Today I was thinking about comments left at blogs, and wondering 
how blogger comments can bring together people and business for better benefits…? What do you think?
Dialogue’s said to be the key to workplace inclusion … according to Valda Boyd Ford, in an interview for the May 23rd Democrat and Chronicle. This Chief Executive and President of the Center for Human Diversity Inc. in Omaha, Neb ... a well respected diversity expert … urged more workplace dialogue and less labeling…Valda recalled a friend who was fearful of speaking before a group of Cuban doctors, because he didn’t know if he should call them “Hispanic or Latino.”
"I told him he was given a clue," said Ford, while speaking Monday at the Diversity 2006 Conference, which attracted about 400 people to
You can’t miss the “hope for a better way”... in Valda’s practical tactics ... for valuing differences more at work. “One problem people face in a diverse workplace is feeling paralyzed by the fear of being politically incorrect in speech or mannerisms,” Ford said.
I especially liked Valda’s sense that diversity begins with motivating a person’s belief system for inclusion and against labels …”The solution is to avoid labeling when possible. If that is unavoidable, start a dialogue about your confusion. If you do say the wrong thing, and sense someone's discomfort, inquire about that.”
If starting a dialogue is important, as Valda suggests, and if good tone ... that she models so effectively ... allows us to relate better to people who differ… business should prosper more because of wider backgrounds and different cultural contributions.... Right? Does yours...? What if you run into a person who attacks rather than talks…. Valda's solution seems worth a try... “If you are on the receiving end of an offensive remark — even if it's not about you — inquire about the person's reason for saying a particular phrase….” What do you think?
Awesome post, Ellen, and I am glad to have discovered this blog. Valda is 100 per cent right. So often we are tempted to use labels, and I catch myself doing it. There are a few in Cantonese, my native tongue. If you have no intent to cast a negative thought into that label, and the listener understands that, then I imagine that would be an exception—but in public, you can never be guaranteed that.
It’s one reason I enjoy email and blogs because I cannot make a judgement (most of the time, unless a photo is posted) about a person’s culture and colour—though I do usually know the gender.
Posted by: Jack Yan | June 4, 2006 4:20 PM | Permalink to Comment