Here is an article that she has written on "The Value of Diversity":

"As we at Leadership Foundation have stated, diversity includes a wide variety of qualities that are different from an individual or a group but are expressed in other or a group of others. We have defined what this means in the context of the workplace and then in the larger society, but WHY must we discuss this issue? Why is diversity relevant and how is it valuable to every individual, group, and organization within the workplace and society? Creating and living within an environment that is diverse is beneficial to the individual, specifically, and to the dynamics of an organization on the whole. Here’s why:

For the individual

It is beneficial for an individual to live and work within an environment in which their potential is maximized and their talents and qualifications are thoroughly valued and utilized. This is a goal that the promotion of diversity attempts to achieve for all. This is important for each individual’s pursuit of life and happiness but it is also beneficial for an individual’s health. When a person is allowed to pursue their education and use their talents, they are able to create and maintain a successful career. If they can maintain a successful career, this influences their ability to achieve a positive and healthy life situation in terms of their socio-economic status (SES), and in terms of their personal life, creating more of a positive life success.

How does one’s SES come into play, both through the influence of equal opportunity and the effects on health and success? A person’s SES has been shown to display a continuum of influence on one’s health, acting on a direct level, affecting the amount of resources can utilize but also on an indirect level, affecting the amount of demands they encounter on a daily basis. SES can be broken down into socio, referring to one’s social or societal standing, including gender, ethnicity, class, and career position; economic, including one’s income and economic support; and status, relating to the ranking influenced by the interaction of the previous two. The three main measurements of SES are income, education, and occupation. Each of these contains a link to the impact on health. For example, a person’s income will determine where they can afford to live, if they will live in an environment with crime, crowding and exposure to toxins or carcinogens. Their education will determine where they have the credentials to work or the networks they can create to influence job promotion. It can also influence the amount of health-relevant behaviors, such as smoking, drinking, exercise and healthy diet, they engage in or how well they adhere to medical treatments. Finally, one of the most influential factors, and the one most relevant to the promotion of diversity in the workforce is the impact of all of these variables on one’s psychological tendencies and their biological responses. Stated more explicitly: the impact of stress. [1]

In the connection of SES and health, stress plays a large role. Lacking a sense of control and certainty, situations in the context of low SES are simply more stressful. Evolutionally designed to be effective in a harmful situation and equip an individual, stress can be a good thing. It creates a feedback loop of biobehavioral responses, often called the “fight-or-flight” response. If exposed to too much stress, also known as chronic stress, this loop begins to experience wear and tear. This creates an “allostatic load” and the body believes as if it is constantly in a stressful situation, contributing to high blood pressure and cholesterol, and to an increased heart rate, all contributors to heart disease.
The stress of low SES can be directly perceived but also indirectly perceived through one’s comparison of themselves to others. The Whitehall study among British civil servants found that sickness, as defined by the number of absences, prevalence of coronary heart disease, and hypertension, to name a few, decreased as the employees ascended in rank. All of these employees worked for the same organization and received a comfortable salary, making them middle class.  They only differed in pay grade, and promotion level, allowing this study to provide a link between perceived inferiority and poor health. [2]

Discrimination also plays a powerful role in this discussion. It creates stress in itself, but it also influences a person’s ability to go to school, get a job, earn a living and create a life. These instances themselves are a potential for stress and they also decrease resources and increase demands, contributing to a lower SES. Nancy Krieger outlines further the pathway between racism and health in a similar fashion that we discussed between SES and health. For example, some of the negative situations include: economic and social deprivation, toxic substances and hazardous conditions, social inflicted trauma ranging from verbal threats to violent acts, targeted marketing of harmful health commodities such as junk-food or cigarettes, and inadequate or degrading health care. All of these things, Krieger argues, are of a direct result of discrimination and are directly harmful to the health of an individual. Furthermore, the impact of the responses that are designed to cope with these hardships, such as internalized oppression and substance abuse, are harmful as well. [3]

In all of this information, we find two main influential factors: exposure and reactivity. How much a person encounters discrimination, racism, sexism, ageism, and the resources they have or choose to take to deal with this exposure or stress. The promotion of diversity and the subsequent elimination of prejudice and discrimination seek to tackle the factor of exposure. The mission of Leadership Foundation is too limit this factor, stopping the cascade of effects of discrimination and SES at the beginning, thereby halting it altogether. We can start by creating a world of acceptance…that is Leadership Foundation’s goal.

For the overall community

We have just discussed why the lack of diversity is bad, how it is harmful to the pursuit of life and health of the individual. However, we at Leadership Foundation would like to help provide the information for why it is beneficial for communities, for companies, highlighting why diversity is good and taking a positive approach to this issue. Our mission is to identify what works and help companies harness and utilize the value of diversity, translating it into a more functioning and profitable work environment. We would thereby like to emphasize why diversity is beneficial for the whole community.

Diversity is a moral imperative, but it is also a measure of common sense in creating a positive environment in which individuals prosper: if the differences of one are appreciated and valued, than those of all will be as well. This will extend to differences based upon viewpoints and opinions, such as accommodating for differing definitions of success.

Let us provide an example: many studies are suggesting that women or those who identify with a more feminine gender identity define success differently than the traditional upward step-ladder model. They take into account factors that incorporate their family life, creating more of a life success, rather than a solely career success approach. For them, achieving a work-life balance, contributing something to society, and self-realization, to name a few, are just as, if not more important than, a large income and a high level position in defining success. The typical linear model gives preference to the male who can create a severe distinction between their work and family life and is neither desirable nor practical for women. Unfortunately, most workplace environments recognize and reward only the narrow, linear model, often creating the family of a women into a liability for her, even when benefits exist for her to utilize. Incorporating diversity would allow such for differing ideas of success, and create a system that is not only tolerable but also rewarding of the priorities of women. [4,5]

Furthermore, diversity within the workplace is beneficial in creating many different viewpoints to create a more efficient and effective order of business. If there are a variety of experiences, education and ideas, it is more likely that the “best” business strategy will be discovered. Take, for example, Roy Adler of Pepperdine University in California’s study of women in top CEO positions and the companies’ subsequent profits.  Dr. Adler found that the companies who had more women at high executive positions also had the highest profits. An extremely interesting finding, it opened the door to suggest that promoting women might not only be beneficial for equality’s sake, but it would also be profitable for the company. In addition, many of these companies, such as Johnson & Johnson, have also been recognized as leading companies in the promotion of diversity. [6]

 These are just a couple of examples in which diversity can be a powerful tool for businesses to employ. It’s is Leadership Foundation’s mission to discover the full potential of these and other benefits, discovering the ways in which they can be created and fulfilled for a company’s benefit and for the benefit of the employees involved.

By Tristana Pirkl
Leadership Foundation 

September, 2009