Diversity - The Silver-Lining
Given the seemingly endless negative economic news that we are currently absorbing every day, Bridge Partners LLC has been looking for a silver-lining – and we found it in the fact that the country is making great progress when it comes to appointing high caliber diverse executives in the political realm.
Thanks to a precedent begun by Clinton and continued through to today’s choices by Obama, we now see a broader range of high-caliber individuals in the administration, all of whom bring a wide variety of experiences and backgrounds – a true reflection of what strong leadership can look like.
Just how diverse is Obama’s cabinet thus far? According to a study conducted by NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service and The Washington Post, on December 3rd “of the 28 White House staffers Obama has appointed so far, 43 percent are women and 29 percent are a racial minority.” And those statistics have changed over the past week.
Specific to the cabinet, as of the time of writing 10 nominations have been formally announced, with an additional 5 expected nominations – of those 15 individuals, just 7 are white males.
In a December 3rd Huffington Post article (“Obama is delivering diversity, but some seek more”), leaders of prominent organizations representing traditionally underrepresented groups expressed concern, but overall were hopeful that Obama would appoint at least one person from each of their populations. To these comments President-elect Barack Obama has responded that once he has filled all positions, “I think people are going to say, this is one of the most diverse Cabinets and White House staffs of all time.”….and so far he has fulfilled that promise.
So what does a diverse cabinet mean for the rest of us, and why does Bridge Partners LLC feel so good about it? The answer to both is clear:
Firstly, diverse leadership in our government will ensure a broader perspective and subsequently an effective decision-making process with regard to finding solutions for our nation’s most difficult problems.
And secondly ‘corporate America’ will hopefully learn from the lesson being taught on Capitol Hill. Many executive suites and boards of directors are still significantly lacking in diversity, and the excuse of there not being enough qualified, diverse candidates now seems even more absurd, given the progress being made in the political sector.
