It’s interesting listening to how people describe the culture of a company. Often a company’s culture is talked about as either this thing that can be held and is separate from the company or it is something so touchy-feely that the average person really doesn’t want to hear about it. When you take it to either extreme, I don’t blame companies that shun the culture concept.

A company’s culture is not separate from the company. It is not something that you can physically hold or touch. But it is felt and believed. Like a person’s heart, the culture is how a company operates, thrives, survives or fails (life). While you cannot separate a culture from the company, nor can you produce an exact replica.

The culture of a company is the driving force to how everything gets done. It influences how your employees make decisions, how processes are established and put into place, what policies (above the legally required ones) are needed, and how the company presents itself to the market.

I started writing an article on diversity last month and found my mind racing and questioning how others perceive the word and what it means. So instead of continuing to write the article, I posted the following question on LinkedIn.

“Diversity comes up in all aspects of the work place: people, processes, and customers. 

• How do you see diversity as a strength? 
• Where would you like to see more diversity? 
• How can we create more diversity in these areas? 
• Is there such a thing as to much diversity?

Please focus your answers on the work environment and thank you for your help.”

I was specifically looking to see if we as a society have moved past the direct association with race that the word ‘diversity’ tends to have. After all, nowhere does it say that diversity is only meant to have one association. Instead, it is applied in all areas of our life—personally, as a society, and at work. It also is not confined to people. Diversity simply means the difference in actions, beliefs or approaches—key word being difference. 

Being different is not always bad, often times it is the catalyst for the next great thing no matter how big or small, right or wrong it is at the time. That being said, I do have to admit that I was disappointed to see that most of the answers I received on LinkedIn were focused on people and/or race.

Considering my question was specifically aimed at companies, I was hoping people would focus on the differences in approaches, strategies, or execution of practices. For me, this was a valuable lesson in how words carry perception baggage. Here are some of the more interesting answers:

“Diversity is not about how we differ; it’s about how we embrace one another's uniqueness.”

“As an intellectual construct, "diversity" has minimal effect on emotional bias, sometimes causing it to hide under a veneer of tolerance. What's needed is a basic change of heart. Including in the workplace, "diversity" has meant nothing to me; and "fairness", everything.”

“I would like to see more diversity in people's ideas; for, ideas are what power an organization. We need to cultivate the art of thinking independently, together. When you make your people feel important, they'll be motivated to come up with their own constructive ideas and you'll be amazed at the amount of ideas you've garnered in no time.”

“The key ingredients are freedom of speech and leadership. All things being equal, a diverse group in a diversity-supportive environment are more creative, which can challenge decision making, but is it not better to have many options from which to choose than too few? Creating a diversity-supportive group and culture is a leadership decision. The options range from dictatorial to chaotic. The chaotic might be the case of too much diversity, but more likely, it is a lack of leadership. The power and value of diversity is very dependent upon leadership. Secure leaders will permit freedom of speech and manage the thoughts and ideas provided. Not always easy. New ideas are truly wonderful. Here's to the leaders who permit and support them.”