Connect the Dots: Return on Diversity

America has an amazing ability to overcome just about any challenge facing it. We’ve mastered space travel, conquered foreign enemies, found cures for terrifying diseases and created life-changing technologies that positively impact our daily lives.

One challenge that still seems to befuddle us, however, is our ability to embrace diversity in its totality in our society. The evidence is indisputable. At a time when demographers tell us that nonwhite citizens will be the majority in this country by 2045, when the Me-Too Movement has elevated the role of women, when LGBTQ issues are more openly discussed and when some 15 percent of our population is foreign-born, we remain hesitant to embrace our diversity and the potential benefits it represents.

Nevertheless, there is powerful evidence that engaging with people with different ideas and different perspectives can boost creativity and innovation – the very things that have enabled us to achieve great things. Sociologist Ronald Burt at the University of Chicago has produced several studies that suggest organizations with more diverse sources of information consistently generate better ideas. MIT’s Sara Ellison has shown that mixed-sex and mixed-race teams can produce more creative solutions than those dominated by either men or women. Common sense tells us that diversity of thought leads to clear and better decision-making. You learn from encountering difference.

Let’s start with an elementary proposition: We’re not all alike, and we all come from different backgrounds, for all kinds of reasons. Some people feel a moral imperative to seek out inclusiveness and diversity; others strategically recognize that to move our organizations forward, we need to attract and retain people who give us the intellectual competitive advantage of ideas and proven experience. Whatever our motivations, we need to bring a diverse and inclusive sense of urgency to our workplaces, our schools and our communities because that will produce remarkable outcomes.

Allow me to suggest that the only way to bring about a truly diverse community is to demonstrate “return on diversity.” We must show that diversity drives broader thinking and greater innovation, that it brings new creative and important voices to the institution or the issue. New ideas and wide-ranging perspectives fuel creative thinking and, as a result, compel innovation.

Embracing diversity is not about checking off an affirmative-action box or believing that society somehow owes minorities some concession. It is about creating a culture where every individual is accepted and valued for his or her contributions, whether to a team, a company or society as a whole. Interestingly, our youngest generations understand this best; they tend to be more open, trusting and collaborative.

Regardless of our age or position in society, all of us need to recognize that America is becoming more diverse. We need to acknowledge the potential that diversity can bring. Difference can be unsettling, perhaps even scary at times. But it does not have to be threatening. In fact, it can be the fuel for a new era of innovation, growth and success.

The challenges we face today and the ones that lie ahead demand that we band together in a common cause, unhindered by prior bias or fears. The American melting pot has always been and will continue to be our greatest strength if we choose to accept that reality.

Dr. Benjamin Ola. Akande is assistant vice chancellor of International Programs-Africa, director of Africa Initiative and associate director of the Global Health Center at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a former president of Westminster College and served as dean at the Walker School of Business & Technology at Webster University. He has a Ph.D. in economics.

Connect the Dots: The Value of a Strong Bench

The current NFL season was barely a few weeks old when 21 different quarterbacks were sidelined with a variety of injuries, several of them season-ending. Included were such stars as Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger, New Orleans’ Drew Brees and Jacksonville, Florida’s Nick Foles. Also, just prior to the season’s start, Andrew Luck, a rising star, announced he was retiring rather than face another in a long line of injuries.

What would you do if your leader suddenly wasn’t there?

Sports has adopted the operative phrase “next man up” – and that holds true for the business world, too. Do you have the bench strength in place to step in for your leader should he or she retire or go elsewhere? Have you put a succession plan in place, and do you have talented people ready, willing and able to take on leadership roles?

We expect our leaders to be resilient, especially if they have driven us to success. But the belief that leaders have the endless stamina, ideas and skills it takes to deliver success year after year forms a fallacy. “Great things in business are never done by one person,” Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and creative genius, once noted. “They’re done by a team of people.”

To ensure future success, organizations need to develop tomorrow’s leaders today. That much should be obvious. New requirements of leadership, however, often complicate these efforts. You cannot expect the kind of leadership that worked in the past to continue to be functional in the present or in the future.

Today’s leaders need to have the courage to accept change and to willingly let their bench strength evolve. An organization’s “next man up” will be expected to perform in an environment that’s constantly changing and increasingly competitive. Tomorrow’s leaders must have the ability to revitalize, rebuild and embrace shared leadership approaches to accountability.

Global Leadership, a leadership guide co-authored by Dr. Cathy L. Greenberg, cites the top five leadership competencies of the future as thinking globally, appreciating cultural diversity, developing technological savvy, building partnerships and alliances, and sharing leadership.

Future leaders must demonstrate not only the traditional leadership qualities of vision and integrity but also these newer qualities, such as global thinking, technological sophistication and the ability to use diversity to increase return on investment.

When leaders are prepared, nurtured and enabled to build community, understand themselves and rethink the possibilities of nonlinear strategic planning, great things happen. In short, building a strong bench – in sports and in business alike – remains key to continued success. 

Dr. Benjamin Ola. Akande is assistant vice chancellor of International Programs-Africa, director of Africa Initiative and associate director of the Global Health Center at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a former president of Westminster College and served as dean at the Walker School of Business & Technology at Webster University. He has a Ph.D. in economics.

Connect the Dots: When Things Go Wrong

“Failure is not an option.”

That line, apocryphally attributed to NASA Mission Director Gene Kranz in the classic 1995 film Apollo 13, accurately sums up our society’s approach when faced with a crisis. We find a way to conquer adversity, and we expect to win. Admirable qualities, no doubt, that previously have served us well in times of trouble.

Unfortunately, that noble attitude has some unintended consequences, two of which I’ll consider here.

The first unintended consequence is that we too often focus on deciding who or what is to blame, rather than seeking to learn what caused the crisis and how to forestall future problems. The examples throughout our history are numerous.

We saw this in the 1940s, with the military’s investigation of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; again in 1968, with the investigation into the capture of the USS Pueblo off the coast of North Korea; and even earlier this century, with the investigation of 9/11. In each case, did we work to understand how these events could have been avoided, or did we simply look for a villain?

Nor have we learned from past mistakes. We ratchet up the rhetoric about racism, guns, mental health and gender equality, but quickly descend into partisan name-calling rather than searching for viable solutions. How much more effective might our Congress be if our leaders spent less time pointing fingers and more time seeking common ground on important issues? We tend to forgot what Henry Ford once said: “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”

Our inclination to find blame fails to acknowledge that disasters such as these are often caused by failures, both individual and systemic. Humans, being what we are, are ultimately responsible for failure. But we do not deal easily with failure – not in warfare, not in business, not in marriage, not even in a tennis set. We fear failure. It breeds contempt. No one is lonelier or avoided more ardently than a person who is perceived to be failing. It gives us comfort to be able to say it’s someone else’s fault.

Which brings me to the second unintended consequence. As an educator, I have always struggled with our traditional A-B-C-D-F grading system. There is no E; we jump right to “F” for emphasis on failure.

How many young students have been labeled as failures in this way, perhaps stigmatizing them for life? How many have seen a big red F at the top of a test paper and given up? Would it not be better to focus on helping them learn from their mistakes, to show them what it takes to do better and to foster the inherent potential they possess? Shouldn’t we accept that we have as much responsibility as they do to see them succeed?

I prefer the approach Winston Churchill espoused: “Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.”

Failure is not an option when we accept the truth that success is difficult. Success does not come easily; certainly, it is much easier to fail. The most successful people are usually also the most persistent. Success takes planning, preparation and perseverance. Most important, it requires a belief in oneself that success is possible.

No one do we love more than those who overcome failure with triumph. Success glows ever brighter when contrasted with the repeated failures that one may have experienced along the way. Although not an option, failure should be an opportunity to learn, to improve and to strive for a better tomorrow.

That is the attitude that put men into space and brought them back safely, against all odds. It is that attitude that we need to have every time we face adversity. 

Dr. Benjamin Ola. Akande is Assistant Vice Chancellor of International Programs-Africa, director of Africa Initiative and associate director of the Global Health Center at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a former president of Westminster College and served as dean at the Walker School of Business & Technology at Webster University. He has a Ph.D. in economics

Connect the Dots: The Big One

Friends in Southern California had a big scare recently when that area experienced its most severe earthquakes in decades. Fortunately, despite all the jolts and aftershocks, no one was killed, and apparently, there was little major damage to the infrastructure.

When I heard the news about the quakes, I immediately thought back to October 17, 1989. That was the day the San Francisco Bay Area was hit with a magnitude 6.9 earthquake. As much of the rest of America watched on television – the quake hit just before the start of the third game of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics – bridges and highways collapsed, buildings crumbled, and lives were shattered. In only 15 seconds, 63 people died and nearly 4,000 others were injured.

Back then, I was a doctoral student in Oklahoma, far removed from the catastrophe in San Francisco. Yet that event affected me deeply. So many tragedies, no clear pattern, no consistent explanation for why some people lost everything, including their lives. It was just the work of nature, the melody of uncertainty, the song of change. Nature owed us no explanation, no rational understanding of why this time and this place. It was terrifying, frustrating and inexplicable.

One year later, residents throughout the Mississippi Valley waited in fear that “the big one” was about to happen along the New Madrid Seismic Zone – roughly 170 miles southeast of Ladue – thanks to a prediction by a since-discredited self-styled climatologist named Iben Browning. Thankfully, it never came to pass.

What these events did, however, was raise our collective consciousness about Mother Nature and the fragility of our existence. In the blink of an eye, life can change for so many people, leaving physical and emotional scars that may last a lifetime. People, myself included, began to realize that this could happen to us, and now, 30 years later, we have made significant improvements in building codes and infrastructure reinforcements. The fact that the damage from a 6.9-level earthquake in Southern California was limited suggests that we are paying attention and responding in positive ways.

Even more important are the human stories that events like these bring to the front. Thirty years ago, I saw people coming together, helping each other in times of need. Black youths in Oakland peering into 18-inch gaps between the layers of concrete to help mostly white commuters climb to safety. People in expensive business suits munching chicken wings with homeless people in tattered clothes. It was a unique display of the haves and the have-nots together sharing.

I was encouraged to read about Los Angeles neighborhoods organizing to check on one another’s safety and help when disaster strikes. It made me realize that in times of tragedy, we realize how much we really need each other, how much we really have in common.

One of the most popular new musicals on Broadway today, Come From Away, also played in St. Louis in May at The Fabulous Fox Theatre. It tells the tale of the residents of Gander, Newfoundland, who opened their town, their homes and their hearts to more than 7,000 airline travelers who were grounded there following the terrible events of Sept. 11, 2001. Like the people by the Bay, they leaned on one another and pulled together. For five days, the Newfoundlanders showed that love and compassion can always triumph over tragedy and disaster.

Like the weather, life often can be a thing of beauty, a thing to enjoy – but it also can change unexpectedly, suddenly. Its impact can be devastating, even deadly. But after every storm comes a calm, a time to reflect on change.

Whether because of a natural disaster or a manmade catastrophe – an earthquake, a tsunami, a tornado, a flood or a terrorist act – we may stagger and fall, but we always find a way to regain our balance. We find comfort in our common humanity. 

Dr. Benjamin Ola. Akande is assistant chancellor of International Programs-Africa, director of Africa Initiative and associate director of the Global Health Center at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a former president of Westminster College and served as dean at the Walker School of Business & Technology at Webster University. He has a Ph.D. in economics.

Connect the Dots: A Scrambled Life

Life lessons come to us from many different sources – including nursery rhymes.

Such rhymes (some made up by my parents, most derived from the usual sources, like Mother Goose) nurtured me as child. And one rhyme in particular has stayed with me all my life, a story of risk and failure – a lesson in how to respond when the worst happens, when things go to pieces and little or no hope remains in sight.

I’m talking about the story of Humpty Dumpty, the anthropomorphic egg that tried to defy the odds and met with tragic results: “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,/Humpty Dumpty had a great fall./All the king’s horses and all the king’s men/Couldn’t put Humpty together again.”

On the surface, this might seem a story about dismal failure. I disagree. The key word, to me, occurs last: again. To me, anyway, it positions Humpty as a risk-taker – bold, fearless, unrelenting.

Humpty, I think, believed in setting stretch goals and knew well the potential for failure, but he refused to let it define him. Because of that, I see Humpty as the epitome of courage. Perched atop that wall, he almost surely had to deal with fear, knowing the stakes of his position to be high indeed – that he might fall. But this egg never let the fear of turning into an omelet define him.

How does Humpty’s tale (which dates from 1797 or before) relate to today’s world? Well, Humpty’s wall can serve as a simple metaphor for all the lofty aspirations we have – in life, marriage, business and other pursuits. Occupying a wall like Humpty’s involves vulnerability and much humility – because at any time, gravity might scramble everything.

Unfortunately, none of us is perfect. At times, we misjudge and overreach. Sometimes, in fact, overconfidence untempered with humility leads us to the brink of disaster.

Now, we’ve all faced great challenges, whether the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the diagnosis of an incurable ailment or some other calamity – leading to an unfortunate “fall” and accompanying fear, hopelessness and helplessness.

At such times, I believe it helpful to turn to Humpty’s story. Yes, you may have fallen and, like Humpty, your life may appear to be shattered. But unlike Humpty, you can persevere when all hope seems lost. You can accept the reality that when you fall, the fall itself becomes part of the process of finding courage.

In that regard, it seems integral to cultivate a support group better than Humpty’s “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men” – family and friends to help when everything seems scrambled. We’ve all occupied high walls and fallen many times, but if it weren’t for our own “king’s horses” and “king’s men,” righting our lives would have been improbable if not impossible. Family and friends give us the confidence and endurance to keep on keeping on.

When you fall from your own wall, strive to overcome such a turn and seek a new way forward. Find the resolve to put yourself back together again, unlike Humpty, and someday, just maybe, someone will write a rhyme about you.

Dr. Benjamin Ola. Akande is assistant chancellor of International Programs-Africa, director of Africa Initiative and associate director of the Global Health Center at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a former president of Westminster College and served as dean at the Walker School of Business & Technology at Webster University. He has a Ph.D. in economics.