It’s probably affecting business. If you’re unwilling to embrace diversity for diversity’s sake, do it because it’s better business.
Angela Hood, writing in Fast Company, makes important points about diversity and inclusion:
Today’s global market is more dynamic than ever before. The digital revolution has made it possible for businesses of all sizes to expand their reach beyond the domestic market and tap into an international audience. That means no matter what your company, you can now have a global customer base.
And your workforce is the greatest asset to have in carving out a competitive edge. A diverse employee base brings more knowledge, perspectives, and experience to the company, which makes it appealing to a wider global audience.
To me, diversity is about asking questions, not making assumptions. It’s also about being open to learning what a person is about, rather than judging them based on their ability to put together a résumé (unless their job is to write résumés, of course). See our eLearning for a great skill that you can develop, called Try On ~ this skill is a foundational principle that, if practiced, can help people collaborate more effectively. The Try On skill, "Consider another’s thoughts, feelings or actions in order to understand why they think, feel or behave differently from you," sounds simple and, it's actually hard to practice. Demo the full eLearning to see what we're saying.
