Diversity - New Diversity Summit by Susan McCuistion

Let’s talk Diversity 

>>Register here for the New Diversity Summit<< 

Yesterday, Monday, was a non-day for me, life happened. These days happen to all of us, we just have to make sure they don’t spread and find good ways to lift our energy.  

So, one day into the week, let’s talk Inclusive Leadership and Diversity, preparing for next week’s New Diversity Summit, hosted by Susan McCuistion. 

I met Susan 3 years ago and we have been following each other in common networks of inspiring business people since.

Cat, music and Disney lover, Susan is a leader walking her talk.

With a background as mathematician, Susan is now using her genius in supporting organisations develop more inclusive leadership through diversity.

Listen to what she writes:

“I am an eternal optimist. I believe people are basically good. I believe 99% of us wake up in the morning with good intentions - to go to work, make a decent living, take care of our families, connect with our friends, and help our communities. I don't believe we wake up intentionally trying to hurt others. But inevitably, we do. Why? Because we don't understand our biases and how our perspectives exclude others.

One of the concepts that people are most resistant to in the field of diversity and inclusion is the idea of bias. It's typically thrown about as an insult and we think of it as a negative thing. We all want to believe that we aren't biased. But here's the reality... we are all biased. It's how our brains work. Research shows that our brains process about 11 million pieces of information at any given time and it can only handle about 40, which still sounds like a lot. Our brain is set up to gather new information in unfamiliar situations and compare it to data that it has gathered in the past. That's what bias is. It's a preference for a particular way of doing things.

It's not the bias that matters. Bias just makes us human. It's what we do with our biases that can positively or negatively impact our businesses and our lives.

Human beings are tribal. We are more comfortable around people who look and act like us. Widening our circle to include people who may be quite different from us takes a conscious effort that makes many of us very uncomfortable." 

Worth thinking about right?  

You can join the conversation Susan started by Registering  >>Registering here and now for the New Diversity Summit<< 

>>Register here for the New Diversity Summit<< 

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That’s it for today. See you tomorrow for a new conscious life conscious leadership flash briefing.

Until then, take care!