The Olympics Illustrate the Power of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
By Mauricio Velasquez, EOP Co-Chair, President of Diversity Training Group
August 8, 2024
At EOP our mission goes hand in hand with DEI.
The OLYMPICS (I can’t stop watching) is the best success story, the best “PROOF” for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts in today’s ever increasingly complicated workplace and marketplace. What happens when you ATTRACT ALL TALENT (diverse) and you welcome them and help them succeed, ensure their success (INCLUSION) and remove any barriers to their recruitment, selection, and development (MORE INCLUSION) you get the results we are witnessing every day in the Olympics in France. This is a true meritocracy.
A “DEI hire” is an organization, an employer that acknowledges, that realizes that “hiring friends and family or whom you know” - homogeneous hiring - will NOT GET YOU the BEST TALENT. Whom you know does not mean they are even qualified. You are just comfortable with this hire. Comfort is not a predictor of success and actually might be a predictor of failure.
BEST comes in many different shapes and sizes (diverse ways). DEI hiring questions, addresses past homogenous hiring - cronyism, nepotism, favoritism, and “In-group privilege” and says we can do much better and hire more broadly. Not to mention the creativity and innovation unleashed with DEI hiring.
A DEI HIRE is the BEST HIRE because their employer is truly “widening the recruitment net, turning over every stone to find the best talent.” USA has done this regularly and consistenly in our Olympic talent development efforts for as long as I have been watching.
USA has the best talent because we are a diverse country attracting the best, most hearty (Darwinian) immigrants from all over the world. Including my parents. So the next time you hear “DEI Hire” know that this hire is the best from “all walks of life” and not just “best I know” from your In-group.
Enough with people associating inferiority or “less than” to DEI. DEI is the BEST PERIOD.
DEI Proud!!! Go USA!!!!
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