The Untapped Potential in Your Organization

On November 4th Barack Obama accepted his victory as the 44th presidents and said in his speech that this proved that “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.”

Well a nation of the people, by the people and for the people, can no longer afford to treat its people as it has been. We are not a melting pot, and none of us desire to create a nation filled with people who all look, act and speak the same. We are a nation of differences and those differences are what make us the powerful, noble, unbeaten entity that we are. For when India thinks of hating us, we are her people too. When Korea wants to attack us, we are her people too. When Canada wishes were not her neighbors, we are her people too.

There is not a country, republic, or island on this beautiful planet that we have not served as a haven of hope and possibility. We are comprised of every color, religion, creed, interest, gender identity, sexuality, and body type ever to grace this globe. And it is because of this that we are the UNITED States of America. We are not the Christian States of America, the White States of America, the Hetero States of America and we are certainly not the Skinny States of America. We must stop treating our people like we are one or all of these for we are, all of us, the reason for this country’s successes and its failures.

“The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through -- a part of our union that we have yet to perfect.

And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.” - Barack Obama

The companies and organizations that work in this country need to learn to build off of the strengths of their people. Not just their manual labor, or their educated minds, but their cultures, languages, and untapped potential. How many bilingual employees work with you that are not being used to reach your clients who speak that language? How many people are you not reaching because your marketing message does not speak to the people you want to hear your words?

I recently heard Daniel Escalante speak quite eloquently about the salad bowl analogy and for those of you unfamiliar with this I will briefly recount. A salad with only lettuce lack flavor, color, nutrients, and flare. A salad blended to where it all looks and tastes the same is a V-8. If I wanted juice I'd ask for one. I want a salad. I want a job market where culture, language, accent, education, and technical skills, are all valued. Not in some vain attempt to be politically correct, or to apease some affirmative action initiative, but because those attributes are honestly valued as they should be.