Diversity is Critical

Diversity is critical. Look around you, your management, your board, your government, your colleagues. If all you see are white men in positions of authority, you are part of the problem. The Toronto Star published a horribly transphobic cartoon, because the people involved did not even see the harm, or saw it and looked away, or saw it and were ignored. Diverse authority is what we seek, not diversity in the people over whom we hold power.

Remember, old white men are not necessarily horrible people, they don’t deserve to be demonized on the colour of their skin or their gender. What is dangerous is the singular perspective. The blind spots in that perspective that can only be seen and understood by people of different experience.

Embracing the first woman, or black person, or openly LGBTQ person into the fray feels like a huge step, but it’s barely a step. You know it isn’t enough because it is still a topic of discussion. It feels like a big step. But it isn’t. It needs to be the norm.