Importance of Diversity
Importance of Diversity (1:26)
“Different people come from different perspectives and different way of thinking and solving problems also from their culture, from their ethnic background, from who they are. And that diversity brings different ways of how people solve problems, and that’s what creates an incredibly functioning team.”
Role models in order of appearance: Paula Harris, Daisy Galeana, Susan Nicholas, M.D., Shacara Johnson, and Celia Dominguez, Ph.D.
1) The video points out some of the ways that people are diverse. Culture is one example of diversity. The values and traditions you’re raised with are part of your culture. What other examples of diversity does the video discuss?
2) A role model in the video explains the importance of diversity in the workplace. Having employees who speak more than one language can help companies be more profitable or make more money. How do you think speaking more than one language might help you in a future career? Why do you think that?
3) Speakers in the video use these words and phrases: bilingual, culture, ethnic background, perspectives, upbringing, valuable, world economy. Which of these words or phrases do you know? Choose one and use it in a sentence that helps explain diversity.
4) A role model in the video explains why it is helpful for teams to be made up of people who have different ways of thinking and solving problems. Think about being part of a team—such as with a group project for school. Are differences more valuable than similarities? Why do you think that?
5) Listeners learn in the video that it’s important to be open to others, no matter “what their background, what language they speak, what they may look like, or what gender they may be.” Based on this statement, is diversity only about differences you can see? Why do you think that?
6) The video mentions the “world economy.” This is the way companies produce, buy, and sell things in different countries around the world. Imagine this: You have been hired by a company that makes robots. These robots perform human tasks like cleaning floors. Your job is to help the company solve a problem: It wants to sell more robots in other countries. How would you explain to your boss that increasing diversity in the company can help?
One of the most valuable things to any group is diversity. Different people think in different ways with their own kind of what they come to the table with: their own upbringing, their own education, their own culture.
We live in a world economy. So if you have people that are bilingual, if you send somebody like me to speak Spanish to go and make business in Mexico or anywhere in Latin America, I can speak their language. I can sell more engines over there than somebody that doesn’t speak their language. It has proven that the more diverse the company is in this today’s world economy, it becomes more profitable.
Any industry that’s failed to diversify particularly with their people or their talent, tends to fall behind competitors that do diversify.
Be more diligent about making sure that we’re open to other individuals, regardless of their backgrounds or what language they may speak or what they may look like and/or what gender they may be.
Different people come from different perspectives and different way of thinking and solving problems also from their culture, from their ethnic background, from who they are. And that diversity brings different ways of how people solve problems, and that’s what creates an incredibly functioning team.
Independent Learning Guide: This all-purpose guide can be used by educators, parents, and mentors to jumpstart a lively discussion about the importance of diversity.
How can being multilingual help you prepare for a great career? The role models in this video can help you learn the value of diverse languages and other differences we all have.
Classroom Lesson Plan: This step-by-step lesson plan is available to guide a more in-depth “before, during, and after” learning experience when viewing the video with students. This lesson plan is also suitable for use in after-school programs and other educational settings.
Use Empowerment Activities as a fun way to reinforce the video topic and build community with your students.
Fun Page Activity: Learning about other languages helps people live and work together. Get a head start by learning to say “Hello” in 10 languages!
Teacher Tip Sheet: 15 examples of how to say hello in different countries and languages. Use this with the Importance of Diversity Fun Page Activity.