I had planned a new blog post with this title on a different topic but several recent events has turned me in a different direction.
The early settlers of this country, including some of my relatives, came to this unknown territory called North America to escape religious persecution and the limits to free speech. In the 1950's and 1960's we lived through the Civil Rights movement to make the point that we all have the right to the pursuit of happiness without being ostracized because we don't think or act like the "norm" of our culture, what ever that is.
In the past 48 hours I have witnessed the problems when we make stereotypes the basis of our human interactions. I was in a local store to return an item when the customer before me tried to return a purchase and the UPC on the item did not match the receipt. After he left the store employee turned to one of her co-workers and said "THEY try to that all the time" in front of other customers. The Arab Spring in the middle east was centered around the right to have more freedoms, including the right to think and behave outside the societal norms. I open up Social Media and find frequent postings that really hinge on outright hatred to those who don't meet this picture of the person who is like them.
Here is the problem- when we begin to stereotype individuals through this filter, we demean the society and more important our workplace.As an organization we only succeed when we discover new and exciting innovation regarding the products. This innovation only comes from the act of collaboration and it only works when we recognize the value of varying views. When you enter the collaborated process by discounting someone views because they do not think, look or act like you do you have diminished the contribution to the innovation process of your organization and this have lowered the sustainability of the organization.
The poet Adrienne Rich may have delineated the environment better than I can. I have paraphrased it slightly since we was meant for educators,, but she said "When someone with the authority, say, a manager, describes the world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium, as if you looked into a mirror and saw nothing. Yet you know you exist and others like you, that is the game of mirrors...."
One of my social media friends, Dawn Khan, posted on Facebook yesterday the following suggestion - "Wow I wonder if you will miss those you left alienated after November with ranty,whacky conspiracy theory, hate mongering posts? It is not about my side or the high way, its about respecting that there are many people on the road driving besides us, and we all can be there..."
We are no longer confined to this little space you call home. We are involved in a global marketplace that is highly dependent on a wide range of views and beliefs.When segment of that marketplace dismisses another part of that same space based on stereotypes it as if we looked into the mirror and only saw us. POGO many years ago said during the advent of the environmental movement "We have met the enemy and they are us." We can be our own worse enemies by demeaning the rest of the world. Want to be the cream of the top in the marketplace, then make it a goal today to get rid of the stereotypes and recognize the worth of everyone in the workplace whether they are of different races, religions, abilities, ages, sexes. The differences are more important than a sterile view of the world.
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