| Topic Name: |
Can a white male add diversity? |
| Message Name: |
defining diversity |
| Date Posted: |
07/02/2002 |
| Message: |
here's my dilema: i'm heading off to b-school this fall after spending some time in junior management for an internationally oriented non-profit. my undergrad degree is in international and african studies. i've lived for extended periods in senegal (west africa), spain, and germany. i speak english, french, german, spanish, and an african dialect (wolof). it may sound odd, but with my background, both academic and professional, and my rather unique first name, i'm often seen on paper as being a minority (no, i'm not lying). during a holiday party last christmas when the alcohol was flowing, my companies HR exec actually told me than initially my resume thrilled her because i looked like the perfect applicant: perfect educational background for the job, and, well, black. one problem upon seeing me initially: i'm white.
now, what i want to know is, what is diversity? am i, by virtue of my background, diverse? or would someone with a standard business education from a state school and a the same number of years experience in the workplace in, say, your average sales position, but someone who's a minority offer more diversity than i do? i have very close friends in africa who joke and say that i actually am what they define as "african american" by the virtue of my relationship with the continent and its people. sure, i'm a white male raised in the midwest, but is it purely hogwash to market myself as someone who can add a great deal of diversity to any organization?
|
|
