Today in my monthly online Putting Our Differences to Work Dialogue, someone raised a couple of great questions for us to think about: With the U.S. Presidential Election marking major historical milestones for diversity, what opportunities are opening? How will it influence how the world views us? How will we reap maximum benefits for the good of all? Hmmm...? My special guest, Emily Duncan, former vice president, Culture & Diversity for Hewlett Packard and founder, Emily Duncan Consulting shared this perspective to seed our thinking:
"The election in the US is a study on diversity, because the message it will send around the world is that we have talent represented from all ages, both genders, cultures, and a person of color, running for the highest office in our government --- the talent that U.S. citizens will cast their votes on is diverse --- and I think it is a good thing. It will be important for all of us watching and participating in the elections to make sure that diversity doesn't get misused in the election either. One of the challenges that corporations always had with diversity when I was there, was bringing people into positions just because they are diverse, without ensuring they had the level of talent, skills, and experience to do the job. I think it is important that we don't let a person's gender, or race, suddenly become the sole reason they are chosen for a position. This election is giving all of us an opportunity to evaluate the strengths that these candidates bring to the table. ...We need to have an open dialogue and be able to openly say what we believe, so we can learn from other points of view. No matter what your party affiliation, this election has generated more conversation than any one topic I can remember. I think this is beneficial."
Even with Emily's prompting for conversation on these questions, you could tell most of us remain timid about openly talking about the "forbidden" topic of politics in a group of people we are just getting to know. However, you could feel that there were things hovering that people wanted to say. So we left thinking, which is good. What came up for me spoke to how the world ... and our even our children are viewing the election...
"LEADERSHIP" ON DISPLAY????
To me what diminishes the good in this historical election is the behavior we continue to allow and accept from our candidates --- and perhaps ourselves. I wonder what people across the world think when they watch the constant stream of half-truths, outright lies, mean-spirited distortions, bigotry, hatred, cheating, intentional withholding of truth and access, and complete lack of integrity sprawled across the television every day --- even from those claiming "country-first" and "hero." Where is leadership in these behaviors? How could what we are witnessing be classified to be patriotic to your country or as a global citizen? I don't know the answers, but it makes my heart ache, how you about you?
"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right."
--- Thomas Paine, Common Sense 1776
What I know for sure is that the behaviors being put on display will not heal a nation, save a life, restore a family, help a neighbor, stop the greedy, eliminate our dependence on foreign oil, create jobs, feed the hungry, or nurse our environment back to health. An exemplary leader told me once, "if you want to get something different, you have to do something different." With our country in crisis in many directions, two wars and rumors of wars with untold human costs, people is the most dismal existence needing our humanity, and the world crying for U.S. leadership to guide the resolution of our most pressing local and global problems, too many to recount---we banter about the frivolous, like who had the great tactical trick in the game of politics.
In my book, Putting Our Differences to Work, I introduce Five Distinctive Qualities of Leadership that will be necessary to leverage the best of our diverse world to create better organizations, communities, families, and heal our environment and perhaps our politics at the same time. If we all incorporated even #4 and #5 into our consciousness, we would certainly could begin to transform everything in our individual spans of influence:
Leadership Quality #4:
Holds personal responsibility as a core value.
Nelson Mandela affirmed, “With freedom comes responsibility.” It is a sense of personal responsibility that needs to be part of our portable portfolio that goes with us when we move from one job to another, to a new company or within an organization, out in the community, in our homes, or in some new region of the world. Putting our differences to work is greatly enhanced when personal responsibility is a common thread woven tightly into everyone’s fabric.
Leadership Quality #5:
Establishes mutualism as the final arbiter for all behavior and decisions.
This quality builds upon its definition: a doctrine that mutual dependence is necessary for social well-being. It is also essential for organizational well-being. So, this quality applies this concept to all aspects of work and life in all types of organizations, institutions and entities. It creates a new definition of success that has a clear “yardstick” that serves as the final arbiter of all plans, innovations, decisions, products, services, programs, profit-making, et al: Everyone benefits and no one is harmed. In other words, it creates win, win, win – I win, you win, we all win. Building the future on a foundation of mutualism changes everything we do.
What are your thoughts? I welcome them!
Debbe
Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
author, Putting Our Differences to Work
new book!
Putting Our Differences to Work
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership and High Performance
by Debbe Kennedy ▪ Berrett-Koehler ▪ June 2008 – Hardcover
ORDER a copy at AMAZON.COM
Also available in DIGITAL DOWNLOAD at Berrett-Koehler
Join me for themed monthly thought-leader ONLINE Dialogues
Foreword by Joel A. Barker, futurist, filmmaker and author
Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future
Thank you for your website. I have enjoyed reading about your diversity training. . . although I notice your bias. I have also done a good bit of diversity training, leadership training, economic development training, and others.
Posted by: Mary Compton | October 08, 2008 at 05:32 PM
Dear Mary,
Thanks for message! It wasn't clear what you meant by "your bias" --- in this post? or ??? Tell me more about your training experiences.
Best...
Debbe
Posted by: Debbe Kennedy - Putting Our Differences to Work | October 11, 2008 at 03:53 PM