The topic of diversity seems to be never ending. The state of California just passed a law that all public companies in California must have at least one woman on the board of directors (although it remains to be seen if the law will pass a court challenge). The idea behind the law is to promote diversity. The problem is that it chases diversity for diversity’s sake rather than promoting the benefits of diversity.
For example, if you put a woman on the board to comply with California, but that woman has the same background and same experiences as the male board members, you have added diversity but missed out on the benefits. It isn’t enough to have different genders, races, religions, etc. You need to have different ideas, points of view and experiences. It’s also about making sure you have the best people. You can have the most diverse group of people working together, but if they can’t get the work done there is no value to it.
Diversity isn’t about the faces in a photo. It’s about having different ideas and points of view that can challenge and complement each other to deliver the best possible result.
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