This Super Bowl Commercial for Snapshot of America could be a snapshot of unconscious bias in the American workforce. The bosses are white, male and older and all people of color (or those with alternative style) are in supporting positions and/or marginalized. It’s so steretypical that it’s funny, and I”m not sure if that’s “odd” funny…
I know everyone has moved onto the Henry Louis Gates story, which is awful-I would be furious if that happened to me-oh, wait, it did, after I accidentally set the alarm off in our new house before I knew the code. When the police arrived I said something coy like “I have absolutely nothing in…
Notice anything different between me and Tracie? Geert Hofstede’s work serves as the basis for much of intercultural communications theory, particularly as relates to communication between individuals of different nationalities. Hofstede originally identified four dimensions of cultural difference: individualism (versus collectivism), masculinity (versus femininity); power distance, and uncertainty avoidance, studying 70 countries by these dimensions…
In field of Diversity and Intercultural Communications it’s all about action. What is your company’s recruitment strategy? Do you have a Supplier Diversity Program? What about mentoring? Internships? What faces are featured in your internal and external communications? Take a look at this photo (by Charlie Gesell, AP) from MSNBC of students this week…
On the Daily Show earlier this week, Senior Black Correspondent (his formal title on the show) Larry Wilmore pointed out Jon Stewart’s implicit assumptions: “So what you’re saying is in these times the new face of criminality is now white.” “I’m glad you’re finally admitting that you thought it was black,” is Wilmore’s response. The…
When looking at metrics to support training for communicating to people from different countries, it’s easy. There’s a very clear cut set of rules. You learn specific customs (e.g. don’t show the bottom of your shoe when sitting with legs crossed in Pakistan, exchange business cards with two hands in Japan, etc.); you go to…
Okay, now I’ve said it, so what’s next? Traditional diversity trainings and rules of political correctness dictate you should suppress that instinct to notice race or be declared a racist. The fact is that categorization is an innate survival response dating back to the era of the hunter/gatherer: Edible, non-edible? Male-female? Friend-foe? Rather than suppress…
