Archive for the ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ Category

Generation-Y Survival Guide

Thursday, December 20th, 2012

By: Tevin Smith

Generation-Y, Millenials, The Trophy Generation, whatever you choose to call them, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 36% of the workforce will be made up of these young professionals by 2014. By 2020, half of the workforce will be Millenials. To achieve long-term success, business leaders will have to keep Gen-Y happy and productive.

Here’s your 3-point plan to Gen-Y success:

Invest in development:

Gone are the days where money is the only motivator for young professionals. For most Millenials professional development is the most important benefit they’re looking for when choosing an employer. Millenials need to understand timelines for advancement and be kept in the loop about growth opportunities. A structured mentoring leadership development program for recent graduates is a great way to cultivate young talent for future leadership responsibilities.

Encourage teamwork:

For a generation raised in team sports and group projects, promoting team cohesiveness can increase productivity and loyalty. Millenials often feel a stronger connection to the people at a company than the actual company. Building strong relationships with colleagues will lead to a stronger connection with the organization as a whole.

Give responsibility:

A generation of risk-takers and thrill-seekers with immense confidence in their abilities, Millenials crave responsibility in the workplace. Giving responsibility doesn’t necessarily mean altering job descriptions. Ensuring young professionals know how their role contributes to the overall success of the organization is vital to Millenials.

Implementing these strategies will require time and effort on the part of today’s leadership, but with a large number of Baby Boomer’s nearing retirement the leaders of today cannot afford to neglect the movers and shakers in business of tomorrow. Using strategic approach to effectively leverage the talents of these fresh-faced thinkers will ensure a promising future for organizations.

Tevin Smith is a guest writer for KRS Consulting. Tevin has a passion for small business and seeks to illuminate issues that promote productivity, growth, and sustainability of business. Contact Tevin Smith by email at tevin@krsconsult.com.  

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The Purple Elephant in Our Country

Sunday, November 11th, 2012

By Dr. Renae Sanders

The election has come and gone.  And thankfully so, on one hand, the airwaves are now free of the barrage of the negative political ads that bombarded the airwaves, especially, in the swing states where the ads had become a minute by minute occurrence. On the other hand, for some reality that their candidate had not won would come another day. The tragedy is that we do not have rules or regulations around political advertising when we are asked to make informed decisions about whom we should vote; but that is a separate article.

Today, let’s focus on the proverbial Purple Elephant in our country. The silent, yet ever-present and dangerous animal, that under writes our beliefs, attitudes, and actions.  Yes, its race. And it continues to fester below the surface of our great country. This is bigger than an apology. It’s bigger than reparations. It’s about our collective courage to face, own, and acknowledge that race is as much a part of our current cultural landscape as the air we breathe.

Emotional intelligence experts tell us that we must first be aware of our own emotions and what they are if we are to self-regulate our attitudes and thereby our actions.   Very simply, this means its o.k. to feel what you feel, but it’s unacceptable to act any way you want to act in response to those feelings; especially, if they are negative emotions.  Of course, this holds true for any negative response to emotions; but today – we talk race. Secondly, our emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) is higher if we then have an understanding of how emotion may affect those with whom we interact and how to leverage our awareness of emotions in our dealings – personally, professionally, or politically.

A rising tide floats all boats. Well, all decently constructed ones.  But you get the point. Therefore, the notion that the strength of America’s growing minority population will somehow erode the wealth and stature of America’s wealthiest is less than rational. Believing that in a global environment self-imposed segregation is beneficial and will help our kids cope with the rapid changes occurring in our country or their ability to compete is a response to beliefs of loss. Providing a superior education to the economically advantaged and then blame the poor for not doing more to take care of themselves is less than rational as well. The answers to curing the ills of our society lie in our collective engagement toward solving problems, self-awareness, emotional and social intelligence.

This election, and the last, exposed to many what they have feared with the growing demographic changes – that the democratic process would change the course of history. Surely, the British felt the same way, which is why the American Revolution occurred. In order for us to become a more perfect union, we must change as our country changes and we must respect what we have always seen in the defining moments in our history, “the minority will be heard, but the majority shall rule”.   This festering of unchallenged ideology has the potential to harm communities and create underperforming businesses, as morale, trust, teamwork, and knowledge sharing are compromised.

Author David Walsh wrote in his book, “Conversations with God”, that at our actions and decisions are based on the two primal emotions, love and fear. If we drilled down to the source of our behaviors, we are either acting out of love or on fear. War, segregation, political spin, bullying, analysis paralysis, and the inability to reconcile our sorted history are all based on fear.

It’s appropriate to quote, now, the lyrics from one of Dianna Ross’ megahits, “what the world needs now, is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of…”

Dr. Renae Sanders is the Managing Director at KRS Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational development and relationships. Believing people are the link between strategy and success, Dr. Sanders works with organizations, leaders, and managers to strengthen internal practices and relationships. Email info@krsconsult.com to book an engagement or meeting with Dr. Sanders.

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Diversity vs. Inclusion

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

by Dr. Wesley Carter

Query the Director of Training of any Fortune 500 corporation and you will find diversity classes among the menu of available training courses. In fact, diversity initiatives are prevalent throughout the majority of large organizations. Even with the legislation and regulations imposed by the federal government, individuals still find themselves marginalized and prevented from access to wealth in large corporations on the basis of difference. Why is this?

However, shortsighted, the term “diversity” often brings images of people of color to mind.  Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, for naysayers, diversity has come to symbolize quotas and preferential treatment. For individuals who feel threatened by diversity, it also symbolizes the redistribution of wealth and assets away from the people who control America’s power and wealth to the disenfranchised. How words are perceived and interpreted has a tremendous influence on how we operationalize objectives. 

While we have been extolling the virtues of diversity, there has been a political shift from income distribution to the accumulation of wealth in the United States. Even tax structures have been changed to encourage the accumulation of wealth.  A shift from thinking and behaving in terms of diversity vs. inclusion symbolizes a thrust from thinking in terms of race to taking on a much broader perspective based on inclusion of all individuals.

Inclusion initiatives can be shaped to create environments where tangible resources such a salaries, promotions, raises, and bonuses are distributed based on the value contributed to create solutions. In inclusion ideologies, intangible assets such access, social affiliation, authority and legitimacy are equally distributed among all members.

Whereas diversity has been associated with the redistribution of wealth, inclusion represents the accumulation of wealth based on the understanding that we are all interconnected, socially, intellectually, and financially; and that diverse ideas and perspectives allows us to solve problems collaboratively.  Perhaps an inclusion ideology may be more effective in decreasing the marginalization of particular demographics. Inclusion ideologies refer to the integration of individuals that represent various ethnicities, classes, genders, sexual orientations, ages, cultures, perspectives, and intellectual processing styles.  All demographics are accepted, respected, and appreciated in inclusion initiatives. The objective of inclusion ideology is to create synergy that produces organizational and operational effectiveness. Differences are appreciated and exploited to create environments where innovation and community can thrive.

WESLEY CARTER DM, authors an advice column that leverages leadership and management strategies to solve common business problems. Carter holds a Doctor of Management (DM) degree with an emphasis in Organizational Leadership, an MBA, and a B.A. in Management.  Carter is a partner at KRS Consulting, LLC in Charlotte, NC. If you have a question, email wesley@krsconsult.com . All submissions become the property of Wesley Carter. Call (704) 992-1211 or email to book an engagement.  

Query the Director of Training of any Fortune 500 corporation and you will find diversity classes among the menu of available training courses. In fact, diversity initiatives are prevalent throughout the majority of large organizations. Even with the legislation and regulations imposed by the federal government, individuals still find themselves marginalized and prevented from access to wealth in large corporations on the basis of difference. Why is this?

However, shortsighted, the term “diversity” often brings images of people of color to mind.  Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, for naysayers, diversity has come to symbolize quotas and preferential treatment. For individuals who feel threatened by diversity, it also symbolizes the redistribution of wealth and assets away from the people who control America’s power and wealth to the disenfranchised. How words are perceived and interpreted has a tremendous influence on how we operationalize objectives. 

While we have been extolling the virtues of diversity, there has been a political shift from income distribution to the accumulation of wealth in the United States. Even tax structures have been changed to encourage the accumulation of wealth.  A shift from thinking and behaving in terms of diversity vs. inclusion symbolizes a thrust from thinking in terms of race to taking on a much broader perspective based on inclusion of all individuals.

Inclusion initiatives can be shaped to create environments where tangible resources such a salaries, promotions, raises, and bonuses are distributed based on the value contributed to create solutions. In inclusion ideologies, intangible assets such access, social affiliation, authority and legitimacy are equally distributed among all members.

Whereas diversity has been associated with the redistribution of wealth, inclusion represents the accumulation of wealth based on the understanding that we are all interconnected, socially, intellectually, and financially; and that diverse ideas and perspectives allows us to solve problems collaboratively.  Perhaps an inclusion ideology may be more effective in decreasing the marginalization of particular demographics. Inclusion ideologies refer to the integration of individuals that represent various ethnicities, classes, genders, sexual orientations, ages, cultures, perspectives, and intellectual processing styles.  All demographics are accepted, respected, and appreciated in inclusion initiatives. The objective of inclusion ideology is to create synergy that produces organizational and operational effectiveness. Differences are appreciated and exploited to create environments where innovation and community can thrive.

WESLEY CARTER DM, authors an advice column that leverages leadership and management strategies to solve common business problems. Carter holds a Doctor of Management (DM) degree with an emphasis in Organizational Leadership, an MBA, and a B.A. in Management.  Carter is a partner at KRS Consulting, LLC in Charlotte, NC. If you have a question, email wesley@krsconsult.com . All submissions become the property of Wesley Carter. Call (704) 992-1211 or email to book an engagement. 

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Are Women Managers also Contributing to the Salary Gap?

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

By Dr. Renae Sanders

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why in 2011 women still make significantly less money than men?” It’s an interesting question given the strides women have made towards leadership in organizations. Here are some of the facts about the women’s worforce:

  • In 2006, women, in Fortune 500 companies, made up 15.6% of the 10,000 plus corporate officer positions according to Catalyst Women (2006).
  • In 2008, “women accounted for 51% of all persons employed in management, professional, and related occupations” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009).
  •  Additionally, Lowrey (2006) reported, through the U.S. Small Business Administration, women owned 28.2% or 6.5 million of nonfarm United States (U.S.) firms, and 14% of women owned businesses accounted for 7.1 million workers.

Even though women are rising into positions of management and leadership, the income gap for women (white,  African American, and Latina) remains $.67 per $1 earned by white men (WomenMedia, 2009). Can women afford to blame men for the salary chasm? Do women also play a supporting role in perpetuating the income gap? It should hardly be surprising if they do.

There is a plethora of research indicating that despite the nurturing and supportive nature of women’s friendships, these relationships are often peppered with behaviors such as exclusion, gossip, competition, and aggression (Cantor, et al., 2004). Work relationships are subject to these behaviors too, based on perceptions of power and status (Betero, 2003; Duncan & Owen-Smith, 2006). Add all of this women’s socialization (i.e. the direct and indirect messages) that men are stronger leaders, more analytical, heads of households, and the ultimate prize and the complexities of women’s leadership takes on a whole new light.

Much of the competition between women has a lot to with “men being the ultimate prize”.  Chesler (2001) wrote in the book Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman discussed a long held notion that women lack trust of other women, especially when a “handsome” man was involved. In fact, the author highlighted a perspective of male attorneys that in the case of a rape of a woman by an attractive man, the lawyers should put more women on the jury, as women tended to sympathize with the man! Who knew?  Well, it’s no secret women blame the other woman when her spouse or partner cheats. Given that men by and large are the corporate leaders, then women are also trying to win the approval and attention of their male bosses. All of these dynamics must impact the salary question and answers!

So the questions are do women give men higher salaries and raises than they do women? Do men limit the amount of salaries and increases women can provide to workers? What about women of color and out lesbians? OR are women, in general, just more frugal with corporate assets than men?  Whatever the answer, the salary gap is a shared responsibility and organizational leaders, men and women, must clearly understand their motivations when making salary and performance evaluations if we are to ever see shrinkage in the salary gap between the sexes.

References

Bertero, M. G. (2003). Indirect aggression amongst women in investment banking. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Wright Institute Graduate School of Psychology.

Bureau of Labor and Statistics. (2009). Women in the labor force: A databook (2009 ed.). Retrieved March 10, 2010, from http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-intro-2009.htm

Cantor, D., Goodheart, C., Haber, S., McGrath, E., Rubenstien, A., Walker, L., Zager, K., with Thompson, A. (2004). Finding your voice: A women’s guide to using self-talk for fulfilling relationships, work, and life. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Catalyst Women. (2006). 2005 Catalyst census of women corporate officers and top earners of the Fortune 500. Retrieved October 21, 2006, from www.catalyst.org

Chesler, P. (2001). Woman’s inhumanity to woman. Thunder’s Mouth Press/Nation Books: New York, NY.

Duncan, L., & Owen-Smith, A. (2006). Powerlessness and the use of indirect aggression in friendships. Sex Roes. 55, 493-502.

Kolb, D., Williams, J., and Frohlinger, C. (2009). Confronting the gender gap in wages. Retrieved March 23, 2011, from http://www.womensmedia.com/money/107-confronting-the-gender-gap-in-wages.html

Lowrey, Y. (2006, August). Women in business, 2006: A Demographic review of women’s business ownership. Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration, 280. Retrieved October 21, 2006, from www.sba.gov/advo

Related articles

Confronting the Gender Gap in Wages

Dr. Renae Sanders is the Managing Director at KRS Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational relationships. Believing people are the link between strategy and success, Renae works with organizations, leaders, and managers to strengthen internal relationships. You can reach Dr. Sanders at info@krsconsult.com.

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What Stands in the Way of Inclusion?

Sunday, February 6th, 2011

by Renae Sanders

Over that last three years, thanks to the political environment (in part), we have heard and discussed more issues related to diversity and inclusion. More news reports, documentaries, and television shows seek to show us different aspects of our society’s struggle with social justice issues, cultural relations, generations, sexual orientation, religion, immigration, and what it means to be a part of a global community.

What stands in the way of our progress toward inclusion? Are we a tolerant people?

I am certain those who seek inclusion would want the “perceived exclusionists” to do more than merely tolerate their presence at work, in schools, on playgrounds, as neighbors, as patrons, or as fellow human beings.  Author, Iyanla Vanzant once stated, “We all just want to heard, valued, respected.” Surely, tolerance is not the answer!

In my experience, dominant group members believe change comes too fast and are frustrated by calls for even more change; conversely, subordinated groups continue to experience change as too slow. What informs our beliefs about this movement is our perception of the level of change. Its undeniable, things have and continue to change. But until we fully realize just how interdependent we all are, we will continue to struggle with inclusion. We still have a long way to go and yet, ‘we are the change we seek’.  The work of inclusion starts with each one of us.

By focusing only on our diversity, especially the visual facets, we often fail to see our just how much we have in common with each other. According to Novations Group, Inc., diversity is any dimension that can be used to differentiate groups and people from one another. Inclusion is when we feel a sense of belonging or connectedness and feeling valued for who we are as individuals or as members of a group.

The work of inclusion is like the layers of an onion, once you have one breakthrough; you realize there is more interpersonal work to do.

Related reading

Johnson, K.R. (1999). How did you get to be Mexican? A white/brown man’s search for identity. The Diversity Factor, 7(2), p. 22-27.

Miller, F. A. and Katz, J. H. (2002). The Inclusion Breakthrough: Unleashing the Real Power of Diversity. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Recommended sites

DivesityInc.com

Renae Sanders is the Managing Director at KRS Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational relationships. Believing people are the link between strategy and success, Renae works with organizations, leaders, and managers to strengthen internal relationships. You can reach her at info@krsconsult.com.

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Holding Company Growth Hostage – The Role of Stereotypes

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

By Renae Sanders

Stereotypes are the generalized beliefs we hold about the world around us. We hold stereotypes about situations, people, places and things. We are often blind to our views or unaware that do not treat people of other cultures or backgrounds with respect or that we judge others’ value based on media portrayals of beauty, education, intelligence, and ability. We also hold stereotypes about ourselves based on what we are told by others; we judge ourselves to be good or bad, worthy or unworthy, righteous or sinful, all knowing or clueless.

Stereotypical beliefs drive positive (or menacing) affects on businesses. For example, if we hold that the product is great and has value we execute strategy related to the product more passionately than if we did hold a positive perception. If you believe your staff or key members of the team are inept, we treat them accordingly; which leads to lower performance over time.  If we believe entire populations of consumers are poor, under-educated, illegal, or unable to understand English, our marketing and sales efforts to those populations and how we treat employees from those groups will not yield positive results or you may miss a vastly important opportunity to grow. In fact, it is conceivable to say we create an environment of self-fulfilling prophecy when act based on stereotypes.

Beliefs > Attitude / Behaviors > Outcomes

To position the business for success, leaders should find ways to challenge their beliefs. Researchers use triangulation to validate assumptions. Triangulation requires three different sources of information. If you rely on a single source for information (such as friends, parents or television), you might consider reading white papers or research papers on the subject and speak with experts for and against your ideas.  When it comes to dispelling beliefs about people, get to know them as individuals. We often see people of color and other differences as groups; we don’t allow them to be individuals. It’s common for people of color to be asked about the “collective” views of their entire group. Ask yourself, “Why do I feel/think this way? Is there information that supports a different view?”  Another approach is to learn about the contributions all groups have made to our society. As long as we hold one view of history, we remain unaware of a more accurate portrayal of cultural groups as contributing members of society.

Learning to challenge long held beliefs prepares us to make better strategic decisions about the business and challenges our views about the people who work for us and markets we serve. The motto at the University of South Carolina reads, “Emollit mores nec sinit ese feros”, when translated suggests, learning humanizes men and permits them not to be cruel.

Don’t allow stereotypes to stifle your growth or the growth of your business.

Related articles

Workplace Stereotyping: A Silent Productivity Destroyer

Renae Sanders is the Managing Director at KRS Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational relationships. Believing people are the link between strategy and success, Renae works with organizations, leaders, and managers to strengthen internal relationships. You can reach her at renae@krsconsult.com.

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Diversity from the Inside Out

Monday, April 26th, 2010

By Renae Sanders

As the world grows smaller, the opportunity to conduct business with or through culturally diverse individuals increases significantly. The days of homogeneous organizations are dwindling among large organizations, but homogeneity is remains common among small businesses. Organizational makeup with standing, the greatest opportunity to succeed in business is the ability to penetrate diverse markets.

According to the US Census, 52% of the U.S. population will be people of color by 2050, with the Latino population representing 25% of the population. DiversityInc (2007) reported foreign born workers accounted for nearly 100% of the workforce growth between 1990-2005. Layer on generational differences, growth of the women’s workforce, increased cultural and ethnic diversity and organization leaders will find themselves facing, for many, an eye opening demographic shift.

Business leaders are increasingly seeing the benefits of entering specific markets represented by businesses and professionals of diverse cultural backgrounds and ethnic origins. Companies that fail to learn about such markets or who resist the need to hire and retain a diverse workforce miss the extraordinary benefits of doing so.

Organizations skilled at harvesting the knowledge and perspectives of diverse groups (i.e. diverse cultures, religions, age, views and experiences) make better choices than those who are stuck in their homogeneous views; who respond predictably to problems. For instance, PepsiCo Inc.’s Hispanic employees were instrumental in helping the company develop the guacamole chip, which sold $100M of the new chips it first year. It also used their diverse employee base to provide insight into the successful launch of Code Red which sold 100 million cases and grew the Mountain Dew brand by 6% (Standford GSB News, 2004). While the size and scale of these examples are huge, the importance of being open to diversity and inclusion should not be lost on small businesses. Diversity and inclusion can help drive innovation, problem solving, employee retention and open doors to new markets. But don’t be confused. Hiring people of color as a silver bullet for entering new markets is a mistake. If employees of any age, gender, cultural origin, or religion do not feel valued or respected for the skills they bring to the organization the benefits of your efforts to grow or change will be difficult.

I come back to this perspective about diversity, “The power and beauty of diversity is everywhere. The challenge with diversity lies within each of us”.

Sources

DiversityInc. (2007). Facts and figures. Impact of immigrants.

Stanford Graduate School of Business. (2004). A more diverse workforce is good for business at Pepisco. Retrieved April 23, 2010 from http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/headlines/vftt_reinemund.shtml

U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). Retrieved April 21, 2010 for http://www.census.gov

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From Corporate to Business Owner: Women Face Same Challenges

Friday, April 9th, 2010

By Renae Sanders

As women, laid-off in the wake of the greatest economic crisis since the 1930s, forge a path toward their “new normal”, an increasing number are experiencing a phenomenon often only heard about in large corporations – sexual harassment. The twist; It’s not an employer-employee dynamic, rather B2B.

The small business arena is a new to many new women business owners, but the challenges facing women as they seek to demonstrate their skills as business leaders and express creativity through business interactions are dealing with double entendres, outright propositions, from men who often suggest “if you showed a little more, your business could be more successful”. 

Women have gained the experience, education, and resources necessary to lead organizations, large and small. However, having to contend with sexual overtures while conducting business is, at best, a waste of precious time; at worse, it is a continuation of major workplace problem -the objectification of women.

Most business people expect a certain amount of decorum when working across gender and seek to separate business and pleasure.  Research and an internet search on “small business and sexual harassment” indicate the lack of structure in small businesses, the lack of policy or HR professionals on staff, make this space ripe for increased infractions and scrutiny.

Does your small business have a policy against sexual harassment? Have you experienced B2B innuendo or sexual overtures during business interactions? 

Related article(s)

Employment Discrimination and Harassment

Renae Sanders is the Managing Director at KRS Consulting, LLC, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational relationships. Believing people are the link between strategy and success, Renae works with organizations, leaders, and managers to strengthen internal relationships. You can reach her at renae@krsconsult.com.

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Speaking of English: The Effects of Accents and Dialect in the World of Business

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

By Renae Sanders

As the diversity of our society continues to increase so will multi-cultural business opportunities. Communica­tion across culture will be a critical competency for all parties. However, we still have much to learn about overcoming the multi-cultural communication barrier.

In many cultures, especially those with multiple dialects or even multiple languages spoken in a given region, English is the stan­dard language of business. In the U.S., however, not only is Eng­lish considered the standard, it is often seen as rude for bi-lingual or multi-lingual speakers to speak in their native languages in the presence of mono-linguists. One of the challenges  in cross cultural conversation is the meaning placed on the differences.

In the U.S., whether it’s a language barrier or a regional accent, how you sound signals perceptions of credibility, intelligence, and lifestyle. If your English is difficult to understand or you have a strong regional dialect it can affect the impression you make on others regardless of your Ivy League education, designer suit, or super, savvy portfolio. What you say and how you say it is as im­portant to your success as the experience you bring to the table.

The important thing to remember, irrespective of our beliefs, we cannot assess intelligence based on how someone sounds. Like a runner builds endurance to run a marathon, so can the basic skills of articulation be learned and mastered. Have you ever wondered how a British or Australian actor sounds “American” in movies? It’s training.

Learning how to balance sound so has not to elongate vowels (as we do in the South); over accentuate consonants (a common practice of North­erners); or learning the difference in how sounds are created between your primary language and English will go a long way toward improving inter-cultural and cross-cultural communication glitches.

Here are a few things to focus on to communicate your message clearly and confidently: Relax, inhale and speak on the exhale, not after the exhale. Emphasize key words, such as the company name and your name (first and last). Use inflection to create interest and a lower pitch to create confidence and authority. Communication is like a dance, the first person to speak controls the pace and feel of the dance.

Originally printed in October 2009 issue of Working Charlotte Magazine.

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Demographic Diversity Leading – Cultural Awareness Lagging!

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

The demographic shifts expected over the next 30 years in the U.S. are staggering. The U.S. will continue to be one of the most popular destinations for foreigners who want a better life for themselves and family members. This speaks to the great appeal our nation has across the globe and this is something of which we should be proud.

Regardless of our ancestry, with the exception of Mexicans and Indian Americans, we are all immigrants (forced or voluntary). Yet, our understanding of other cultures is woefully low.  

I teach cultural diversity at a large college in the U.S. and while I cannot divulge comments or statements made by my students what I can say is the stereotypes and biases we hold about ourselves and others are stifling our ability to compete globally and domestically; and the lack of fact-based education about other cultures that have contributed to the “fabric of our lives” leave individuals to make uninformed judgments about themselves, their neighbors, co-workers, business partners and clients. There is one thing I know for certain, the beauty of diversity is all around us but our challenges with diversity lie within us.

Here are a few cultural myths which need attention:
1. Native / Indian Americans were the only group displaced by early Settlers. This is false. Mexicans were resident in North America and populated territories now called Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

2. Arabs and Muslims are the same. Totally false! Muslims are individuals who practice Islam, a religion; just as Christians practice Christianity and Buddhists practice Buddhism. A Muslim can be of any nationality including American. Arabs are a cultural group who may practice any religion including Christianity and Islam.

3. Hispanics are all from Mexico. Ah, false. Hispanic is a U.S. term created to describe all Spanish speaking groups in the U.S. whether they originated in Mexico, Latin America or Spain. However, there are vast cultural differences between Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans, Brazilians, Colombians, and Spaniards. Most of my students do not know Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.

4. All black people in the U.S. are descendents of slaves. Way false! In America today, there are Americans who were born here and who are black and of African descent, with ties to slavery; and there are African immigrants who are U.S. citizens who have no ties to the slave experience in the U.S. There are also Jamaicans, Haitians, Antiguans and others who are black but whose nationalities are not African.

5. Most blacks and Hispanics are poor, do not graduate from high school, and commit crimes. Again, this is false. According to U.S. Census Bureau’s 2006 report on Race and Poverty, the percentage of poor is disproportionately high relative to their size among African Americans and Hispanics but there are more African Americans and Hispanics who live above the poverty line than below it. The same is true for education and crime; there are more high school graduates and good citizens who are African American and Hispanic than African Americans and Hispanics who do not graduate from high school or who commit crimes.

I hope this post will challenge you to assess your own stereotypes, biases, and knowledge about other cultural groups and inspire you to question the passionate and often uninformed comments you hear in the workplace and at home.

Related Articles

Teaching Black History: Thanks Mom

Why Open Immigration is Good for America

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