Boards and the irony of diversity: diversification of products? Sure. Diversification of assets? Absolutely. Diversification of the board? Not quite. Why not?

• Author: Munoz, George
• Position: BOARD DIVERSITY

MENTION THE WORD "diversity" and people tend to become uncomfortable. That is ironic. As individuals we are raised to believe that there is no one else like us. Science even supports this uniqueness. No two individuals have the same DNA. When you consider that there are more than 6 billion people on earth, each individual's uniqueness is quite impressive. You would think that dealing with diversity is natural and to be expected.

Yet, from a very young age, we are taught that we must conform to a "norm." This makes for an efficient society. Most of us actually like familiarity and similarity.

From a business point of view, too many differences in the marketplace make it difficult to achieve mass production and economies of scale. The invention of mass-producing mechanisms (the cotton gin, the Model T, etc.) made it possible to manufacture products at an affordable price.

Fast-forward to a world of globalization and our working assumptions must change.

Knowledge of the customer

First, more groups of people from different backgrounds than the "norm" we are used to are entering the marketplace as buyers, workers, and business partners.

Second, technology advances have helped people to make their different tastes and desires known. Modern manufacturing technology, product design, and new materials have made it possible to produce products and services that are customized to suit the tastes of different groups at affordable prices. Or at least there is the ability to have products customized somewhere in the world and delivered to our doorstep.

We all believe in the adage that if you can personalize the service to your customer, you have a customer for life. But personalization requires knowledge of the customer. What happens to personalization when your customer base is shifting to an ethnic group not previously served?

And what happens when similar changes are occurring in your workforce? We all believe in the adage that happy employees are more productive. Studies show that employee happiness depends in large part on whether he or she feels included in the "team" and feels respected and appreciated. Does the old norm we developed for recruiting and retaining employees apply to today's workforce?

What about your business partners and suppliers? They (or your competitors) may come from China or other parts of the world. Do you know how to best interact with these diverse groups of people that are becoming so meaningful to your business?

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