Diversity is the talk of the day. There isn’t a single corporation that has not included diversity as part of its strategy. What changed in the last decade that has made diversity such a significant element in our work place? Government has instituted accountability, we have clearly gotten more litigious as a society and there has been a significant rise in media coverage on outsourcing and developing and emergent markets like the BRIC countries. I am not sure that could have done it though? Given peoples migratory patters for generations! We have certainly started to measure them in greater detail lately than we ever did in history.
But who knows… it is all a mater of point of view.
Back to strategy… needs and strengths drive strategy! Diversity is a necessity and so it is a strategy. What is diversity anyway? The dictionary definition was “differing from one another; composed of distinct or unlike elements or qualities”, but that is not how it is measured. Is this once again one of those “SHADOW MAGIC”. People miss the obvious, diversity is not just physical, and it is diversity of thought and action. How do we measure it? It is not enough to measure it but to appreciate and reward it! Don’t muddle strategy with WYSIWYG.
