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Where Is Our (Or Your) Diversity?

The demographic makeup of society in general has changed dramatically in the last 25 years, and it will continue to change. The demographic of many professionals, however, has not kept pace and that of professional leaders even less so.

Living and working in our world and especially in our professions will require each of us to become increasingly aware of not only the challenges, but even better, the opportunities presented to us by the cultural changes occurring both around and among us. Both our professional societies in general and all of the various sections thereof should wholeheartedly embrace the concept of our growing cultural diversity.

We need to:

  • Increase our awareness of the various dimensions of diversity.
  • Examine our own cultural identity and how that identity affects our relationships with others.
  • Become more aware of our own attitudes, perceptions, and feelings about various aspects of diversity.
  • Commit to increasing our understanding of diversity issues.
  • Make it important to ourselves and others to mentor and sponsor those in underrepresented groups so they can fully participate throughout all of our professional workspace.

My problem in taking the last of these steps is that from merely reading the of membership lists of the various professional organizations I have joined and seeing the same few hundred people with whom I regularly interact, I cannot see what opportunities exist to mentor and sponsor younger (I’m in my 60th year walking God’s great earth) people who might want to be so mentored and sponsored by me.

Therefore, to help me help others, please, respond off the list to me at KenBesser@LifeCycleLaw.com and tell me, if you feel underrepresented, who you are and how can I help you. Or, if you know someone else who is underrepresented, who they are and how do you think I can help them.

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your workweek and then go have a meaningful day of rest with people you hold most dear.

By the way, using my CASE (Copy And Steal Everything) research and writing method, today I ran across a great Overview of Diversity Awareness first written by some Penn State people on 2001 and updated in 2015. It is some of the best and most easy to read discussion diversity I have ever read. There’s the link to it.

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5 Ways To Be More Diverse and Inclusive of Your People Resources

Diversity and inclusion are all the rage. A Google search for the combined terms yields 224,000,000 results. Google’s Scholarly articles for 2018 alone yield about 23,000 results. With all this attention being paid to the topic, one must wonder, “Why we have not yet solved the problems of having people feel excluded from various spheres of their lives simply because they differ from the majority of those being natured and nurtured in the world?”

The answer may reside in the truth that we may be talk too much about the problem and doing too little to actually include the entire continuity of our communities.

Glen Llopis, a Cuban-American entrepreneur, bestselling author, speaker, senior advisor to Fortune 500 companies and organizations in many workspaces, and contributor to Forbes and Entrepreneur magazines thinks there are five ways to get along farther faster toward talking less and doing more. Llopis handful of suggestions are:

  1. Move diversity and inclusion out of human resources.
  2. Know what opportunity diversity and inclusion solves for.
  3. Sole for respect and not recognition.
  4. Think mosaic not melting pot.
  5. Move people to the center of your organization’s growth strategy.

To learn more details about how these five things might help you and your enterprise thrive better in our shrinking global world, read his article in Forbes.

In the meantime, send me an answer to this question: What are you doing to include a more diverse group of people in your personal and business spheres?

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A Little Recognition Can Have a Big Impact

Have you ever toiled forever in silence crying for just a little love and affection? Yeah, me too. But love is strange. The more you give it away, the more you get in return. For example,  …

I was getting a bowl of cereal this morning for my darling wife at a hotel breakfast buffet. I noticed that the young lady tending the breakfast bar  was being both effective and efficient and quietly proficient  at keeping all of the items and serving dishes full, need, and clean. But instead of a smile, she had a rather stoic loil.

After she talked herself back into the kitchen behind the door, I knocked and pushed it open and  asked, “Can I ask you a question?”

She took the two  steps between us toward me and bracing her face replied, “Sure.”

I asked, ” Don’t you wish people would recognize how nicely and neatly you maintain your breakfast bar? ”

She gulped and replied, “Yes.”

“Don’t you wish someone, anyone, would just take a second to say thank you?”

“Yes.”

So I splurged and smiled and said, “So thank you for a practically perfect breakfast.”

Tears welled just a touch in hers eyes as we briefly as she replied, “Thank you. You don’t know how much I needed that. I was having a bad day, but you’ve just made my day good.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied, “but don’t settle for just one good day. Go out there and be Great! All the time!”

People don’t need constant praise, though more is always better than less. But everyone needs and deserves just a little recognition for what they do in their jobs moment to moment for others.

Here’s challenge for you. Try to recognize someone positively just twice on the day you read this.  It will make you feel so good you will want to do it twice an hour.

 

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7 Ways to Give and Get Respect in Almost Any Relationship

Have you ever felt your relationship with someone is going downhill, but you cannot quite put your finger on why? Yeah, me, too.

Usually, it revolves around allowing our mutual respect to get minimized in our relationship. We just live our lives acting toward and reacting to each other without being mindful of what we are doing and how we are doing it.

Most dictionaries define “respect” as either a verb or one of two nouns.

  • Verb – admire (someone or something) deeply, as a result of their abilities, qualities, or achievements.
  • Noun – a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their exhibited values, abilities, qualities, or achievements.
  • Noun – a relation or reference to a particular thing or situation or a particular way of thinking about or looking at something

As part of my concept of Greatness!, I believe respect is a relationship between two particular people based on a deep admiration of each for the other elicted by their respective exhibitions of their values,  abilities, qualities, or achievements.

In one of his many books on relationships, the noted psychiatrist, Rabbi Abraham Twerski, M.D. discusses relationships based on respect  acronymically as a “magic formula” using:

  • Restraint,
  • Effort,
  • Sensitivity,
  • Patience
  • Empathy
  • Consideration, and
  • Tolerance.

I could not agree with him more.

 

 

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Prioritizing Your Relationships – Part 10

We Are the World Album Cover
We Are the World Album Cover

 

How many of you remember the fantastic ensemble singing the song, We are the World? Where did Lionel Ritchie and Michael Jackson come up with that idea? Continue reading “Prioritizing Your Relationships – Part 10”

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Prioritizing Your Relationships – Part 8

In Part 7 of this series of posts on prioritizing your relationships, I left you hanging on my every word, waiting for the discussion of applying prioritizing your relationships and using your life’s precious resources in those relationships. Based on Bentham’s utilitarian approach, modified for a little Greatness!, I discussed how to plan the application of your life’s precious resources of self, time, effort, energy, emotion, intellect, property, and people to big, important things.

Then I teased you, saying Continue reading “Prioritizing Your Relationships – Part 8”

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Prioritizing Your Relationships – Part 7

In Part 6 of this series of posts on prioritizing your relationships, I described Bentham’s take on utilitarianism and advocated using his seven factors as part of a method for deciding what is the globally optimal developmental choice in each moment. Doing this requires considering as many as possible of the Bentham’s utilitarian relevant factors of intensity, duration, certainty or uncertainty, propinquity or remoteness, fecundity, purity, and extent.

Bentham balances almost everything in terms of Continue reading “Prioritizing Your Relationships – Part 7”

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Prioritizing Your Relationships – Part 6

“In case of emergency,” the flight attendant tells us, “oxygen masks will appear from the overhead bins. Put on your own oxygen mask first and then assist those around you in putting on theirs.” “In case of emergency,” the cruise ship’s purser tells us, “put on your own life jacket and then help others put on theirs and proceed to your designated emergency area.”

“Don’t wait for an emergency!” I say. “Practice persistently taking care of your self first, so you can best take care of those to whom and for your values make you responsible.” Why? Continue reading “Prioritizing Your Relationships – Part 6”

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Prioritizing Your Relationships – Part 5

In Part 4 of this series of posts about prioritizing your relationships, we discussed why and how God comes first, then you, and we left off saying next comes a close family triad level comprised of your parent(s), your spouse, and your child(ren). The three parts of this triad come and go and shift priorities as they do so. Continue reading “Prioritizing Your Relationships – Part 5”

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Prioritizing Your Relationships – Part 4

In Part 3 of this series of posts on prioritizing your relationships, we left off listing the average person’s responsibilities and priorities as follows: God, self, spouse, children, parents, family, true friends, community, investors, employers, employees, customers, and a mission driven by a vision and values.

In Part 4 of this series, we will begin looking at the essences of those things, so we can start to understand how to prioritize and balance between them. Continue reading “Prioritizing Your Relationships – Part 4”