Category Archives: About Us

About the American Diversity Report

Advisors, Artists, Authors A-H

Diversity and Speech No. 38: Conversations at The Cheech – by Carlos Cortés

I’m no artist.  Never have been.  I’ve always enjoyed viewing art, but I can’t draw or paint a lick.  I even finished at the bottom of last December’s family cookie decorating contest.

Thankfully, the Riverside (California) Art Museum didn’t know about my failings when it asked me to become the consulting humanist for its new venture, the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, better known as The Cheech.   I stepped into a brand new world.   Here’s what happened.

Continue reading Diversity and Speech No. 38: Conversations at The Cheech – by Carlos Cortés →

Authors I-Q, Teams & Leaders

Why Diversity Improves Project Management – by Michelle LaBrosse

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The human capacity for self-delusion is nearly bottomless. We think we’re smarter than we are, more capable than we are and tougher than we are. For example, in one survey, 9% of men actually believed they could win a fight against an elephant!

That unwarranted confidence certainly extends to project management. According to a Project Management Institute survey, 85% of executive leaders said they believe their organizations are effective in delivering projects to achieve strategic results.

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Advisors

Scared – by Terry Howard

I left the store and headed to my bright red car. About ten feet away, I tapped the silver button on my key to open the door. Humm, it didn’t open.   

So, I put my bag on the ground and pushed the key into the door to open it manually. Again, nothing.

Befuddled, when I looked away thinking about my options, (AAA, calling wife) I noticed a red car, same color as mine, parked next to me.
Oh, oh!

Continue reading Scared – by Terry Howard →

Advisors, Social Issues

Stereotype and Character Assassination – by Julia Wai-Yin So

Having worked in the US for the last 40 some years, I was once a target of character assassination (CA). That experience prompted me to write this article to raise awareness that being a member of a minoritized group can put us at an additional risk of being targeted. This article explores the association between stereotype and character assassination.

Gordon Allport’s The Nature of Prejudice defines stereotype as an exaggerated belief associated with a category (i.e. a social group). Whether positive or negative, it is when one applies the group characteristics to a member of the group while ignoring the uniqueness of the specific member.  This article focuses on the use of negative stereotype of a social group to attack the character of a member of the same group. Many times, this baseless accusation can have serious negative consequences on the victim, especially when it is turned into an act of CA. 

Continue reading Stereotype and Character Assassination – by Julia Wai-Yin So →

Advisors, Authors A-H, Education, Social Issues

Diversity and Speech No. 37: Building a More Inclusive Democracy – by Carlos E. Cortés, Joseph Kahne

Carlos:  Joe, from the first time we had lunch together, I’ve been struck by one thing: like me, you really believe that you can make the world a better place.   Am I right?

Joe: I plead guilty to that one. 

Carlos: Maybe that’s one reason we hit it off so well from the beginning.  But it’s one thing to believe we can make a difference and another thing to actually make a difference.  

Joe: Agreed.  

Continue reading Diversity and Speech No. 37: Building a More Inclusive Democracy – by Carlos E. Cortés, Joseph Kahne →

DL Opinion columns, Editor-in-Chief

Child labor making a come back – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press   

Have we time-traveled back a century when child labor was a thing? That’s what I first thought when I heard that a food sanitation company was being sued for illegally employing over 100 children ages 13 – 17. The kids cleaned razor-sharp saws with caustic chemicals while working overnight shifts at 13 meat processing facilities in eight states including Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee and Texas.

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Advisors, Levine articles, Of Women

ADR Advisors: Influential Women in our Lives and Work

 ADR Advisors share women who inspire

When asked about the women who inspire them, our ADR Advisors share a range of iconic women and personal inspirations.  Some of the Advisors have chosen personal mentors, others have opted for historic figures and some chose both. My own choice is Margaret Mead, (see quote above) a pioneer in cultural anthropology also known for her research on sexual conventions in Western society.

Reading about the various influencers, I have no doubt that you’ll begin to generate a list of women who shaped your own lives.  Feel free to share in the Comments!

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Advisors, Of Women

Two Iconic Women Who Inspire Me – by Dr. Deborah Ashton

As a Black woman, whose family moved up from the Chicago slums to ‘the projects’, I was navigating the intersectionality of race, gender, and poverty in the USA. A historical iconic woman that inspired me would be Harriet Tubman, born a slave. I admire her because not only did she believe in human dignity and rights, but she also acted on her beliefs and principles. 

Harriet Tubman understood that she and the others who were enslaved were human beings and not chattel. I had the honor to visit the Harriet Tubman House in Auburn, NY. Her modest home gives witness to her tremendous courage. She had seizures and narcolepsy, i.e., traumatic brain injury, from being hit in the head when an overseer threw a heavy metal weight at a slave.  Harriet Tubman could be recognized during Women’s History Month, Disability Pride and Heritage Month and Black History Month. 

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Advisors

Stay in the race! – by Leslie Nelson and Terry Howard

Psst, readers, please read my quote and let it sink in before we start this narrative:

“One of the most difficult challenges in having a disability, or being of a certain age, race, gender, religion, etc., is that too often people see it and not you!”

Admit it or not, we all hold unconscious biases, including yours truly. We’re hard-wired that way. However, among the perspective altering vicissitudes in life are those instances that unearth our unhidden biases sometimes – correction, most of the time – to our discomfort.

Continue reading Stay in the race! – by Leslie Nelson and Terry Howard →

Academic Articles, Authors A-H, Of Women, Social Issues

Where Are the Women’s Voices? – by Sheryl Axelrod

Aside

legal The Under-Representation of Women at the Highest Levels of the Legal Profession 

The extent of gender diversity at the highest levels of the legal profession, is dismal.  

I. BY THE NUMBERS: AT THE UPPER ECHELONS OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION, WHITE WOMEN ARE OUTNUMBERED BY MEN BY A FACTOR OF ALMOST AT LEAST 2 TO 1, AND THERE ARE NEARLY NO WOMEN OF COLOR AND LGBT+ WOMEN
 Continue reading Where Are the Women’s Voices? – by Sheryl Axelrod →