Workplace Diversity — An Idealistic Fantasy?
Creating an environment for real inclusion in any organization is hard work
I recall commuting home one day on the train. I had my earbuds firmly secured. Sometimes, I'm not listening to anything. I keep my ears plugged to mute the chatter and ambient sounds around me. This day, the earbuds aren't doing their job.
The woman in the seat in front of me babbles incessantly to somebody over her phone. She's loud enough to distract me from my audiobook, Moby Dick. I turn up the volume some, but it's no use.
She's still too loud and distracting. My attention is split between Herman Melville's brilliant prose and this woman droning on about hiring strategies. She's clearly in the role of human resources.
She continues dropping those terms I just left twenty miles behind me at the office. Terms like inclusiveness and diversity assault my senses. Realizing I can't focus on my book and her voice, I embrace that adage—if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I shut off my device and listen through my earbuds as she babbles.
Every company is talking about diversity and inclusion these days. This woman was treating it like some box-ticking exercise. Maybe her employers added this recent initiative to her plate. Then I thought perhaps I…
