I just finished speaking to an amazing group of people at Pabco Products, in Rancho Cordova, CA, and in this two-day class there was a lot of discussion centered around subconscious discrimination based on perception. Do tattoos mean savvy and creative or anti-corporate? Does gray hair mean no longer tuned in to all the nuances of a company? Since most of us size up and label based only on our own criteria, the conversation centered on how destructive this can be when fostering a collaborative culture.
In addition, there are several slides I show that ask questions like, “Who do you want as a colleague?” “Who do you want as a boss?” and “Who do you want as a pilot?” The slides depict a diverse array of photos from race, culture, gender and age as well as tattoos, piercings and style of dress.
What the groups always come back to is regardless of appearances, it’s getting past preconceived ideas based on habit and conditioning to focus on an individual’s value. In doing this, they deduced, it’s amazing what we can discover about each other.
Like icebergs, we have no idea what’s below someone’s surface. But unlike icebergs, people are filled with amazing value if we can get past that façade that may not be exactly like our specific ideas of “right.” In my experience, it’s always worth the effort.
