Uncensored. . .
. . .that's what I call my actions over the extent of my career. Whether working through the ranks or in achieving my goal to be a CIO, I have never considered a person's color, race, religion, sex, age, food preferences, et al as indicators of competency or experience. Uncensored because I've never needed to be conscious of this as an issue personally. Never. Yes, like many other people I will have used those terms as descriptors in my everyday speech but never in my thoughts or actions that might exclude anyone from making my employer, myself and themselves look good. My current staff are quite the team - they "do me proud". I've just hired a Japanese female programmer to work with my Pakestanian Systems Analyst to work with my Chinese (Mandarin) Quality Control Analyst to work with my Scottish Education Analyst to work with my South African Support Coordinator and so on. For myself, I am a product of an Italian (Marchese) mother and a Polish father and I even married a Texan. I have always lived and worked in environments that were truly "mosaic" and have truly benefited from this both professionally and personally - the diversity of foods, discussions, thoughts and so forth. So, why would we not want to encourage (not just manage) diversity in everyday life? Make it an "unconscious, uncensored" process. Thanks for pointing out that there are far more important issues in our communities and world than dealing with myopic views that retard diversity.
