#Embrace diversity how to#

2) Listen to understand, without judgment And now I know a little more about them, and it is harder to keep my initial bias or even dislike. Most of the times, I am surprised at what people do outside of work. At work, I frequently ask ‘any fun plans for the weekend?’ This allows people to open up as much as they want. They want to talk about their accomplishments, hobbies, family, sports. More often than not, people want to share their interests. In the words of Edith Eger ‘what if the unknown could make us curious instead of gut us with fear?’ Here are some starting points 1) Take a sincere interest in others by asking questions I invite you to be more intentional about becoming familiar with the unknown including ‘the others’ (people representing other genders, ethnicity, social background, religion, or political views). “I think that hate is a feeling that can only exist where there is no understanding” – Tennessee Williams Have you ever been surprised to learn something not work related about your coworkers? More than once, I have thought to myself ‘this person is not so bad after all… huh?’.

Once we know them, they are no longer ‘the others’. How do we stop being afraid of ‘the others’? By becoming familiar with them. Our fear of ‘the others’ is purely in our brains, informed by the fear of people who came before us (parents, grandparents, etc.), and amplified by people in power. Fortunately, most of us are not in the jungle anymore (although sometimes that is not as apparent as I’d like). This is the paradox: we need our tribe for survival and we fear ‘the others’ (anyone caught the Lost reference?).įear is at the root of our bias, discrimination, and stereotyping. We are programmed to trust our tribe, emphasis on the word our. This is how we stayed safe, obtained food, and raised our offspring. Human beings are wired to be part of a tribe. The topic of embracing diversity is not as clear.

#Embrace diversity how to#

How do we become the leader of the future capable of influencing and motivating a vast number of people while embracing diversity of thought, abilities, and background? Influencing and motivating are skills that can be learned and there is plenty of information on how to go about it. This natural mix of people is making leadership style to change from authoritative to influencing and empathetic. In the US, there are five generations currently in the workplace, and women and minorities are taking more prominent roles. These last two weeks I have heard a great deal on the topic of diversity.