Diversity and personal character

Dr. Ellen Weber of Brain Based Business writes about how scientists have been able to identify that some people's brains are more wired for prejudice.  This led her to a discussion of diversity. 

I wrote the following comment there, and I want to say bit more.

Diversity has been a hot topic for a long time. Unfortunately, it has mostly been treated as a political issue rather than as an effectiveness issue. I find this true in my work with clients. That the circle of relationship that they value is quite small and narrow. They are looking for affirmation. The problem is that if everyone you are close to thinks like you, is in the same social context as you, then you have also limited yourself as to where you products and services will most likely be marketed. Ron Burt at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business wrote a book called Structured Holes where he demonstrated that the person who has lots of relationships with people who don't know each other has a competitive advantage in the market place. By this, this person is a connector to other people, linking them together around shared values and common goals. This is some of what is discussed in Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point and in Everett Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations. What this suggests to me, Ellen, is a way of looking at diversity that builds on my notion of impact. The tendency is to view people who are different as a threat. The challenge is one of personal character leading to the self-confidence that I can venture into any social context and have an impact. The is why the people side of business is not only the most challenging, but also carries the greatest potential for elevating a business beyond its current performance. Thanks.

I'm not a scientist, so my assumption may be way off here.  But my limited understanding of brain science is that the brain is a dynamic field of connections, constantly bridging gaps in order to create paths of knowledge and insight.  If this is true, then both intellectual and social endeavors are activities that work to create those connections.  As a result the development of personal character also creates these brain connections.

If prejudice is a proclivity that scientists can identify, then they should also be able to identify the lack of prejudice, or the willingness to develop a diverse circle of relationships.  I believe a lot of this comes back to personal character. 

The impact of a person's strength of character is seen in both humility and self-confidence. It is expressed in courage, trustworthiness and what I call "resourceful optimism."

If diversity is ever to be viewed as other than a political issue forced down the throat of the unwilling, and instead seen as a pathway to greater impact, it will require the development of the kind of character in people that enables them to foster better relationships with one another.  It isn't simply education, but a life-development process.

Technorati Tags: Dr. Ellen Weber, Brain Based Business, character, brain science, diversity

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Comments

[ellenweber]

Thanks for your kind words and deep elaboration, Ed, and in fact I noted that your posts started spinning off to other sites from this too... Must be we hit on hot topics and I feel we've scratched some interesting surfaces...on a critical topic...Love your notion of a life-development process....