Brown Crayon in the Workplace

Recipe for a Diversity Flavor ▼

“Telling my story of what I experienced in the workplace.”

The joy of unity abound when love accepts diversity, and prejudice cannot be found. The goal should be a “melting pot” metaphor of cultural “stew” in which the distinct taste of each ingredient is enhanced by the contribution of other ingredients.

Diversity is nothing more than empty rhetoric unless it is fully embedded into a corporate culture. There is no more perfect analogy to describe what diversity should mean to an organization than a recipe. A great recipe is much more than a basket of ingredients randomly thrown together. It’s an enticing and complex combination of flavors and textures mixed together with care and attention. A recipe, like diversity, is a classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

Without a doubt, diversity is the signature dish. It is an extraordinary combination of ingredients that, in addition to cutting-edge innovation, a highly efficient business model should be a rock-solid brand and a leading role model in the company. The people mirror the tastes, perspectives, and experiences of the growing multitudes who buy or use your brand of service.

Great recipes require a little experimentation before getting them just right. It should be a delicate balancing act of leveraging the values and best practices in your company.

Four basic ingredients that, when combined, have proven to be a winning formula for employees and leaders business achievements.

INGREDIENT #1 Know the Recipe You Want to Make—have a vision, know where you’re going, and then put a plan in place to get you there.

INGREDIENT #2 Do the Necessary “Prep” Work—understand the levers that will enable you to leverage diversity as a competitive advantage and a driver of business results.

INGREDIENT #3 Bake Diversity into the Culture—build and implement programs and interventions that turn diversity into a way of living, a way of thinking, a way of doing business.

INGREDIENT #4 Let It Set, Tweak, then Taste—measure effectiveness, check progress over time, and course correct as necessary; then, celebrate your wins and challenge yourself to keep the momentum going.

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Pen Name: Brown Crayon (pseudonym)