DIVERSITY
I grew up surrounded by diversity. I went to schools that put an emphasis on the importance of diversity and acceptance. Before arriving at Syracuse, I thought I had a better than average knowledge and familiarity of the concepts of diversity than most people my age. Coming to college expanded my vision of how important diversity truly is. In my group of 5 students in this class I work with people from 3 different countries. Geographic diversity is a new concept when you attend school with people who have lived in the same place their whole life. I grew up in Greenwich Village in downtown Manhattan. Greenwich Village is the epicenter of the LGBT movement. I went to a school that had Diversity Day once a year where students led workshops on many topics, including implicit bias and colorism. I spent my high school years traveling across the United States meeting Jewish teens from Texas, Wisconsin, Washington, Missouri and everywhere in between. I was fortunate to take classes in high school called Intersectional Feminism and Comparative Religions. I came to college thinking I was the queen of diversity. What I took away from all that I learned was diversity fuels innovation.
CONFIRMATION BIAS is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or strengthens one's prior personal beliefs or hypotheses.
If a company is made up of 5 white men who grew up in the same town and went to the same school, they are likely to have similar beliefs. The problem with this is the lack of diversity of thought. Because they come from very similar situations, they have all probably been taught to problem solve the same way. My ideal organization values diversity and is a multicultural organization. My ideal organization is small so affinity groups or more structured diversity could possibly be difficult. Strategies that are easier to implement for a small organization would have to do with the people we hire.
My ideal organization would recruit from all over the country and world and recruiters would keep in mind the background of each candidate. Although I have met new people and learned new perspectives at Syracuse, the majority of the student body is from the north east. I think geographical diversity is vital. I also value cultural and religious diversity because different cultures bring different thinking styles to the table. Two ideas that are very important to me are accessibility in the workplace and paid family leave. I have mental and physical disabilities and I find people with disabilities are creative problem solvers because they have been navigating a society that virtually ignores their needs. Because of this, they are constantly innovating for their own need to be able to work in a world that is more difficult without some clever thinking. I believe paid family leave is vital because too often people are forced to choose between a career and a family when that should not have to be a choice.
