The opportunity to be an engineer has been a tremendous experience in my life. Engineering fosters a unique work dynamic that, I believe, does not exist in all professions. Much of this dynamic is fostered by the fact that mathematics and technology are universal languages. Engineering attracts people from all over the world. I had the opportunity to work in a company that had a large global presence. I made friends with people from various regions across the globe. At times these relationships were the result of my company doing business in a specific region, and at times, people who grew up in different parts of the world, became my colleagues in the United States.
A few years ago, I hosted a party in my home in which I invited colleagues to come into my home to enjoy an evening of camaraderie and food. I did not think too much about which people to invite; I just invited some of the people I worked with. I asked each guest to bring a dish to pass. We had food from so many different ethnic backgrounds because I was fortunate to work with people from all over the world. As I was enjoying the evening, I thought about the remarkable gift I was given to work in this environment. Who would have ever thought when I was growing up in Otisville, Michigan, and my colleagues were growing up in places like India, Bangladesh and Russia, that our paths would cross, and we would not only be work colleagues, but good friends? It was a profound realization for me of how connected humanity is all across the globe, and that I had a significant role in developing and fostering these relationships.
In a world where some people are still suppressed, abused, and suffering from horrific acts of violence, we must hold ourselves accountable to treat all people equitably to create a more civilized world. We need to be the beacon of light for the world. We can make a difference in our corporate worlds. We can show peace, harmony, kindness and friendship regardless of race, nationality, creed, gender, age or sexual orientation. We can do so by ensuring that the faces of our corporate organizations are diverse. We cannot just say we understand diversity; we need to act on building diverse corporate organizations. We need to understand through relationships and true experiences with diverse people in order to foster a culture of equity and fairness. Corporate hierarchies that are diverse can show hope to children across the world. Children can see that they can rise up from difficult circumstances, and can achieve a way of life better than the generation before them.
Diversity is so important for many different reasons. In the corporate environment, diversity brings differing opinions and different approaches to issues which ultimately leads to superior decision making. How can a company produce products that meet or exceed the needs of a diverse customer base if their internal personnel demographic is not reflective of that diverse customer profile? The companies that will win in competitive environments are those companies that have an in depth understanding of who their customers are, and what their customers want.
We can only find hope if we seek understanding. I believe we can only understand people and cultures by building personal relationships. Experiencing a world of work where our colleagues are diverse will humble us to know that people all over the world want many of the same things we do. They want health and happiness for their children. They want freedom. They want peace. We can foster these behaviors in our relationships with people from all over the world in our workplaces. We can build organizations that embrace diversity, so that companies behave within their internal cultures the way the world should behave.
I am incredibly blessed to know people from China, Russia, India, Germany, Italy, Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Korea, France, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Nepal and many other places. Most of these people I met through the company I worked for. I not only am fortunate to know them, but I am blessed to call them friends. I hope, when they think of me, they think of friendship and peace, and that I am a positive example of diversity. I hope that in my small corner of the world, I made it a more peaceful place because of the global relationships I have fostered.
These same people I worked with have offered prayers and good thoughts to me when I was struggling through personal health issues during different periods of my life. I have had people praying for me who were Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish and Christian. I had atheists and agnostics sending me positive thoughts and messages. I embraced them all because they all came from wonderful people, I call friends.
Together we can build a better world one relationship at a time. We cannot expect governments to do this critical work alone. We are part of the solution. We must stand up for what is right. We must call out inequities. Fairness and respect need to be at the core of who we are. Reaching out to that neighbor, who may appear to be different than we are in many ways, will cause us to realize, he or she is more like us than what we ever imagined. This diversity initiative must occur in the corporate world. We go to work every day. We interact with people globally every day. We are building relationships every day. We can make ourselves better every day. We choose our path in this life. Which path are you going to choose today?
Copyright 2019 Beyond the General LLC.
Jeanette Kurnik is CEO of Beyond the General LLC. She has 34 years of automotive controls engineering experience and is an advocate for women in engineering.
Beyond the General 