re: Are Cultural and Ethnic diversity and competency needed for success today?

quote:

---

But who is the best person for the job? It's usually someone that looks and thinks like the person doing the hiring and the process is often very subjective. Companies that have a diversity of opinions and experiences probably are better positioned, but I don't think that it should be mandatory.

---

I don't have serious heartburn with your analysis - unfortunately, all too often people take a failure to get a position as an example of your middle sentence here.

Think about it - 12 people up for an IT position, all male - 6 white, 4 black, 1 latino and 1 asian - they hire one of the white guys - so, now 4 black guys and 1 latino are walking away, shaking their heads thinking, "Racist white people..." ignoring the fact there are 5 white guys who didn't get the job, either.

One of my problems with affirmative action (particularly at this time in history) is that if they happen to hire one of the black guys in the above scenario, now 11 people think he got it because of his race (and perhaps even 12) - and that would piss me off (and I'm whiter than sour cream.)

The analogy I've been using lately is counterfeit. If something is counterfeited heavily (like Confederate sabers from the Civil War) - then it reduces the value of even the genuine article, as everyone is suspicious because of the counterfeits.