Over this past year, I’ve had heartfelt conversations with friends and family. Those conversations have helped me crystallize three of the biggest mistakes that human beings make when we turn loving relationships into competitions about who’s right and wrong. I’ve written a poem about this. It doesn’t rhyme, but I hope it makes you think…
This is the third installment of a special series that I’ve contributed to “Modern Mentor,” a podcast that explores what helps and hinders success in the workplace. If you’ve read the first and second installments, you know the context of this series: I’m handed a dilemma about how to do diversity without division. I’m invited…
Welcome to the second installment of my series for “Modern Mentor,” a podcast that explores what helps and hinders success in the workplace. In this post, I’ll explain why we should avoid the kind of diversity that slices and dices individuals into bite-sized identities, as if human beings are morsels meant to be easily digested.…
“Modern Mentor,” a podcast that explores what helps and hinders success in the workplace, invited me to address several dilemmas that professionals experience when trying to practice diversity without being divisive. The catch? I’d have to address each dilemma in less than 90 seconds. After all, professionals are busier than ever! My reply? Let’s get…
In most of the world today, organized religion is being rejected. More and more young people are flipping the bird to theological authority, even in Muslim countries! At the same time, those who abuse political power appear to be filling the void. From the far Left to the far Right, we’re witnessing blind faith in…
In America’s transactional culture, workplace diversity often amounts to slapping labels on individuals. Professionals wind up being packaged like products. They’re crammed into prefabricated molds (“Black woman,” for example) and get showcased to make the company look cutting-edge. Emphasize look. Funny how the diversity hires tend to be excluded from meetings of decision-makers but are…
Let’s face it: For all our gushing about diversity, many advocates of it hold a hefty slice of America in contempt. We assume that Republicans despise difference, that Trump voters are lodged in a backward past, and that they plan to impose it on our future. But we scorn “them” at our peril. Because upon…
Imagine that millions of people of one faith, one heritage, and one community are being targeted by their government. Imagine that these people are being rounded up by the hundreds of thousands and forced into so-called “re-education camps,” where they face brainwashing, torture, neglect, and in some cases death. Imagine that they are slowly being…
Last year, an organization that promotes dialogue invited two authors to hold a “respectful exchange” about racism. I was one of them. The other was Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility. I accepted the invitation. DiAngelo declined. And that was before she went viral. White Fragility has become a bible for diversity advocates in institutional…
How do you avoid being manipulated — whether it’s by family, friends, bosses, politicians, or media pundits? You must always remember: If you don’t have a vision for your life, someone else will have an agenda for it. I taught this lesson in my first Moral Courage class years ago, and it applies even more…