Monday, August 21, 2017

13796: Diversity Of Thoughtless.

Campaign published witless words from Sue Unerman—sporting an upgraded title of MediaCom Chief Transformation Officer—who declared, “Facebook and other media must make room for diversity of thought.” Um, Facebook has enough trouble just dealing with regular diversity. Unerman should focus on her true interest of diverted diversity versus whatever she sought to accomplish in her silly essay. The CTO did make a couple of comments worth examining:

There used to be a poster in MediaCom’s old office which I am thinking of re-issuing. It showed dogs and cats and mice working productively together with the slogan: “I hate you; you’re hired”. Its intention was to point out that diversity of opinion makes you stronger and that a good argument with a thesis, antithesis and synthesis, gets you better decisions…

Sure, MediaCom loves diversity of opinion, but its commitment to true diversity is questionable, as a peek at the company’s Global Leaders and Executive Committee shows a pretty exclusive breed of dogs, cats and mice. “I hate you; you’re hired” appears to be only half true for racial and ethnic minorities (the first half, to clarify for any clueless readers).

For a stronger, more balanced society, and for a stronger, more successful workplace, we need to encourage not just diversity of gender and personal attributes, but also diversity of thought.

Is “personal attributes” the new catch-all phrase for anyone who isn’t primarily a White man or White woman? If so, it’s a safe bet that Unerman and her MediaCom pals think diversity of thought trumps personal attributes.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous9:33 PM

    "Diversity of personal attributes" sounds like one of those Britishisms used by white people of a certain level to justify why everyone they've hired surrounding them just happens to be white, too.

    And then they reach reallllllly far back to explain that they're not normal white people, no, some of them have a "diversity of personal attributes" like being lower-middle class or dyslexic or a shy or something (anything) other than black or brown.

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