Search Results - planet-renowned

Blog Post: Job interview skills for Expats: leveraging cultural differences: As an expat interviewing for a job in a foreign country, you will experience a whole new layer of pressure of uncertainty. The reason? Cultural differences – and how you handle them can make or break…; Added by Gavin Redelman at 7:11pm on April 12, 2011

Blog Post: Scotland’s burgeoning fintech sector: Introduction

Scotland has long been…; Added by Richard England at 3:53am on May 30, 2019

Comment on: Blog Post 'Does a Diversity Focus Perpetuate Racism?': maybe disagree with a few others. I sometimes think that diversity is maybe the most misunderstood issue in the world of business today. That is unfortunate because, while it has always been important in a number of ways, it is now becoming a really, really, really critical business issue... +The nature of competitive advantage is changing, which is making diversity and inclusion more important. +We are on the front end of an unprecedented generational transition...bringing generational differences to the forefront and also bringing us what looks to be a significant amount of leadership and workforce volatility. +By the end of this calendar year the Bureau for Labor Statistics is predicting that 70% of new entrants into the workforce will be women and People of Color...meaning if you are not good at attracting, engaging and retaining women and People of Color you are going to be competing for a shrinking portion of the available talent. +Employee retention and engagement in most organizations translate into large dollar numbers, and as the economy tightens up are going to become increasingly important. Many organizations have a great deal of room for improvement in the retention and engagement of women, People of Color, Gen Y, Gen X and other employee groups Just a few points that I would share...a few things from my perspective: 1.) Diversity (if we are using dictionaries) means difference . It does not mean race, or gender, or quotas or affirmative action. Those things are all a part of the larger conversation, but diversity is much bigger than any of those specific things. It means difference, and difference comes in a lot of forms. 2.) Diversity is a relational attribute...it exists within the context of relationships. If we are being precise with our language there is no such thing as a "diverse person" ...we have all probably heard the word used that way and we generally know what is being communicated, but that is not accurate use of the word. If someone is "different", they have to be different from something or someone...a relationship is inherent. Diversity exists between people. It is an emergent property of groups and relationships and it exists in every relationship between human beings. You can pick any two people from anywhere on this planet, put them in a room together and there is diversity there. There may or may not be racial diversity, gender diversity or age diversity in that relationship but there is still more diversity present than those two people will ever be able to explore in there life times. So...true diversity and inclusion work is not a "set of tools" or an "attitude" to be pulled out just when you are interacting with a co-worker or a client that is of a different race or from a different country...it is work that applies to every relationship that you have with another human being, because every relationship that you have with another human begin involves diversity. The other characteristic that is present in every relationship that you have with another human being is commonality. Because of the paradoxical and contextual nature of our social and cognitive identities there are differences and commonalities between us and every other person on this planet. And if our relationships / interactions / transactions /conversations with other human beings (co-workers, clients, spouses) are going to be healthy, valuable, effective, authentic and sustainable...then we must be about exploring both the difference and the commonality within, because both represent great value for us. Real diversity and inclusion work is not about any kind of "preference", it is about who we are in relationship with and the nature of those relationships. We want those relationships / interactions / conversations to be as authentic and real as possible so that we can make the best decisions (hiring, firing, promoting, dating, electing, etc.). Contrary to what we might like to believe, those decisions are often times heavily influenced by stereotypes, assumptions, labels, judgements, etc., regardless of what our intentions are or how good of a person we consider ourselves to be. 3.) We have to get clear on the value of diversity. This might not be a terribly popular thing for me to say, but I believe that a lot of us in my line of work (I am basically a "diversity consultant") have not done a particularly good job when it comes to this. In my humble opinion I believe that we have also done a poor job of really defining and breaking down diversity...this is a big part of why there is so much confusion still around these issues. I continue to see people saying and writing things like "there is no business case for diversity", "diversity is more trouble than it is worth", etc. Do not be deceived...the business case for diversity (there are actually a number of specific business cases, depending on what you are actually doing (targeted recruiting, training, etc.)) is strong. Cognitive diversity (very different from identity diversity, but informed by it) is a critical ingredient for creativity and innovation. We live in a time when innovation is rapidly becoming the new competitive advantage, and that alone makes diversity and inclusion pretty dang valuable. Cognitive diversity also drives better problem solving and decision making on a group level. When it comes to groups of people solving complex problems, diversity actually trumps talent. Identity diversity (things like race, gender, age, orientation, etc.) has also been proven to improve group decision making...I just finished reviewing an excellent study that looked at how juries deliberated, processed information and made decisions and how that was influenced by whether there was racial diversity present or not, and it has a profound and positive impact. As I look around the world of business (and healthcare, education, government, law enforcement, etc.) I would say that we could certainly benefit from some better problem solving and decision making...and diversity can help us get there. There is a lot of very good, very strong research out there that shows the raw power and value of diversity, unfortunately a lot of it is hidden away in academic, science and research oriented journals. A lot of my work is geared towards sharing this information and research with folks in the corporate world. A couple of good books for examining some of the research around this are The Difference, by Scot Page and The Medici Effect, by Frans Johansson. 4.) We have to get clear on human nature. We are not quite the beings we think we are. One of the reasons that we need to have a "focus" on diversity is that we are wired socially to avoid difference. Regardless of our intentions (this is not about being good people or being bad people, this is about how human beings function socially) we are all biased. We all operate on assumptions that we make about people and groups of people and we all have many cognitive biases that skew how we interpret the behavior of other people, the value we assign to their behavior, what we remember about people and what we think we remember about people. That is why today in 2008 the research shows that if I put two copies of the exact same resume online, one with a stereotypical white name and one with a stereotypical black name, the one with the white name would be downloaded many, many, many more times. It is not because there are a gazillion evil, racists, hateful recruiters out there, rather it is because of how we are wired as human beings. So we need to own that, deal with it and make at least a little bit of effort to counteract it. And again, this is what a lot of my work focuses on...this is why I call my work "Illuminating Blind Spots", because we have a lot of blind spots...a lot of ways in which we do not make decisions and process information quite the way we think we do. 5.) We have to be honest with ourselves about what we truly believe. I appreciate the fact that folks are concerned about "reverse-discrimination." Discrimination is discrimination in my book and it is a bad business practice, it is bad citizenship, it is bad morally, theologically and in just about every other way I can think of. And if we are truly and seriously against discrimination then our outrage should first and foremost be directed towards the systems, institutions and processes that we are a part of. If we truly believe that talent and ability are not determined by race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, etc. then we should be outraged by the fact that there has never been anyone other than a white male in the White House. Nothing against white men, I happen to be one myself. But if talent is not determined by gender and / or race, a "fair" system would never produce a result like that. If we are wanting to take a stand against discrimination, we should be outraged that there is almost ZERO racial, ethnic, gender orientation at C-level positions in the Fortune 500, that there is almost ZERO racial, ethnic, gender diversity on the Boards of Directors of those Fortune 500 Companies. If we believe that talent and ability are not determined by race, gender, etc. than that outcome can only exist as a result of a clearly biased system. And that outcome is not just something that exists at that level. I live in Omaha, Nebraska. And this is a good community with all of the right intentions. And here in Omaha Nebraska the Board of Directors for our Chamber of Commerce has almost ZERO racial, ethnic, gender diversity. We are either outraged by that or...or...or we really believe something different from what we are saying in public. We are either outraged by the clearly biased system right in front of us, or we believe we believe that white men are more talented and able leaders. Truth be told, there are very few real organizational diversity initiatives in this country. I am someone who studies, designs, supports and works with organizational diversity efforts at large and small organizations, and for the most part they are understaffed, underfunded, and undersupported at best. To be successful they need to work with numerous functions across the organization, yet they are staffed in HR which does not have the political or other capital to really back them. ...and at worst they are set up to fail. The vast majority of them (even many of the initiatives at the organizations that win the diversity awards) are focused more on perception than they are on reality. There are very few that are actually changing organizational culture and individual behavior...not for lack of effort or for lack of the right intentions, but largely due to he still prevalent misunderstanding and confusion around what diversity really is and what it really means, and also due to some of the baggage and damage from past diversity work. There may be the perception that some of their efforts are about discrimination or preference...but many of the employees of an organizations often do not know the truth about their own diversity initiatives. Employee Resource Groups can be a powerful and dynamic tool for recruiting, retention, leadership development, R&D and a number of other things, and today it is rare to find an organizationally sponsored ERG that is not open to any employee that is interested in participating. But a lot of people still have this idea that ERGs are exclusive. Just like the vast majority of people (regardless of whether they oppose it or support it) do not actually understand what Affirmative Action is...what it does...and what its impact has been. I have certainly not worked with a diversity initiative that is having the impact of reverse - discrimination, if they are out there, they appear to be horribly ineffective at this reverse discrimination. And if they are having that effect, they are based on flawed principles. Based on what I have observed in the last ten years from the world of business with the Enrons, Worldcoms, AIGs, etc., ad nauseum, I would venture to guess that there are some diversity initiatives out there that are operating on flawed principles, but I think we have far bigger fish to fry...and they are swimming all around us. Grab one. Respectfully Submitted (that means please do not invite me to leave after my first post) Joe Gerstandt Illuminating Blind Spots diversity | inclusion | authenticity | innovation | transformation OurTimeToAct.com TalentAnarchy.com…; Added by Joe Gerstandt at 12:30am on November 1, 2008

Blog Post: How to Conduct a Passive Search: It’s true; most employers prefer passive candidates. A passive candidate is a gainfully employed professional who is open to hearing about career opportunities and would actually accept a new job…; Added by John Sanders at 10:27pm on June 13, 2010

Blog Post: Interview with Markus Gries, HR Director at Fraport KAIA, KSA: Visit:…; Added by Mona Karaoui at 3:22am on July 11, 2010

Blog Post: Your LinkedIn Profile May Say More About You Than You'd Intended...: Despite…; Added by Martin Ellis at 7:01am on September 23, 2013

Blog Post: Jobs for Sale! Recruiters, Big Data & Data Privacy: After attending a number of Recruiting and HR conferences this fall, I have…; Added by Nicole Greenberg Strecker, Esq at 12:00pm on October 31, 2013

Blog Post: Social Recruiting & Employer Branding at #SBrandCamp: I think a lot of my work was inspired by…; Added by Matt Charney at 5:15pm on June 10, 2014

Blog Post: Your Resume – Are You Making These 5 Mistakes?

Despite all of the “hoopla” about networking, about a LinkedIn…

Added by Amy J. Cull at 5:30am on October 9, 2015

Blog Post: A Goode Journey...A Terrific "Career Change" Tale!: Wikipedia is many things to many people. For the intellectual elite, it is the diet version of actual information, for students it is the first port of call when researching a subject with which…; Added by K.C. at 9:54pm on September 30, 2010