| Some people work at their jobs because they
have to make a living, and they get to express themselves after work. Some people have
careers that they love, and have a hard time not taking home their work with them when
they go home. And then there are successful people in the diversity field. They have a
passion for diversity and they live their work. Whether or not they take their work home
with them, their work is always driven by the values they live every day, and their lives
are driven by the values they promote at work.
When organizations began to embrace diversity in the 1980s,
many of them thought that diversity training was the answer. They thought that if every
employee attended a diversity training class, biases, complaints and lawsuits would
disappear and everyone would work together in harmony forever. There were two kinds of
people engaged in diversity training, education and organizational development. There were
those who thought of it as program or a trend. These people read a few books, took a
train-the-trainer class or bought one in the mail and called themselves experts. The
second group knew that it was a process, not a one day program and that in order to create
change they needed to live it, learn it and continually develop their passion for it. They
were cognizant of the need to integrate diversity into the business strategy of any
organization and the rest of their lives. They also knew there were no quick
fixes—that it took patience, and time—but change was possible.
The first group lost interest and went on to something else
but people in the second group are still here helping to create change They’re
working to create inclusive environments where all people can do their best work and have
their individual skills and talents, recognized, appreciated and utilized.
I wanted to know more about this passion for diversity and
where it came from. What drives some individuals to maintain their personal mission,
vision and values despite resistance, challenges and nay sayers. I interviewed four people
whose passion for diversity is so great it’s like a magnetic force that continues to
get stronger and attract everything in its path. These four people are Terry Howard,
Director of Diversity for Texas Instruments; Michele Atlas from Workforce Diversity
Network; Deb Dagit, Executive Diversity Director at Merck; and, Edgar Quiroz, Director of
Strategic Initiatives and Innovation at Kaiser Permanente.
I asked all of them, Why did you get involved in diversity?
Here are their stories:
Terry Howard, Director of Diversity at
Texas Instruments, has a long-standing and personal connection with diversity. “As an
African-American male, I’ve been involved in and experienced diversity my entire
life. From a career standpoint, I actually got involved in this work by
‘default.’ During the mid 1980s, I managed a group charged with delivering
employment and EEO service for AT&T. Our client base was very diverse and that itself
heightened my interest in this work. The challenge of fostering awareness of that growing
diversity and leveraging it was most intriguing to me. In 1986, I read the Hudson
Institute report Workforce 2000. This ignited me and I knew I wanted to help break new
ground.”
Terry’s passion and his involvement in diversity
continue to grow. He now supports 15 diversity affinity groups at Texas Instruments, as
well as the many business level diversity committees and their annual diversity
conferences. “In between, I write a monthly internal diversity column and issue
periodic diversity tips on the full range of diversity topics, and I speak on diversity
and inclusion at meetings and retreats internally and externally .” Recently he
founded the Diversity Connection Symposium for Texas Diversity Professionals, a group
consisting of representatives from Shell Oil, Price Waterhouse, First American, Intel,
Intuit, JC Penny, Delotte and others and delivered talks in France and China. He takes his
passion for diversity and inclusion to the community, having participated in a community
march against hate. “One of the things I’m most proud of is my role in the
successful integration of religion and faith in the workplace amid lots of
skepticism.” He said that people were still talking about the standing room only
session “When Traditional Religion Meets Sexual Orientation”. When asked what
drives him his reply was, “My passion is driven by my curiosity about the
far-reaching implications of diversity and getting organizations to see that connection.
It never stops.”
Deb Dagit, Executive Director of Diversity
for Merck, told me that she had lived months at a time from when she was 11 to 16 in the
Shriners Hospital to receive treatment for a bone condition that resulted in fractures and
bone deformities. She was there with other children who had bone and burn disabilities
from all over the world. “I became close to kids from all over the world who were
also living in the hospital for months at a time, cut off from families and
"normal" life . I learned what we had in common was more significant than what
was different, regardless of our cultural differences."
During the time she spent in public school she was
separated from the rest of her class as schools were not required to integrate children
with disabilities and therefore there were many restrictions on how she was allowed to
attend . She had to sit right next to the teacher’s desk and was not allowed to go to
recess or lunch with the other kids. In describing her experiences she says, “Because
of how I was treated, I related to other kids who were also seen as needing extra
attention from the teacher, whether for behavioral issues or learning challenges . Issues
of fairness, respect and inclusion became very important to me as I observed who was
singled out and how this caused them to be treated by other members of the class .”
After graduation, Dagit tutored people who immigrated from Vietnam after the war. She saw
how they struggled to learn the language, culture, and to fit in with other kids.
She explained that there is a disproportionate number of
people with disabilities who are veterans and who are from minority backgrounds for a
variety of reasons , and that along with diversity issues amongst people with disabilities
who come from different backgrounds, there are diversity issues around different types of
disabilities. “Some disabilities are more stigmatized than others,” she noted.
Her experiences inspired her to become a diversity leader.
She traveled to Washington DC and spoke to lawmakers about the importance of passing the
ADA and fought against weakening amendments . “During that time I thought about
struggles and victories like Brown vs. the Board of Education and the Voting Rights Act,
and the importance of civil rights for all people. This experience also caused her to
realize the importance of 'reasonable accommodation' for all employees as a foundation for
what are now called 'work environment' initiatives."
“In my first corporate job out of college I was told
very matter of factly that I would never get beyond an 8 or 9 dollar and hour entry level
job. After about 5-6 years I began to realize that they were serious about this low
ceiling, so l left the corporate world for four years and I worked in the non-profit
sector primarily on disability issues . As comfortable and engaging as it was to be with
my "tribe," I knew that to effect real systemic changes more broadly. it needed
to be from the inside out, companies nee d to see diversity and inclusion as important to
the success of their business and consistent with the workplace ethics and corporate
social responsibility values the espouse. When I re-entered the private sector it was as
an executive with senior level responsibility and salary.
Deb says her passion for diversity only continues to grow.
She was a founding member of the Conference Board Workforce Council on Diversity 13 years
ago . “I have never been around anything else that keeps me stimulated 24 hours a
day. I rarely read anything that is not in the field. I have a global vision and I want to
help create the kind of world that does not just tolerate differences, but one where
people are truly respectful and inclusive of other s, the kind of world that is healthy
for our children.”
Edgar Quiroz is the Director of Workforce
Diversity at Kaiser Permanente's National Diversity Department. He told me, “I really
never sought to get involved with diversity work, diversity work got involved with
me.” He grew up in San Francisco in a diverse neighborhood with African-Americans,
Asians, Caucasians and Latinos like himself. While attending high school in the 1970s he
was active in community student leadership. “I organized youth in under served
communities city wide to help them with jobs, careers, and educational enhancement. Not
one of my past job descriptions ever included diversity as a duty, but I always managed to
weave diversity work into my functions. As a boy, my father and I walked the picket lines
with Cesar Chavez in support of the UFW.” He began working at SF General Hospital as
a youth outreach worker. “I worked with young people who were homeless, drug and
alcohol addicted, prostitutes, battered and abused.
Today Edgar says he is privileged to be the Director of
Workforce Diversity for Kaiser Permanente where he has worked for 20 years. During this
time he was a founding board member and past president of the Kaiser Permanente Latino
Association. “I chose Kaiser Permanente because their social mission on community
wellness, diversity and cultural competency are aligned with my own. My primary three
areas of involvement are: 1) Enhance the diversity, cultural competence, skill and
performance of our workforce; 2) Provide culturally competent medical care and culturally
appropriate service to improve the health and satisfaction of our increasing diversity
membership; 3) Grow our membership through effective market segmentation approaches that
target specific populations which are the fastest growing segments of our society".
Diversity impacts his personal life every day. His family
is bi-racial, and it is important to him that they all know, embrace and celebrate both
his Latino culture and the African-American culture. “My passion for diversity has
increased to a point that far exceeded any of my expectations. It’s only gotten
better and I maintain my lifetime relationships with mentors and colleagues. I love my
work, and there is a lot more work to do. As a country we have to pay more attention to
populations that have been ignored so more people have access to quality health care. I
remain optimistic and hopeful. I am inspired by all others who are also working for
change.”
Michelle Atlas began her career in
Vocational Rehabilitation in Rochester, New York over 13 years ago. Seven years ago, she
was hired by the Rochester Business Alliance to create a new program to provide employment
services to people with disabilities. After the first year, she was asked to represent the
Rochester Business Alliance at the Workforce Diversity Network, an organization whose
mission is to create a nationwide learning network to support organizations in learning
more about the benefits of diversity in the workplace, and is expanding to other areas in
the USA “I didn’t know a lot about other areas of diversity beyond disability,
but as I began to learn about all the other dimensions, diversity and inclusion became so
important to me and I kept learning and expanding my knowledge base about every
component.” As a representative, Michele got to meet diversity leadership in various
kinds of organizations. She learned more about diversity initiatives and issues that
organizations were dealing with. “I felt a very strong affinity for this work. I went
from being a representative to the Diversity Workforce Network to serving on the board and
becoming a part time staff member; working with the Executive director, and coordinating
membership and organizing our national conference. I love the spirit of the other people
who do this kind of work. My passion comes from being a part of something that is so good
for the world at so many levels. I’m excited by other cultures, and I am part of an
incredible program called the Mosaic Partnership where leaders in our region are partnered
with someone from a different race and participate in group coaching sessions.”
Michelle talked about how crucial it is for people in the
health care field to be culturally competent. Besides her part time work with WDN, she
consults, coaches and trains people who employ people with disabilities to be more
culturally competent. “My learning points have been to honestly assess my own biases
and to then be able to help other people assess their own and feel safe. Learning about my
own biases has been very liberating and other people I work with have said that it is true
for them. If we want to move forward from diversity to inclusion we have to identify our
subtle biases and work through them. I hope I never stop learning.”
Although these four individuals are from different
industries and came to diversity work from different experiences and backgrounds, they
share certain qualities and experiences that contribute to their passion for diversity.
From Deb’s voracious reading of diversity books to Michele’s personal
involvement with the Mosaic Partnership, we see that these four remarkable individuals
have all cultivated lifestyles that support their passion for diversity. They live and
breathe diversity—both coming from diverse backgrounds and seeking out diverse
interactions and experiences. They have all adopted learning orientations so they can
continue to develop their own cultural competence and help others to do the same.
Moreover, as we saw with Edgar’s work with under-served communities and Terry’s
work with “Traditional Religion Meets Sexual Orientation” in the workplace, the
passion of these four diversity leaders is driven by a lot of ‘Cs’: courage,
concern, and commitment to diversity initiatives. Be it Terry’s commitment to helping
organizations understand the implications of diversity, Deb’s global goals for a
better world, Edgar’s views on what this country needs to better meet the health
needs of its diverse population, or Michele’s emphasis on breaking down barriers
through helping people safely address their own biases, this is truly a visionary group of
professionals. Most importantly, their visions are long-term, powerful, and important ones
that they consistently move forward a day at a time. These are the kinds of diversity
leaders that we need working in organizations of all kinds.
For an organization to successfully leverage the diversity
of its organization to improve its performance three concurrent imperatives must be in
place. First, diversity must be part of your overall business strategy and, secondly, your
organization must move from representation and numbers to inclusion at every level.
Finally, you will only be successful if you bring in diversity leaders who not only have
knowledge of but a passion for diversity.
|
|
