1.6: What Exactly Does Diversity Include?

Diversity is not only black and white, female and male, homosexual and heterosexual, Jew and Christian, young and old, etc.; but the diversity of every individual, slow learner and fast learner, introvert (shy person) and extrovert (outgoing person), controlling type and people type, scholar and sports-person, etc. Although it includes gender and racial differences, it goes beyond that to touch on the fabric of our everyday lives.

The real meaning of diversity should NOT be to picture diversity as race, religion, gender, or age; but to picture it as the uniqueness that is built into every individual. Only by accepting the uniqueness of others, will people want to help the team as a whole to succeed.

Why does culture matter?

Organizations have to realize that the cultures of the world are their potential customers. Not too long ago, many businesses focused on the young and/or middle-aged white classes. This was where the money was at. Now, thanks to great efforts toward recognizing the many aspects of diversity and the good that it brings us, more and more money is starting to be in the hands of people from a wide range of diverse backgrounds.

In order to attract this wide variety of cultures, organizations must truly become multi-cultural themselves. Organizations that only employ “people of their kind” in leadership and high-visibility positions will not be tolerated by people of other cultures. These cultures will spend their money at businesses that truly believe in diversity.

Embracing (accepting) diversity has several benefits for the organization:

• It is the right thing to do.
• To attract good people into their ranks, businesses must take the moral (proper) path. Good organizations attract good people, while bad businesses attract bad people.
• It helps to build teams that create synergy (combine)…you get more for your efforts.
• It broadens (widens) their customer base in a very competitive environment.

How we tend to categorize people