“I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
We hear lots of noise in conversations and in the media about striving for equality of gender, nationality, and race - equal opportunity - equal rights - equal pay, etc.
Recently in Blacksburg, Virginia, in a session called “Dialogue on Race,” a young African-American presenter used the phrase “Diversity of Excellence” in his presentation. That phrase made so much sense to me. I have adopted the idea and reversed the words to get “Excellence of Diversity.”
The media make up sound bites and promote phrases to get attention and ultimately to get ratings and make money. We all get sucked into this diatribe of mediocrity. We are driven to the bottom…the lowest common denominator…the drivel of sameness.
I say to women leaders, “Why do you want to be equal with men when, in fact, you are better? You offer a different paradigm for leadership and a fresh perspective. You have a skill set that is different. Why not claim your excellence and move to the top rather than attempting to be equal?” Most agree and react as if they feel empowered.
I repeat this question to minority groups and get the same response.
In a society where we have dumbed down our educational system with standardized testing and set the bar to the lowest point in striving for equality, we are teaching each other that mediocrity is the norm. In an address to educators, I heard Alfie Kohn* describe standardized testing as an “Ethnic cleansing of the society.” In Marva Dawn’s book, Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down, the first chapter is the history of how education has been dumbed down over the years. She then describes how churches have dumbed down to attract new members when, in fact, the mainline denominations are now losing members at an alarming rate. We have clergy working as consultants, teaching pastors what to do as a simple formula for success, rather than reaching out of the broken paradigm and getting wisdom from a different source.
We have no clearly written guiding principles for personal empowerment in leadership for our organizations.
My guiding principle is to strive for excellence through diversity and let the best people do the best work.
Do we get stuck because we are threatened by the excellence of someone who doesn’t look like us?
What’s your opinion?
* The Case Against Standardized Testing: Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools, Alfie Kohn
Brainpower with Nina Sunday
OS 123: How to Marry Creativity and Business Acumen
OS 122 Super Charge Your Profits with No Bid Federal Contracts!
OS 121: Scale Your Business by Following Evan’s C.A.S.T.LE. Methodology
OS 120: Ed Krow on Leadership
OS 119: Know, Like and Trust and Other Sales Lies
OS 118: 5 Leadership Myths That Kill Entrepreneurial Ventures
OS 117: 5 Top Challenges for Today's Leaders
OS 116: Complexity vs Simplicity
OS 115: Choosing Vs. Not Choosing
OS 114: Being Emotional versus Logical Thinking
OS 113: Excellence vs Mediocracy
OS 111: Leaders, Set Your Standard of Excellence
OS 110: Running and Leadership - Accountability
OS 109: Running and Leadership - Focus
OS 108: Running and Leadership - Getting Fit
OS 106: Running and Leadership - Goals
OS 106: Running and Leadership - Commitment
OS 105: Tradition vs Change
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The emPOWERed Half Hour
HCI Leadership Revolution
Human Capital Leadership
The Power of Music Thinking
BusinessWISE
Business Wars