It’s All About the Words Redefining Diversity

Whoever said, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” didn’t know what they were talking about.

Our words contain enormous power—power to heal and power to harm. Words matter. Think about it. Through the ages, words have built societies, destroyed nations, defined cultures, and started wars. It’s words that describe how we feel, bringing dimension to what we think. Words have built up, but they have also torn down. Words matter a great deal, and the man or woman who can choose just the right word at just the right time has a skill greatly desired by others. There’s even an ancient proverb that says, “Like apples of gold in a setting of silver is a word appropriately spoken”
(Proverbs 25:11, CJB).
It’s all about the words you use, what you mean by those words, and why you chose those particular words in the first place. It’s about how you say what you want to say and even when you decide to say it. What does the word mean? What did it previously mean? What might it mean going forward? Definitions can be all over the map. Our logical starting place is to spend some time taking a closer look at the meanings of the terms we are using. Socrates even said it this way, “The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.”

The first step toward lasting change is to look closely at the language. We believe there’s a need to use words that propel us toward unity. Words like diversity, equity, and inclusion are good, but they fall short in describing the change we want to see to get results. They may be suitable as a starting place but not as a route to lasting change.
In our view, the words commonality, equality, and cohesion do a much better job in describing this change, and we’re eager to show you why we believe that. We want to take some time to explore the definitions of these six words: diversity, commonality, equity, equality, inclusion, and cohesion. That way you’ll be able to make up your own mind about which words seem to create the energy and set goals that fit best for you.
We’re more convinced than ever that commonality, equality, and cohesion are the better terms to energize your company, and we’re going to explain why we believe that to be true.

We believe that commonality, equality, and cohesion (CEC) effectively raises the bar for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Having said that, we both want to make sure you know that we are not down on or in any way against the original unifying goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are contrasting the terms to purposefully clarify the potential outcomes of using these terms in the workplace. Which terms are likely to be better to cause the behavioral changes we want to see and drive the performance we want to achieve? Like we’ve said, DEI has served ell as a good starting place. But we’re interested in raising the bar.
We think we can do better. And the way we get started is by choosing better terminology.

DIVERSITY DEFINED
All right, so let’s get into the details. Which word works better, diversity or commonality? We like the word diversity, and we understand the historical reason for the term and the goals associated with it; we just don’t think it’s enough to get us to where we want to go. Merriam-Webster defines diversity as “the condition of having or being composed of differing elements, the state of being diverse.” The dictionary goes on to list some synonyms like variety, assortment, a mixed bag.

Again, we believe that diversity is a good thing. It’s good to have diversity, to have variety, to have an assortment. But isn’t there more to it than that? Is it just about having the right folks at the table? Certainly, that’s the first step, but that can’t be our end goal. Just having a variety of people around the table doesn’t get you near where you want to be. You haven’t done anything yet. You’re just at the starting point.

Put another way, diversity isn’t a high enough goal. Have you ever set a low goal but ended up missing it anyway? In that event, what have you accomplished? Not very much. But what if you missed a much higher goal? In that case, even though you fell short, you still achieved quite a bit. That’s what we’re advocating here. We think diversity by itself is too low of a goal.

Diversity, by definition, is only focused on the static condition
of being different and encouraging the desire to have a wide variety of people working together. This is a good start, but a higher goal is needed to create a true team environment. Do we believe in diversity? Absolutely! We believe in 100% diversity. All of us are different, unique individuals with our own set of traits, beliefs, tendencies, and preferences. Even in identical twins, the differences can be staggering. They may look alike on the outside, but they are two completely different human beings inside—diversity. Certainly, differences are even wider and more pronounced when people come from different cultures and backgrounds. The broader the diversity, the more important and necessary it is to introduce commonality.

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