More on Diversity (and consensus)...

The following are the excerpts from a conversation with R. Roosevelt Thomas Jr., CEO of R. Thomas Consulting & Training Inc., fellow at the National Academy of Human Resources in Santa Fe, N.M. and the author of four books on diversity that appeared in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ, Nov 15 2005, Section R page 4). I was surprised by the unexpected relevance of this conversation to my thread on Consensus (see my rambling #1 and a rambling #2). Notice how consensus is again and again confused with conformity or the mere presence of variety.

....I could get a certain number of white males, women, Asians and African-Americans to work for me, but that doesn'tmean I'm prepared to deal with the diversity that comes with it. We make progress and then we digress. It's a frustrating cycle....

WSJ: But isn't hiring a more racially and gender-diverse staff progress?

Mr. Thomas: Not really. Most organizations define diversity as having the right racial composition, or "making their numbers". They think that if they get the right racial composition, then everything is ok. The question is, can you make quality decisions in the midst of all the differences, similarities and tensions that come with the mix? We just can't seem to get past that.

WSJ: So what do you recommend?
Mr. Thomas: First, the assimilation myth has to be broken. One reason we're stuck in a cycle is because of the assumption that once you get representation, people will assimilate. But we're actually seeing that people are less willing to assimilate than ever before....

...Some CEOs say that a requirement to be in senior management is having a spouse, others say you must have a wife. Some senior managers see golf as a requirement.

... We might find people that don't meet our preferences...but the question should be do the meet our requirements? Can I work with people who are qualified that are not like me? This stuff is hard on people.