Leadership and Change

Hymowitz and The New Diversity

One strategy to create a fair and just society, as it relates to eliminating racism and social injustice, is to look at it in economic terms. Hymowitz does a great job citing statistics and making a financial case for businesses to intentionally market products to minority groups. She also does a great job highlighting our global economy and the need for employees to be able to relate with people that are different then themselves.

I also appreciated that she highlighted organizations that held supervisors accountable for recruiting and retaining a diverse work force. To infuse the need for diversity into an organizations business plan in real and tangible ways is a move in the right direction. However it is a fine line to walk between affirmative action and hiring the best person for the job.

One thing that I wish that Hymowitz would have highlighted is the lack of diverse applicants within the workplace. I have talked with many different organizations and they all struggle with hiring and holding on to high quality staff from minority groups. Some staff leave because it is not the right fit, and others leave because they are high performing and deserve to be promoted.

While I support and agree with the fact that we need to diversify our workforce, I think on a societal level we are not putting the financial resources to make that happen in the right areas. The chart below highlights research done by the Minneapolis Foundation that was published in 2003. For the full report please reference:

http://www.mncost.org/MplsFoundationOverview.pdf

Graduation Rates byRace/Ethnicity % Graduatedin 4 years African American (3,398) 39% American Indian (1,297) 43% Asian/Pacifi c Islander (2,893) 68% Hispanic (1,264) 47% White (56,532) 83%

Number of 9th grade students served during the 1997-98 school year and their last reported status after the 2000-01 school year. Minnesota Department of Education

If only 40% of African Americans are graduating High School in 4 years, how many of them are perusing hire education? In most cases, from my experience, to get into a level of hire management one must attain at least a Bachelors Degree to be considered for promotion. With such low graduation rates among minority populations within the state of Minnesota it seems obvious to me why we are not seeing more diverse personnel in hire levels of management. And I think that more financial resources should be put into schools and communities with such low graduation rates.

To support an economic perspective on this issue the Mind the Gap study by Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program identifies areas for economic growth within diverse populations.

■ The Twin Cities region has the 12th highest college attainment rate among the 100 largest metro areas—33 percent of its residents have a bachelors degree or higher. However, only 19 percent of African Americans, 11 percent of Mexicans, and 8 percent of Hmong do. ■ The Twin Cities region has the 14th highest median household income among the largest metro areas. In 2000, whites had a median household income of $56,642, while the typical household income for African Americans lagged at $29,404 and $38,909 for Mexicans. ■ Again, the Twin Cities boasts one of the highest homeownership rates in the country—ranked seventh, in fact—a strong sign of wealth-building among families. While 76 percent of whites were homeowners in 2000, only 32 percent of blacks owned homes.

This report can be found at: http://www.unitedwaytwincities.org/communityinfo/Documents/ExecSummary.pdf

There are plenty of statistics available to explain why we are not seeing more diversity in our workplace. To recruit and maintain a diverse candidate pool while hiring within the borders of the United States, requires a substantial policy shift. We are not creating the diverse workforce of the future when only 40% of African American students graduate High School.

For the United States to be on the cutting edge of innovation in the world we need to empower and educate all of our population. We need to break cycles of poverty, dependence and racism and focus our efforts on preparing all of our youth to be successful citizens in the future. When we do that, then we will have a diverse workforce that will mirror the demographics of our country and prepare us to better lead in this new global economy.