Diversity in Action: Curiosity, Introspection, Openness
October 2, 2007 — Speech given by Heather Burns (Booz Allen Senior Vice President) at the 2007 Booz Allen Diversity Awards.
Thank you so very much for this wonderful award. Congratulations, Lesley, for your great accomplishments, and congratulations as well, to all finalists and honorees here tonight.
I have been thinking a great deal about the word diversity in anticipation of this event. When I checked Webster’s today, I confirmed that the only accepted usage of the word diversity is as a noun. It is an end state—a passive outcome. We measure our success by looking at how diverse our population is—in terms of gender, race, nationality, religion. We often judge our success through empirical evidence or by statistics.
But what if we think of diversity not as a noun but as an active verb?
I personally find that looking at diversity this way helps me determine how I should behave – and what actions I should take as I strive for greater diversity in my work. As I think about diversity in action, about diversity as a process, I see three distinct phases: curiosity, introspection, and openness.
The process starts when we meet someone different. Maybe they have a heavy accent. Maybe they wear a head cover when we think they should not. Or maybe they are transitioning from one gender to another.
The response in a situation such as this should be intense and deep curiosity. Who is he? What makes her tick? What is intriguing or interesting about them? This curiosity gives us an opportunity to engage in respectful conversation and to really stretch ourselves to understand who he or she is as an individual.
The second phase of the diversity process is introspection. Here I think we need to look deeply into ourselves and ask some tough questions:
What reactions am I having to this person? Am I nervous? Am I making judgments? Am I uncomfortable with who I think they are?
Wouldn’t it be easier to simply be polite rather than to really engage with them? They are really not the same as me, after all, so why do I need to treat them as if they are?
But if we are not deeply introspective and look into our own selves, we cannot honestly undertake the third stage of the diversity process. And this third phase is the hardest and most important, because without it, we can’t create the true diversity we want and need.
This third step is openness. It is a willingness to open ourselves to let this other person in. It is a leap of faith, and a suspension of doubt.
What is difficult about this phase of openness is that we all run so hard and fast in our jobs, that we don’t want to take risks. We can’t be sure that someone who is not like us would be able to do the job the way we would do it. But that, in my mind, that is not acceptable. We simply have to be willing to take those risks. In fact we have to be willing to let the person actually do the job differently than we would, and to give up the comfort of our way of seeing and doing things.
So there you have it: curiosity, introspection and openness—the phases of the process we might have, if we see diversity more as an active process than a passive outcome.
I hope this will give us something to think about—and even more importantly, to act upon—as we build relationships and work to make Booz Allen an even greater place to work.
Thank you again for this award, which means so much to me.
