The population of the United States is growing more diverse

Companies do business in a global economic system, where products made in the US are sold all over the world, and US based consumers purchase products manufactured worldwide. To compete today means to compete on a worldwide basis. Companies think nothing of putting Field Service Engineers on a plane to service a unit in Bolivia, Singapore, or Saudi Arabia. International organizations may draw candidates for open positions from many different countries rather than one or two nearby cities.  If business organizations want to feel prepared and equipped to take a prominent place in the world of business, the leaders of those organizations  must:

• be exposed to cultural diversity
• learn to be accepting of people and ideas not their own
• learn to be sensitive to and accepting of people with disabilities
• learn how to deal with diversity issues
• learn to be sensitive to cultural differences
• develop personal skills and demonstrate competencies in understanding diversity

The U.S. Census Bureau projects that students of color and ethnic minorities will become the majority in K-12 classrooms by the middle of the 21st century. This dramatic shift in the proportion of minority students is already taking place, with 37% of elementary and secondary school students now identified as students of color or ethnic minorities. Forty percent of all high school graduates in the United States will be nonwhite by the year 2010, up from a third this year and less than 25% in 1980. Current population estimates project that "minority" students will become the majority in U.S. classrooms by 2050, with an estimated 54% of all students being people of color and ethnic minorities. Since there are no statistics on numbers of people with disabilities, institutions must be proactive in identifying their needs and providing facilities to meet those needs.  Some say there are upwards of 18 million disabled persons who can work and are not employed. With what you hear of the  coming manpower crunch , this is a real eye opening figure. Diversity professionals know that many disabled workers often have "hidden disabilities" and show no outward signs of being disabled.

Eventually these students will move into the workforce. Once there, they will take on leadership roles and be in a position to influence not only their own workforces but the general population as well. Inclusive work environments will be a necessity rather than a buzzword.

 Organizations will move to a more inclusive work environment where their associates will have to acknowledge that each person in the  organization brings a unique skill and or  makes  an important contribution to the overall success of the the business and that each person must be recognized for their unique skills  knowledge and abilities. Today, organizations are scrambling to add languages, cultural know how, and diversifying their employee population in order to build and retain a diverse, high performing workforce. 

While diversity is an invaluable source of intelligence for our society, we should not believe that this new learning can be achieved easily. Learning with and from people whose backgrounds and assumptions are different from our own is enriching. Diverse organizations are  producing new knowledge, new respect, and a new commitment to the community. This is an extraordinary resource for a democracy that is growing more diverse by the minute.