Question:
I work for a major oil-manufacturing company. I am a Hispanic woman in my mid-40s. My company is very committed to diversity and inclusiveness and we have had a Diversity Council (of which I have been a member for about six years) and we also have various Diversity Networks. We are planning a Diversity Open House later this year to promote our Networks, etc. We are planning on sending out a voluntary survey to all of our 750 employees to gather interesting diverse facts to show that we are a very successful company and that is due to so many diverse backgrounds, etc. Members of our Diversity Council (most of the white ones) want to ask questions like, “What is your favorite ice cream? What is your favorite color?” What? They’re even worried about asking what is your ethnicity? They don’t want to ask what other languages do you speak; they will ask do you speak another language. I don’t get it. Do you have a survey that you can recommend that has been used in other large organizations that has shown good results with true diverse questions?

Answer:

Not only is your company’s survey useless, it takes your company a giant step backwards by trivializing diversity management. As described, your survey will not materially connect diversity with business success. Therefore, it will be correctly viewed as non-professional claptrap by most people at your company.

You might think that it’s self-apparent to believe that diversity is “good” for business. I don’t think that’s true, nor do I believe it’s proper to have a “belief” guide business–a “belief” is an acceptance of an intangible. I leave “beliefs” for religion. Business runs on facts.

Here’s the fundamental fact about diversity: Diversity by itself has nothing to do with business success. A company must manage the diversity it has to produce business results.

The reason you’re getting silly questions from your majority-culture council members is because they are dismissive of the relative value of other races/cultures. This is normal behavior; we all define culture from our own perception. Uneducated perception often leads to incorrect conclusions. For example, people believed for many centuries that the earth is flat. We’re no more intelligent as a species than we were 1000 years ago–but we’re less ignorant. Think about it.

If the white people on your Diversity Council had diversity training, it wasn’t meaningful. That’s not uncommon: Most diversity training I’ve seen is garbage.

From the majority perception, your ethnicity and even your gender are just as meaningful as the flavor of your favorite ice cream. Questions that value other cultures/genders/orientations/age groups or disabilities equally with the majority culture* are usually an insult by the majority. That’s why you often see rage from creepy Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity when people far more educated and accomplished, like Judge Sotomayor, make statements they don’t have the capacity to understand.

The fact that your “Diversity Committee” is sitting around dreaming this stuff up also tells me your company’s management is sitting on a potential publicity disaster. Keep in mind that it was an oil company executive who came up with the dopey “marbles” comment that destroyed more than $1 billion in Texaco market capitalization.

Not only is a potential liability out there, given your question, I doubt your company is reaping the rewards of proper diversity management.

Correctly implemented, diversity management increases the engagement of ALL employees by building the corporate culture that demands equity in outcome. This is because people who feel they’re being treated fairly will be more engaged. Engaged people are more productive–and more innovative.

Engagement, productivity and innovation are measurable and quantifiable. This is how you prove the business case for diversity at your company.

You will note that there are no oil companies in our DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity. Much like the price of gasoline is apparently coordinated, there seems to be agreement among companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron not to participate in the DiversityInc Top 50. So, to answer your question, no, I don’t have a survey I care to share with your oil company.

*In this country, the majority culture is white, male, heterosexual and Christian with no ADA-defined disability.

The post Are White Men Racist When They Ignore Ethnicity? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:
First of all, the term “white” is subjective. You are obviously of Italian heritage and I really consider Italians to be “Latinos” or Hispanic except they don’t speak Spanish.

Who coins the ethnic lexicon of terms for the vast ethnicity description that eventually finds its way into our American lexicon description on race and ethnicity? The term “non-white Hispanic” for example is so racist in my opinion that it alludes to Hispanics as being considered white but not all-inclusive, hence the term “I’m a white non-Hispanic” so don’t include me in that group!

The term “non-white Hispanic” seems to communicate a message of inferiority to such adamant exclusion that states “Yes, I’m white but don’t include me in that ethnicity.”

Being Hispanic or Latino is not a race but an ethnic identification, like Italian American, Irish American, Greek American, German American. Now, Hispanics have been grouped into a new ethnic general category, “people of color,” that encompasses ethnic groups from Europe as being the sole white people from European heritage. What is your opinion?

Answer:
I agree with your assessment. Hispanics are not a racial group but are “lumped in” with people of color in common usage.

This will evolve with the increasing sophistication of our society. Just think about how things were 40 years ago.

By the way, I’ve become fairly well versed in Latino culture by being one of two Anglo members of PRIMER (Puerto Ricans In Management and Executive Roles)–so I would be quite pleased to be considered Latino! (I was also named an honorary black woman at Spelman College, but that’s another story.).

The post ‘Hispanic’ Is Not a Racial Category appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:
How does corporate America view African-American people with natural hair?

Answer:
Depends on the company. At progressive companies, like those in The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity, you will find an environment that is less interested in hairstyle and more interested in what’s inside the covering of the head. Please note that the Top 50 companies, expressed as a stock index, beat the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq and S&P 500. This proves that diversity management is a core part of superior corporate governance.

The post Is Ethnic Hair OK in Corporate America? appeared first on DiversityInc.

 Question:
See now, that’s the problem: I always tell people, ‘You’re not “White”! You’re: Irish, Italian, German, Polish, Scottish, Czech, Russian, etc., etc. — something! So, please don’t disrespect your ancestors and your heritage!’ So, Mr. Visconti, what are YOU? I’d love to hear wonderful and fascinating things about your heritage. Let’s all share! Thanks.

Answer:
Wow, Nancy. Shouldn’t we all be allowed to describe ourselves?

I am a veteran and proud of my country. I am fortunate my European ancestors had the necessity (and opportunity) to flee the oppression of their origin, but they had a place to go, thrive and propagate—America!

America is my heritage and by utilizing the first amendment to publish DiversityInc, I have staked my entire professional career—my life work—to improve the prospect of a better American heritage for our sons and daughters. America has not always been fair or kind to all of the people under its care, but strong leaders like Franklin, Douglass, Garrison, Truth, Anthony, Chavez and King have been able to move our country towards fulfilling the promise of the Constitution.

Being born white, I have had the benefit of white privilege—which is why my column is titled “Ask the White Guy.” It’s my hope to share as much of my white privilege as I can because, in my opinion, leveling the playing field is how I can help all of my fellow citizens thrive.

The post What’s Your Heritage? appeared first on DiversityInc.