| Deep
Democracy and Deep Diversity
My Own Social Identity
My Interest In Diversity
The Business Case for Diversity
Cultural Competence
My Relationship to Social
Justice and Affirmative Action
My Relationship To The Mainstream
And Conservative Forces
My View of the Corporate
World
My View On Globalization
People Who Hate Diversity
Preface
Diversity is a term that is mostly
used to show the degree of political correctness with
which the mainstream deals with inclusion and exclusion
of marginalized groups. Deep Diversity, as it is applied
in Worldwork, and as I apply it in my own practice,
goes beyond that definition, as you can see from the
many references, case studies, theory pages and exercises
on this website.
“Diversity” itself is
a concept that has become replete with different meanings,
interpretations, and connotations. A diversity standpoint
may include theoretical aspects, but these aspects themselves
may be considered irrelevant or a “lip service”
in comparison with the “standpoint” that
is finally lived in day to day interactions within a
person’s microcosm, family, team, and social network.
So how, really, can you write that up? Should you write
about theory? Don’t white males always teach when
they talk about diversity, instead of listen and learn?
I want to do both. My goal with this text is to stimulate
your own thinking process and to create more transparency
around diversity issues.
The concept of diversity depends on
one’s own cultural framework. For example, the
first paragraph of this page shows a USA based framing
of diversity issues. From the viewpoint of many cultures,
this framing is at best incomprehensible, and at worst,
hated as the epitome of Western domination and arrogance.
Please read more on other pages on this website about
how e.g. US/Western human rights values and history
ignore and/or misunderstand other cultures - such as
the Confucian societies of Korea or China, in which
social emancipation is not considered an extension of
civil rights, but an enhanced sense of civil duties.
These following pages address my personal
viewpoint on diversity. They also include my own political
and spiritual standpoint, and aspects of my journey
as a European American, middle class, middle aged, heterosexual,
Christian raised, relatively able-bodied Swiss born
man. I include this account not because I think it will
be that interesting to anyone - except of course to
me, because it is about my life! - but because it helps
to create transparency. Personally, I hope to see this
kind of account when I look at other websites as well.
I prefer transparency to neutrality. In my view, the
concept of the neutral facilitator needs to be replaced
by the concept of the open and transparent facilitator.
Our opinions are formed in part by our own socialization
processes, personal histories, positions within the
hierarchical social structure of our reality, etc, as
well as by our own creative thinking processes, our
inner sense of what is right, and our understanding
of professional ethics. I vote for transparency over
neutrality. It allows dialogue, and brings more credibility.
Deep Democracy and Deep Diversity
How does my own viewpoint fit into our
diversity model? Deep Democracy, a constitutive concept
in the Worldwork model, postulates that all of our experiences,
both individual and collective, are connected and share
a common ground, yet are uniquely different in the various
forms that they take. This difference forms the basis
of diversity. A key assumption of Worldwork is that
the parallel existence of both unique difference and
essential sameness is not only a characteristic for
people, or biological life, but an ontological fact
of the universe per se. Just as in Taoism,
in which the formless Tao that cannot be said represents
a non-local sameness that gives rise to Heaven and Earth
and Ten Thousand Things that are diverse and unique
in their forms, we define different levels on which
we can experience the one indivisible reality and the
polarized uniqueness of our world. It is the same principle,
as Arnold
Mindell points out, that allows quantum mechanics
to suggest a basic connectedness as one key characteristic
of the universe, and at the same time define energy
as the appearance of discreet quantum packages, which
suggests a basic uniqueness as another key characteristic.
As we know from the quantum
wave collapse - the collapse of the superposition
at the moment that the observer interacts with an event
- observation or awareness plays a role in this phenomena.
Different levels of awareness create diversity.
The celebrating of diversity from this
perspective validates different genders, ethnicities,
ages, sexual orientations, etc. as unique and equally
important. Cultural differences and varying degrees
of distance from the mainstream bring different levels
of awareness in terms of power distribution and the
privileges that come with it. In addition, the Worldwork
perspective validates different levels of experience,
suggesting that nighttime dreams and daytime activities
are distinctively different experiences of reality that
should be valued equally. Similarly, imagination is
as significant as measurable material facts.
The model even validates viewpoints that
focus more or less exclusively on one aspect of what
we call reality, and that refuse to see diversity as
fact upon which life is built. In a diverse and self-balancing
universe, people and groups that hold such viewpoints
will be complimented by people and organizations that
believe equally one-sidedly the opposite – such
as the author of this text. Our job as Worldworkers
is to facilitate the relationship between these mutually
exclusive perspectives. Relationship
doesn’t always mean dialogue, yet always appears
in one form or other. Worldworker help groups to discover
and unfold these relationships.
My Own Social
Identity:
In my social identity, I am a European
American, middle class, middle aged, heterosexual, Protestant
raised, relatively able-bodied Swiss born man. Many
privileges come with that genealogy. Like probably many
of us, I am frequently more aware of the areas in which
I experience a lack of privileges. For example, coming
from a working class background, I often find myself
internally jealous of those in my environment that come
from middle or upper-middle class backgrounds. In these
moments, I feel that they don't understand my ambition
and competitive drive as being partially related to
my class background. During my youth, my widowed mother
struggled to bring in sufficient means to pay the monthly
bills. This situation was amplified by the fact that
in my hometown of some 10,000 inhabitants, only one
other woman was working. Watching my mother struggle
in the midst of these other families that seemed to
have it much easier awakened my interest in Marxist
theories and created fury and anger at the lacking sensitivity
of those around us. These experiences from my personal
history are deep seated. Still today, as a member of
the white U.S. middle class, I often find myself justifying
a fight for “my share” with the thought
that the others that I am fighting against had it better.
Or I get moody and feel used if something doesn't work
out. On these days, the world owes me! And at the same
time, I am even more infuriated if someone does relate
to my working class background or cuts me slack, because
I feel patronized and disrespected. On other days, however,
I compensate for my guilt of having worked myself out
of my root class by being more generous and supportive
of others than I actually feel inside and would like
to be. At the same time, I look down at everyone who
comes from a wealthy background and seems unable to
stand on their own two feet. I am aware that I know
much more about the part of me that is related to a
marginal position in my personal history than I do about
how I oppress others as a male, or European born, or
able-bodied, person. It is especially difficult when
some of these characteristics overlap. For example,
I was recently in a conflict with a female colleague
over a financial issue. I suddenly noticed that her
seemingly easy access to family wealth made me temporarily
forget the unequal payment scales for women worldwide,
to name just one of the many privileges that come with
my male identity
. In these moments, I must lack the same aspect of awareness
that I see lacking in my opponents. I am ever grateful
and indebted to my teachers that have demonstrated and
shown me that this lack of awareness is actually not
the biggest issue – but the lack of communication
and exchange around these experiences. You learn to
be in diverse groups by being in diverse groups. The
process of learning is adventurous, unpredictable, at
times painful, often ecstatic, never boring, and finally
ultimately the most rewarding experience I could ever
imagine.
The Taoist approach of Worldwork is aimed
at acknowledging and embracing privilege and rank in
order to become more aware of it and to use it more
creatively. I owe a lot of my happiness to this concept.
Once you try it out practically, just as the founder
couple Arny and Amy predicted, you actually become more
genuinely able to share and support others. I have learned
and continue to learn to love my masculinity. I love
white European culture. I love heterosexuality. I am
proud of and love my Swiss European background and enjoy
the love-hate relationship I have with my European roots.
Well, let's say I do on a good day. On a bad day, I
hate some or all of these aspects about myself. On my
best days, however, I understand that these aspects
are only a tiny part of who I really am. In many facets
of my experience – my imagination and creativity,
my spiritual life, my dreaming life - I am much more
than any of these identifications and descriptions.
In these moments, those constructs become close to meaningless.
The personal experiences that I go through in my day
to day life are very much related to the experiences
of others around me. Together we create parallel worlds
that we experience together, and that allow us a true
experience of diversity.
( How
hot this topic is debated shows the 1.5 Millions female
employee suing Wal-mart in the largest employment discrimination
class action of all times. )
My Interest In
Diversity
For me, the most consistent and strongest
motivation for all of my experiences involving diversity
is a sense of enrichment, uniqueness, creativity, awe
and fun that comes from getting to know intimately beings
other than myself. In a recurring childhood dream, I
am jumping out of a window in my stifling family apartment
and to my great surprise, don't fall to death but notice
that I am flying. I decide to use my ability to fly
around and look into other family homes, to see how
they truly live when they feel unobserved. No doubt,
my path of becoming a therapist and finally an organizational
consultant is related to this life myth. I treasure
and love the experience of getting to know intimately
how other people and groups live.
This life myth explains why my moral motivation is not
strong enough to instill in me a fight for social justice
over a consistent period. I have too much interest in
what happens on the other side, for example the side
of the oppressor. I feel myself to be more a spiritual
activist, and more compelled by curiosity than social
justice. Although my partner and I are at any given
time involved in pro bono projects, I would be lying
if I said that the main reason for that is social consciousness
- we just love meeting people in different contexts
and environments and feel enriched by these experiences.
The Business Case
for Diversity
Obviously there is a general business
case for diversity that is not debatable. If we prove
that having more women
in executive positions makes a group more competitive,
we are affirming the obvious: more inclusion brings
greater potential to any group. This process of diversification
happens anyway, facilitation is barely needed. The
new generation of black entrepreneurs in the U.S.,
also often referred to as the "new black power",
occurred without facilitation and without the support
of a majority group, and brought new business models
and attitudes into entrepreneurship that were previously
unknown. Joe Landry (publisher of the gay publications
“The Advocate”, “Out”, “Out
Traveler”, “HIV plus”, etc.) attributes
the fact that more stodgy car brands such as Cadillac,
Ford, etc. are joining Saab, Subaru and Saturn in advertising
within the GLBT community to a cultural shift, rather
than an effort in diversity training within these companies.
From this viewpoint, many diversity trainings and inclusion
efforts in organizations are 15 years behind what culture
is already producing. At best, they can be considered
rituals for stating that which has already been achieved.
In my view, a maximum of two, two-hour long large group
events on diversity topics for stakeholders per year
would bring more awareness, create more inclusion, and
give diversity events a bigger buzz than all the diversity
and sensitivity training we put into our personal growth,
including the popular diversity weeks touted by many
groups.
Political correctness, in my view, is
not only ineffective in the long run - it actually works
as an invisible barrier between groups that stands in
the way of an authentic meeting place. Although it provides
an important first step for recognizing aspects of social
justice, it later freezes prejudice on both sides. In
the U.S.A., for example, European-American and African-American
relationships have been and continue to be viewed from
a predominantly historic viewpoint from both sides.
Many characteristics of African American Culture are
considered the result of slavery, by both black and
white groups. There seems to be a politically correct
agreement on both sides that the history of slavery
can be seen as the single most decisive factor in explaining
African American expression, politics, relationship
life, professional development, etc. An analogous viewpoint
would see an individual’s personal journey solely
from the angle of an early childhood abuse experience.
Such a viewpoint is good in the sense that it raises
awareness about oppression and speeds up the process
of liberation and emancipation, for example the civil
rights struggle. However it is one-sided in the way
that it takes power away from the “oppressed”
group, stealing its intrinsic unexplainable beauty,
talent and uniqueness by considering it the result of
oppression, and therefore negating the existence of
an essence that has remained intact throughout and regardless
of history. I am thrilled to see that this mindset is
finally changing. In a recent article in DiversityInc
(one of the leading US publications on diversity within
the business world that portrays, documents and supports
the advancement of all marginalized groups regardless
of political leanings or social activist viewpoints)
the author Yoji Cole, one of my favorite writers on
diversity in the mainstream, describes the achievements
of the African American Culture and its influence within
the mainstream. According to her research, African Americans
are now setting many of the trends in consumer behavior.
White kids worldwide pay attention to what black kids
consider cool. However, though the article points out
the privileges and power of African Americans, the author
cannot abstain from seeing many of the skills and characteristics
that the African American Culture developed as related
to their history of slavery.
Non African American groups, also, as
well as me personally, have a tendency to understand
the "present day Black experience" in terms
of the history of slavery. The act of identifying any
group with the experience of abuse, whether from a social
activist viewpoint or from a racist viewpoint, is a
collusion that in the long run serves to keep that group
oppressed. I know from my own experience in my relationships
with people of color and people from an African American
background, I consistently participate in co-creating
the patronizing belief-system that “they”
have to be seen with awareness of their oppressed past.
Although this is a more subtle manifestation of the
phenomenon described above, it is just another stereotype
that keeps me separate from the person I am relating
to. The attitude is obviously different though theoretically
comparable with my insistence on using my own class
background to explain my relationship to social mobility.
Although true, the viewpoint inhibits me from finding
freedom from my personal and social history, and from
discovering the creativity that is truly mine.
So called “positive” stereotypes have a
similar effect. If you are Jewish and smart, according
to one stereotype, you are not smart per se, you are
smart, because you are Jewish. In order to be proud
of the fact that you are Jewish and to be proud of the
fact that you are smart, you must first resolve that
stereotype in your own head.
(
Yoji Cole, Who Is An African American?, p. 54, DiversityInc,
February 2005 )
Cultural Competence
Cultural competence is useful if the goal
is to be more relaxed around one another, so that we
can eventually meet the real people behind the social
categories. In this respect, cultural competence is
as important as table manners. It allows one person
to sit with another and to have a conversation, which
can be an important starting point in a relationship.
Yet we all know that finally no deep and lasting relationship,
or even great business connection, ever developed on
the basis of both parties respecting table manners.
Cultural competency courses are overvalued in their
meaning in terms of helping a company to go global.
Although they can serve as ice breakers, so can a real
gaffe. If you have learned to pick up feedback, you
can notice when your foot is in your mouth, and then
use the moment to make a connection beyond what is “acceptable”.
On the other hand, in my view, nothing
replaces authentic interest and genuine intent of meeting
and getting to know another person, group or culture.
I don’t think this attitude is something that
you can develop or fake. You cannot learn it; it is
a matter of temperament. I find true lived diversity
one of the most challenging and definitively the single
most rewarding experience in my life. One of the reasons
for that is the fact that I meet the other both outside
and inside of me. The extent of my ability to be encompass
all of the internal and external experiences involved
in this meeting, including those of love, hate, admiration,
prejudice, dislike, etc, determines the level of closeness
and intimacy that I can reach with the other, as well
as with myself. This experience of closeness and intimacy
does not necessarily imply harmony. A short course in
learning how to work with your own experiences of discomfort
and bias, and finding out these experiences can actually
be useful to you in certain circumstances, would bring
more.
Diversity is easy and obviously rewarding
as long as you like the other person or group. It becomes
deeply challenging, however, and therefore eventually,
once you have worked through the obstacles, even more
rewarding, when you find yourself disliking or even
hating the other. My experiences of coming out on the
other end of situations in which dislike and conflict
were the beginning glue that kept us emotionally connected,
and eventually the very things that produced understanding,
love, and lasting friendship, are some of the most treasured
peak experiences of my life. For me the most liberating
situations, and also the most complex and difficult,
are those in which I experience myself as the marginalized
or oppressed person underneath another with more social
rank, and am finally able to change the relationship
into a meaningful friendship through my own initial
inner work. I am very grateful for the privilege of
having discovered a paradigm and teachers that allowed
me to realize that the other, however different, is
in a parallel world also “me”. This awareness
enables me to work practically on how to use seemingly
contradictive situations for my own growth. I am especially
grateful to my partner Ellen, who helped me so much
to develop an inner openness to the parts in me with
whom I once had a hate relationship, and consequently
helped me not only to be more open with others, but
also to be more congruent with my boundaries. In my
interactions with the world, I now find that I am less
subject to my own preferences. I feel curious and excited
to learn more about others, and therefore myself, regardless
of whether or not I am drawn or repelled by them. Well,
let's say that’s true in most cases, but not all.
My Relationship
to Social Justice and Affirmative Action
Yes, it must happen! Consistently and
unequivocally! But make no mistake; it doesn’t
solve many of the underlying issues!! Although Affirmative
Action often brings only a role switch without systemic
change, I feel it must continue until the need for linking
diversity with these terms has become obsolete. Affirmative
Action is only a concept as long as Negating Action
is the norm. Social Justice is only an issue as long
as Social Injustice is understood as the lot of all
humans. The fervor and inflexibility of the social activists
is inseparable for me from the inertia of the mainstream
in bringing social progress. I recently lead a course
for over a hundred managers and consultants in South
Africa, where I learned a great deal on the value and
problems of affirmative actions. Although it is an important
step in the development of South Africa, many black
and white managers expressed their hope to see it eventually
replaced by a simple performance management centered
selection principle, thinking that this movement would
ultimately be more supportive of a sense of self-worth
and self-confidence in each individual.
My Relationship To The Mainstream
And Conservative Forces
I am predominantly a member of the mainstream
myself, and have a firm belief that the values of the
mainstream deserve respect and understanding. Once a
rebel fighting against the mainstream, I am now fighting
against the lack of communication between the mainstream
and marginal groups. Having worked for many years around
the topic of female/male relationship issues, I see
and hate the disparages between men and women, for example
in the workplace. Yet at the same time I believe that
the emancipation and support of men is equally important
as that of women; the two must go hand in hand. We must
emancipate and liberate ourselves together. If we want
to achieve results that extend beyond the mere role
switching that has occurred in the past, individual
groups can no longer work on their own. I think that
the support of men to become aware of who they are and
to proudly identify with their potential is a crucial
step in the fight for emancipation of women. I am very
much interested in the public appearance of conservative
religious forces. They are pointers for all of us, suggesting
that we need to think more and communicate more about
our fundamental and deepest beliefs about the lives
we live. What is in your life that makes it worth living,
and what is in your life that you are willing to die
for? Answers to these questions will take the burden
off some of these conservative groups, who carry that
process for all of us.
My View of the
Corporate World
The corporate world is the target of many
social activists and is not very popular in many circles,
even within the corporate world itself. These days,
as many have come to know, no one likes “big”.
The corporate world has much to learn and many areas
in which to develop, undoubtedly. At the same time,
I believe that its contribution to where we are today
is not seen or valued enough. The predicaments of most
business groups are often misunderstood by the larger
public. In addition, the larger public does not reflect
on its own role in forwarding corporate thinking, in
my view. A large segment of the world considers financial
and material reward to be the primary goal of work,
both their own and that of others. This view supports
greedy corporate thinking, regardless of the socio-economic
status of the view holder. Unlike in Asia,
for example, in the West we have primarily private shareholders.
Many people, especially in the United States, invest
in the stock market. Many of us don’t care about
the corporate governance of companies that we invest
in. As long as they make us money, we invest. The recent
corporate scandals can be seen as mirroring this attitude.
We expect them to behave different from the public?
In many countries, we subscribe to Maslow's
pyramid, which suggests that physical, security
and social needs take precedence over all others and
must be cared for before any of the “higher”
needs can be addressed. This is now the governing paradigm
in many areas of the world, and the philosophical basis
for most international corporations. Even in our attempts
to understand international terrorism in the West, we
often argue that it is due either to the fact that “these
countries” have not enough access to material
wealth, or we treat them like juvenile delinquents who
have been marginalized and looking now for attention
from the materially rich Western cultures. These viewpoints
highlight a paradigm that places material thinking in
the foreground. Going after corporations for the ways
in which they conduct their business is like going after
a problem child who is the identified patient in an
alcoholic family system, in which the parents (in this
case society at large, meaning all of us!) drink and
neglect the family. Our addiction to the material reality
and focus on material thinking is something to come
to terms with as a society at large. The corporations
cannot do that for us.
My View On Globalization
Globalization is happening. It is not
something that can be stopped or accelerated; it is
part of our evolution. I am optimistic, convinced that
we will not lose the traits that make us diverse. We
might temporarily forget them, but we will remember
and reclaim them, and through this course create a new
sense of being One on this planet. We can not stop or
accelerate globalization, but we can facilitate the
process. We can make it easier. Among the opponents
of globalization, I meet as many racists as I meet among
proponents. The viewpoint that a local culture is worth
less and should be sacrificed to global development
is as patronizing as the viewpoint (from a person living
an economically privileged environment in a “developed
nation”) that a local culture should be preserved
at the cost of social and economic progress and the
ability to connect with the global development at large.
People Who Hate
Diversity
I am interested in and even respect people
who hate diversity, feel prejudiced against other groups,
and prefer to remain among their own “kind”.
Many of these people have good reasons for their isolation.
For example, some are reacting to a general lack of
awareness about the depth of the traditions that brought
us where we are today. In addition, the very concept
of diversity would be defeated if there were nobody
denying, negating, and fighting it. I myself often can
not stand diversity, and need to take time with people
that I am familiar with - maybe even just my partner
- to enjoy an understanding and sense of unity that
comes from being a small isolated unanimity.
If this was the first page you clicked on when you
arrived at www.maxfacilitation.net
, chances are that you are either a person of color,
a member of the GLBTQE community (Gay/ Lesbian/ Bi-sexual/
Transgender/ Questioning and Exploring Community), or
a member of another group that is marginalized relative
to the mainstream, such as a person with different physical
abilities, or a woman, etc. Or you are a social activist
and awake about the political and social implications
of diversity. In any of these cases, you would naturally
on any homepage expect a link one click away from the
homepage, stating the site owner's position in this
debate. If you made it to here, I would appreciate it
if you could send me a comment or feedback. I hope to
learn from it and eventually update these pages with
my new learning gained from your comments. Thank you
so much.
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