Society or a Diverse Society?
Rather than trying to get everyone to conform to one way of doing
things, creating a homogenized community and culture, it is more
useful to view diversity as a large buffet, with many varied and
exotic dishes. Baltimore, MD, a city with many ethnic neighborhoods,
draws people from miles around to its many weekend festivals, each
of which is sponsored by a unique ethnic or racial group. Forcing
all subcultures into a blender to create a homogenized culture does
violence to the uniqueness of each group and will likely harm the
"quality of place" in the community over the long term.
Key #2: Recognize that just like a buffet, every society must have a
set of rules.
For a buffet, those rules might include "Don’t throw food, don’t
encroach on someone else’s space, and don’t spike the punch." For a
society or community, the rules are the constitutional framework and
set of laws and policies that have emerged over time. When people or
groups break the rules, as the rioters in Paris did, the nation and
community has the right and duty to protect itself. A community that
has active al-Qaida cells, drug dealers, gangs, or meth lab
operators does not have a recipe for diversity; it has a recipe for
disaster. Effective strategic visioning processes identify common
ground and values that can serve as a springboard for the community
to move forward.
Key #3: Involve ethnic and racial groups in identifying and
addressing issues facing the community.
We value those things which
we help to create. A community that does not involve all ethnic and
racial groups in shaping its future is not likely to have buy-in
from those groups, and misses out on their energy, ideas, and
resources. It is in no one’s best interest when there are groups of
people who, for whatever reason, are not fully participating in the
community, the workforce, and the local economy. If a particular
segment of your community has problems, that group must play a key
role in addressing those problems if there is to be lasting change.
Key #4: Identify and nurture economic opportunities that come with
ethnic, cultural, and racial diversity.
Each group reflects one or
more market segments, with opportunities for unique food, crafts,
clothing, festivals, and other goods, services, and experiences. The
popularity of ethnic festivals, restaurants, and products testify to
the economic opportunities that come with diversity.
Key #5: Recognize the tremendous importance of authentic cultural
expressions in a community’s "quality of place."
In the global,
knowledge-based economy, when an increasingly large number of
workers and employers can move to the location of their choice, it
is quality of place that becomes the most important factor. A
community that offers quality of place goes beyond basic quality of
life amenities by becoming a unique place that stimulates our minds,
bodies, and souls as well as meeting our basic needs. Unlike big box
retailers and strip malls of chain stores, which look alike across
the country, a community with quality of place is unique, authentic,
intriguing, and real. And authentic expressions of cultural and
racial groups fill this need.
Key #6: Learn to tap diversity in your community to foster
innovation and create wealth.
Creating wealth requires that you
develop goods, services, or experiences that are valued in the local
and global economy. In the highly competitive global economy,
innovation has become a crucial ingredient for creating new wealth,
and tapping diversity is an important stimulus for innovation.
Futurist Joel Barker’s video "Diversity, Innovation, and Wealth"
provides multiple examples of how the creation of wealth depends on
innovation, and innovation can be effectively nurtured in
multicultural settings.
Diversity Quiz:
If you are going to open a restaurant in your community, revitalize
your downtown, or add a new product line at Acme Toy, who would you
ask for feedback:
___ a) your fishing buddies?
___ b) a cross section of people in your community that reflects its
diversity – by age, ethnicity, race, occupation, and other factors?
Response:
In all likelihood, a cross section of people in your community would
most likely to yield a rich and varied response. Stimulating
creative thinking and learning to see the world as others see it is
immensely valuable in creating wealth in the 21st century economy.
Key #7: Develop concrete, pro-active strategies that build trust
(social capital) within and across cultural and racial lines.
Dr.
Cornelia Flora, with the North Central Center for Rural Development,
discusses bonding social capital and bridging social capital:
• Bonding social capital builds trust relationships within a
cultural or racial group.
• Bridging social capital refers to building trust relationships
across cultural or racial lines.
Both bonding and bridging social capital are important in getting
the community to work together and move forward to realize its
desired future.
The primary responsibility for the riots in France lies with the
rioters – those who destroyed property. Nevertheless, France’s
inability to integrate its North African and Muslim minorities into
the fabric of its society – its inability to create social capital
that bridged cultural and religious divides – contributed to the
rioting. (Of course a group must be willing to become a part of a
community.) The result was more than 7,000 vehicles torched, and
dozens of buses, schools, gymnasiums, nurseries, libraries, shops,
and businesses destroyed.
Every community is different, but proactive efforts are usually
required to ensure that all ethnic and racial groups are included in
the community as it seeks to move forward. Ensuring that all groups
are represented on study action teams to address critical issues is
one example of how to do this. Furthermore, it is more effective to
be proactive and inclusive than reactive, trying to deal with
conflicts in the community after they have taken place.
Summary
Ultimately, each of us desires to be recognized for who we are –
unique, special people who have the capability to make a
contribution to the world. That’s what I think most people mean when
they say "Diversity is our greatest strength." And pre-judging
individuals based on their culture or race denies that uniqueness
(pre-judging = prejudice). There are low-down scoundrels in the
white community, in the black community, the Hispanic community, and
every other ethnic or racial group. However, we should not assume
that because a person we encounter is white/black/Hispanic/whatever,
they are therefore a low-down scoundrel.
As the story that follows may illustrate, not only can racism
involve white prejudice against blacks, black prejudice against
whites, Asian prejudice against Hispanics, etc., it can be black
prejudice against blacks and white prejudice against whites. In all
cases, prejudice is painful and destructive.
A True Story – A Body in the Parking Lot
An African-American friend of mine, a veteran of the first war with
Iraq and one of the friendliest guys I know, was walking through a
parking lot recently, when he saw a body – a person on the ground
between two cars. Trained in emergency medical aid, he immediately
went to check out the situation. Evidently the woman had an
epileptic fit, and was struggling. He assured her that he was there
to help her, and called 911. She lost consciousness, but came to
when the EMT with the ambulance arrived. When she awoke, she saw my
friend and screamed to the EMT (who was white) to guard her purse.
This African- American woman had assumed that my friend, an
African-American man, would steal her purse, while the white EMT
could be trusted.
My friend felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. After this
incident, he said he never wants to help anyone again: "It is
humiliating and too much hassle." His pain and humiliation are a
result of his being pre-judged by the woman he was trying to help. I
encouraged him to always do the right thing, and shared with him "The Ten Commandments of Leadership", which follows. It is helpful
to remember that none of us chose our parents, our race, or our
cultural heritage. What matters is what we do with what we have been
given – to make a contribution to our families, our communities, our
nation, and our world. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. expresses this
well:
The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns
those inner qualities that make all men human, and therefore,
brothers.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ten Commandments of Leadership
1) People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love and
trust them anyway.
2) If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior
motives. Do good anyway.
3) If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true
enemies. Succeed anyway.
4) The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
5) Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable. Be honest and
frank anyway.
6) The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the
smallest people with the smallest ideas. Think big anyway.
7) People favor underdogs, but follow top dogs. Fight for the
underdogs anyway.
8) What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build
anyway.
9) People really need help but may attack you if you do help. Help
people anyway.
10) Give the world the best you have and you may get kicked in the
teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.
- Lance Bullard
4-H Youth Focus
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