Recognizing Impactful Diversity

<p>Could your manufacturing company utilize a retiring Brigadier General who has led small and large international groups in theaters of war and in standing up government infrastructure in countries in turmoil?</p><p>The typical immediate response is "wow! what a background. But what could he do for us with no experience in manufacturing?"</p><p>Hiring someone because they look different, or come from somewhere else is too often an effort to hit a target rather than hire the best. </p><p>When I was in the corporate world a global corporation was looking for a female executive to lead the operations of a technical division. I was told by the executive recruiter I had a head start because I am female. I had no problem gaining an interview because I not only had a strong background but also am a woman. I would have had a problem with getting an offer because I am a woman.</p><p>My confidence is sufficently high to know I was offered the role because I am competent. Competency and diversity are not mutually exclusive. I honor that company's leadership for working to become more diverse in the 1980s, before it was "a thing."</p><p>A room filled with Ivy League grads will generate less creativity than a room filled with intelligent people with diverse educational and life backgrounds. </p><p>When an organization repeatedly chooses to hire people with the same look, the same background, and the same thinking, the organization will fail. Maybe not today, but sooner than later.</p><p>If we can't figure out how to leverage the experience and thinking of people unlike ourselves, we're not very smart. </p><p>And that is true whether "we" are a group of black women, a group of middle-aged college-educated citizens, a group of McKinsey alum, or a group of new immigrants.</p><p>How do you recognize impactful diversity?</p>