Take a look at your U.S. passport, if you have one. Don’t have one? Then take out a U.S. dollar bill, or a quarter, or a nickel from your pocket. If you carefully look at the imprinted Great Seal of the United States, it says “E PLURIBUS UNUM” inside it.

This was one of the first national mottos of the United States of America. Translated from Latin, it means "From many, one" or "Out of many, one." Originally, it referred to the integration of the 13 independent colonies into one united country. (The motto itself has thirteen letters.)

But the modern day translation could almost be used for workplace diversity. We have many differences along the lines of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. In addition, we are different when it comes to age, marital status, language, skin color, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, physical or mental disabilities, and citizenship. And that doesn’t even take into account the differences in our education, income, social status, emotional makeup, health, habits, motivators, skills, competencies, and behaviors to name just a few!

So the question is: “Are we different or are we the same?” That depends on what you look at. According to the Human Genome Project, the human genome contains 3,164.7 million chemical nucleotide bases. Almost all (99.9%) nucleotide bases are exactly the same in all people. So at the genetic level, we are all pretty much the same!

Equal Opportunity?

According to the EEOC (http://www.eeoc.gov), under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), it is illegal in the U.S. to discriminate in any aspect of employment, including hiring and firing, compensation, transfer, promotion, and layoffs. Discriminatory practices under these laws also include harassment, retaliation, and denial of employment opportunities.

Why do we have to guard against such a long list of illegal activities? In 2005, the EEOC received over 75,000 complaints of discrimination. But that may be just the tip of the iceberg. According to a national survey by Hudson (http://www.hudson.com), one out of five (20 percent) U.S. workers claims that racial or ethnic discrimination exists in the workplace. Further, nearly one out of four (23 percent) workers reports that they know someone who has been adversely affected at work because of their gender. These numbers indicate that although we have made tremendous progress over the last 40+ years, we have a long way to go to have an inclusive workforce.

What Lies Beneath

Eugene Robinson writing in the Washington Post about the celebrities in the news about their public rants said, “Something ugly erupted from somewhere so deep inside that I'm not sure Richards, Gibson or Allen even knew the ugliness was there.” According to Daniel Siegel and Mary Hartzell, authors of the book Parenting from the Inside Out, there is a lot of truth to the fact that ugliness can lurk just beneath the surface. They explain that there are two forms of memory: implicit and explicit. Implicit memory is responsible for generating emotions, behavioral responses, and perception. Another important aspect of implicit memory is that it creates “generalizations of repeated experiences through mental models” or in other words stereotypes.

Implicit memory is present at birth and continues throughout the life span. The encoding of implicit memory occurs without our needing to consciously attend to it. Siegel and Hartzell explain that the fascinating feature of implicit memory is that when it is retrieved it lacks an internal sensation that something is being “recalled” and the individual is not even aware that this internal experience is being generated from something from the past. Little wonder then that our biases influence our present perceptions and behaviors. In other words, we all have stereotypes of all kinds without being conscious of them. And they can rear their ugly head in an unguarded moment—no matter how strong our desire is to be “politically correct.”

Unable or Unwilling

The first step is to truly understand what leads us to these attitudes, thoughts, and actions. Very few of us would admit to being openly biased. But according to Project Implicit at Harvard University (https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit), “psychologists understand that people may not say what's on their minds either because they are unwilling or because they are unable to do so.” We may be too embarrassed to admit and therefore unwilling to give the correct answer. It is also possible that we honestly believe in the incorrect answer by engaging in self-deception and therefore unable to provide the correct answer.
The unwilling-unable distinction is like the difference between purposely hiding something from others and unconsciously hiding something from yourself. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) available at the Project Implicit site makes it possible to penetrate both of these types of hiding. The IAT measures implicit attitudes and beliefs that people are either unwilling or unable to report. The findings observed in seven years of operation of the Project Implicit web site (http://www.projectimplicit.net/generalinfo.php) and used in over 200 published scientific investigations are quite sobering:
• Implicit biases are pervasive. They appear as statistically "large" effects that are often shown by majorities of samples of Americans.
• People are often unaware of their implicit biases. Ordinary people, including the researchers who directed the project, were found to harbor negative associations in relation to various social groups even while honestly reporting that they regard themselves as lacking these biases.
• Implicit biases predict behavior. Those who are higher in implicit bias have been shown to display greater discrimination.
• People differ in levels of implicit bias. Implicit biases vary from person to person as a function of the person’s group, its dominance in society, consciously held attitudes, and the level of bias existing in the immediate environment. This last observation makes clear that implicit attitudes are modified by experience.
Looking Inside

If implicit attitudes are modifiable through richer experiences, then there is hope for us all! But the first step is to recognize that we all have implicit biases about something or the other that lead to discrimination—and our discriminatory behavior reflects more on us than others. As Anais Nin so eloquently said, “We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are.”

The second step is to realize that regardless of who we are and how successful we may be, we have been excluded somewhere in our lives because of someone else’s implicit bias. If we are able to admit it to ourselves, in all likelihood it was not a very pleasant experience. As someone once said, “Prejudice is a great time-saver. You can form your opinions without having to get the facts.” If only we can remember to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, we will have taken a baby-step toward fulfilling the motto on which this great land of ours was founded. At the same time, we will more fully utilize human potential that is so plentifully available in the world.

Best places to work are those vibrant environments that are able to tap into the diverse skills, talents, imaginations, and creativities of people without regard to their differences. Senior leaders of these organizations demonstrate that firm conviction through actions—not just through politically-correct rhetoric. They not only recognize that different is good, but that different is highly desirable. Different organizations and their leaders can fall into one of the following five groups when it comes to embracing a diverse workforce:

1. Clueless: They might as well be living on Planet Mars. They have heard of it, but they have no earthly idea what do with the “D-word.”

2. Correct: They know too well that diversity is the latest politically correct bandwagon. So they jump on it, but their private, off-the-record opinions, comments, and actions rarely reflect their public persona.

3. Compliant: They know the law and do just enough to steer clear of getting into foul trouble by abdicating the responsibility to HR.

4. Committed: They are not just doing it for show, but they recognize the value of a diverse workforce, and are willing to invest time, money, and effort into systematically building it.

5. Convincing: These enlightened few not only practice what they preach, but they can establish in a convincing manner a clear link between their diversity-related beliefs, policies, and actions and sustainable results.

So where are you as a leader and where do you want your organization to be?