1. Andrew Pollack03/17/2009 11:21:38 AM
Homepage: http://www.thenorth.com/apblog

Like you, I'm more interested in the specific skills and abilities of the person I work with than their ethnicity or gender.

I've had reason to be aware recently, however, of where that falls down a little bit.

When it comes to hiring, there are a lot of objective measures we try to use to pick the right person for the job. There is also a very large subjective part as well. In fact, studies have shown that decisions made in the first few seconds of an interview tend to match those taken at the end of one that lasts 15 or more minutes and is much more objective in nature. That tells us that there's more going on than we like to believe.

When you're interviewing for someone to work with you, it is human nature to bias toward someone you feel comfortable working side by side with under pressure. If you feel pressure to be "on best behavior" with someone, you're less likely to pick them for a role where you know you'll have to work closely under stress.

I believe this is the largest factor in creating things like "glass ceilings" where executives end up promoting managers below them up into the executive sphere who are "like them". They don't (in most cases I think) even know they're biasing.

I know one exec who was shocked to realize that he had no female direct reports but had more than 50% female management two levels down. He swore to me (and I have no stake in it) that he'd never purposely biased any hiring decision. The bias was accidental, and came from that desire to pick the people he could feel most comfortable with in those stressful roles. If anything, the women intimidated him a little because culturally he wasn't sure how to behave around them all the time. He had no desire to offend, cause stress, or make problems for anyone around him and at some level he feared doing just that.

So, does that mean we have to push "diversity" so hard? No, I don't think so. Talking about the issue, however, is healthy. Each generation of young managers moving into executive roles will tend to be less uncomfortable working this way and eventually it will be the non-issue we all believe it to be now.

2. Jerry Carter03/17/2009 12:04:13 PM
Homepage: http://datatribesoftwerks.com

I agree with your assessment that those who care too much usually have a profit motive. I liken the buzz around diversity to the buzz around green. There is a shallow set of attributes and simple mandates that make it easy for the masses to understand, accept and reiterate so they feel they are in-line.

The qualitative and quantitative aspects of anything, however, when overlooked in the name of meeting the surface requirements, are where the real decisions must be made.

Can they actually do the job? Does it actually save energy on the whole? Do they manage their time well? Does it save me money in the long run compared to conventional technologies?

Unfortunately, our attention spans are short, as a civilization (mostly the West) and we tend to want to get a little information, make a decision and move on. This plays into a media format where ideas must be transmitted in 30 seconds or less. Many among us never get to the point of asking the questions that matter, merely accepting the presented sound-bite message and moving on in the direction indicated.

Rather than Diversity or Green or Tolerant, I'd like to see buzz around Understanding. Understanding isn't a euphemism for any of the above and should be presented as questioning what we assume with relevant, qualitative and quantitative questions that actually tell us something about the thing being understood, not just shape an emotion around it.

3. Richard Schwartz03/17/2009 12:29:24 PM
Homepage: http://www.poweroftheschwartz.com

There are a couple of ways in which the observation "a European" could objectively be viewed as worthy of notice by certain people, and it has nothing to do with any undue cognizance of diversity for diversity's sake. First: time zones matter. A European in that particular position is likely to be just a little bit more easily accessible to Europeans than an American who is not at work until the mid to late afternoon of their business day. Second: language skills matter. A European in that position is far more likely than an American to speak several languages fluently, and therefore be able to sometimes switch a conversation to a different language in which a particular constituent might be more comfortable and able to communicate more efficiently. So while the American in that position was indeed very capable and very dedicated, I can certainly understand that some Europeans would be excited to have a fellow European in that role.

4. Newbs03/17/2009 01:31:54 PM
Homepage: http://www.henrynewberry.com

@Richard - All the things you suggest are not necessarily the attributes of a European, American, but of an individual. However, by emphasizing the attributes of one group over another you seem willing to prejudge people as members of that group. My suggestion is that allowing yourself to consider the affiliation of an individual to a group in this manner is divisive and counterproductive.

I know more Europeans who are mono-lingual than those who are multi-lingual. And many multi-lingual Europeans are ineffective communicators in any of the languages that they speak. I know many Americans who are multi-lingual (though most are not even functional in one language). The point is not whether the person is x or y but that they are capable and able to be effective. Only when we are able to make our decisions about relationships (business or personal) based solely on the attributes and capabilities of the individual without regard to the unimportant group affiliation then we can be free. Until them we will muddle along in a world divided.

Newbs

5. Dave Armstrong03/17/2009 02:59:13 PM

Diversity isn't about individuals. It is about a group.

So certainly, few people care about the diversity when one new person is hired. But when you have built a team of 10+, if those 10 are all similar people, groupthink gets very bad. You need diversity to see all perspectives, which very much does apply when your job involves any kind of analysis and design.

There is a healthy middle ground between blindness and obsession.

6. Richard Schwartz03/17/2009 07:34:12 PM
Homepage: http://www.poweroftheschwartz.com

All I can say, Henry, is that your experience is very, very different from what I have observed myself. We must hang out in different European neighborhoods.

7. Andrew Pollack03/18/2009 08:13:58 AM
Homepage: http://www.thenorth.com

Well Henry, with Richard, I have to say that the Europeans I know are much (like 1000 times) more likely to speak English than I am to speak their language.

Of course, those who don's speak English aren't as likely to be where I would meet them -- forums, conferences, etc... HOWEVER, even when I go out shopping in say, Germany to local stores in a very non-tourist oriented town, I have little trouble finding what I need and buying from someone using only English.

FWIW, I'm started to try to learn just a little German.

8. Newbs03/18/2009 10:56:24 AM
Homepage: http://www.henrynewberry.com

@6 and @7 Thank you for demonstrating my point. All of us have differing experiences with individual people. When we extrapolate those experiences to groups to which those individuals belong, particularly groups over which they have no control as to their membership, and then make any sort of judgment based on that extrapolation it is most likely wrong. Even when that is a positive judgment it is divisive.