Watch the video clip on the Covey Community about Mauritius. What do you think about their culture? Do you know of other places in the world that have intense diversity and peacefully coexist? Janita, who works for the Covey Group, is from Mauritius and is quick to point out that although it's not perfect, the diversity there makes the country what it is.
America is supposed to be the great melting pot of the world. I don't know that that is the best metaphor. In a melting pot, everything bleeds together and it's hard to distinguish one ingredient from another. To me, a lot of the beauty of diversity is the distinguishable differences. What is the better metaphor, the melting pot or the fruit salad (or some other metaphor altogether)?
I am currently taking a class from a professor from Russia. She's worked on teams with people from all over the world. In her experience, at first, people from different countries and backgrounds can often disagree vehemently on issues because of their differences. She noted that after three months, most of the groups worked together well and that no one could remember who came from where anymore; they put aside their differences and created that "third alternative" that Dr. Covey talks about. Have you had an experience like this? Do you think in some situations the diversity runs so deep that synergy simply isn't possible? Or do we just get stuck in our own mindsets and refuse to try hard enough?
Fruit salad or a messy vegetable tray (http://www.veggiebouquet.com/bouquet.html)? I don't get out of Utah, or Cache Valley much but from what I've seen not only are individuals still distinguishable but sadly from what I've seen they are largely still segregated too! I went to Philadelphia for a summer and Dallas for a while as well. Those cities are segregated, period. Yea there is some mixing but it is mostly like a messy vegetable tray. The segregation is so evident that they create ethnicity maps! Black hoods are here, China town there, Mexi ville over there and white people here.
ReplyDeleteI though that it was okay that they did that. It is easiest to just not confront differences but we have so much synergy waiting to happen if we put forth the effort. Everyone has different points of view, and in business and in the world when you put those differences out on the table, and talk about them, then choose the best idea great things happen.
So anyway in my opinion a vegetable tray is the most accurate definition of what we are.
I think the fruit salad is a much better metaphor. I lived in New York City for two years and yes there is some segregation there to a certain degree. But it is caused more by cultural differences than anything else. Whether it be religious, geographic, or ethnic; people tend to gravitate to others who share similar beliefs and traditions. I believe the main thing that increases the cohesiveness of Mauritius is that the not only learn and respect, but also celebrate the holidays and events of all cultures and religions of the island. If we took the time to gain this level of cultural understanding and acceptance we could gain that same national unity among all races, creeds, and cultures.
ReplyDeleteI love your post. I lived in Miami for two years as a missionary. It was a lot the same as Mauritius, in terms of different cultures in one spot. I loved it. It was incredible. I spent my time there with the latin people, speaking spanish. It was unlike anything i had ever seen. I would talk to people from over 10 countries in one day sometimes. I counted for six months the amount of different nationalities i would meet, and the number ended up being over 75!! It was great to see these countries come together. The latin people from different countries would get along great, and would get together often. They seemed to share a couple common things, and that was spanish language, and being a loving people. I think as we see similarities in each other, as well as appreciating the differences, we can unite and synergies.
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