For our society to move towards a more inclusive consciousness, diversity must be explored through thought and perspective, not by race or gender.
Diversity Of Thought | Vidya Spandana
topThe US can only function as a healthy democracy if we find a way to diversify our social connections, if we find a way to weave together a strong social fabric that bridges ties across difference. Right now, we are moving in the opposite direction with serious consequences.
Human-intelligence agencies like MI6 and the CIA recruit and run human agents, and thus rely on influence, persuasion and manipulation. Meanwhile, signals-intelligence (SIGINT) agencies focus on data and communication technology—cables in the 19th century, radio in the first part of the 20th and now the internet. The aim is to understand those systems and to “attack” their weaknesses, as cryptanalysts say.
To do that successfully requires people who think in different, original and unusual ways ... Diversity of thought is often rooted in other sorts of differences. Women excelled as cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park despite making up only a small proportion of pre-war mathematicians. Jewish cryptanalysts played an important role in the second world war ... Those with autism tend to have better visual perception ...
Don't just think about intelligence. Consider thinking about what it takes to be good at a needed task.
Being around people who are different from us makes us more creative, more diligent and harder-working.
China has invested huge amounts in physical infrastructure, but neglected its human capital ... The Chinese figures (on high school performance) are not for the whole country, but only for the better schools in the richer cities.
Don't just focus on China. Reflect on the situation in schooling in both North Carolina and in the USA as well.
What's equally tough, of course, is getting talented people to work effectively with one another. That takes trust and respect, which we as managers can't mandate; they must be earned over time. What we can do is construct an environment that nurtures trusting and respectful relationships and unleashes everyone's creativity. If we get that right, the result is a vibrant community where talented people are loyal to one another and their collective work ...
Received wisdom is that the more diverse the teams in terms of age, ethnicity, and gender, the more creative and productive they are likely to be. But having run the execution exercise around the world more than 100 times over the last 12 years, we have found no correlation between this type of diversity and performance ... (however their reseach shows) a significant correlation between high cognitive diversity and high performance ...
Staff Benda Bilili and a comment from the Deutsche Welle item about them. The band's name Staff Benda Bilili roughly translates as "bring forth the invisible".
They call themselves "Staff Benda Bilili": eight musicians who all suffer from polio. Their instruments are homemade, and in some cases even invented by their players. They live outdoors on the streets of Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo and were brought together by their love of music and life, their wit and their musical talent. Now they are touring across Europe.top