The Truth About Diversity that Can Change Lives

I got the meaning of diversity wrong for a very long time. I’m not sure if it was something I picked up in corporate training or just general conversation, but I believed ‘diversity’ meant differences for many years. So, when I would hear people say, “There needs to be diversity,” or “There’s not enough diversity,” I thought I understood.

There have been several moments in my career when I was the only woman, the only person of color, or even the youngest person in leadership, and I found myself wishing for more diverse peers or leaders. It was sometimes uncomfortable, and certainly trying, to feel like I stuck out like a sore thumb. And in those moments, I echoed the sentiments I noted above of “There needs to be diversity” or “There’s not enough diversity.”

I desired to have more people in leadership roles that I could connect with and that I shared things in common with, and I believed that the way to accomplish that was to facilitate diversity focused on the things that made me different from my peers and leaders.

But that was not true.

It wasn’t until I started taking a class called “Current Trends and Topics in Organizations” that I was introduced to the full definition of diversity.

As I was doing the weekly reading assignment for the class, there it was in black and white.

“Diversity represents all the ways people are alike and unlike—the differences and similarities in age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, capabilities, and socioeconomic background.”

— Kinicki & Williams, 2020

I had to read it a few times to really understand that diversity considered both differences and similarities.

From here, I learned that there was such thing as “dimensions of diversity.”

This was so interesting to me because I came to a deeper understanding that even if I walked into a room and everyone was the same race and gender, there was still some dimension of diversity in that room.

As defined by Kinicki & Williams (2020), the dimensions of diversity can fall into Internal dimensions of diversity and External dimensions of diversity. In the reading, I learned that Internal dimensions of diversity are human differences that touch all life stages (i.e., gender, ethnicity, race, physical abilities, age, and sexual orientation). Simultaneously, an External dimension of diversity includes more personal characteristics that can change over time (i.e., personal habits, educational background, religion, income, marital status, etc.)

Learning the true meaning of diversity unlocked so much for me. It helped me realize that diversity does not only include me because I am a woman of color. Its correct definition is also not a nod that toxic leadership and practices that facilitate discrimination are acceptable. A real understanding of diversity is about understanding the power and impact of acknowledging similarities as well as differences, which is really a call for us to grow. It is also less about requiring respect for or a mandate to increase visual differences.

It was more profound than that.

Diversity is genuinely about considering the whole person, connecting based on similarities while acknowledging and celebrating our differences.

References

Kinicki, A., & Williams, B. K. (2020). Management: A practical introduction. New York, NY, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.