Category Archives: About Us

About the American Diversity Report

Authors I-Q, Of Women, Teams & Leaders

A Mystic Revisits her Leadership Style – by Sharon Riegie Maynard

Having grown up in the 50’s, the female leadership style that I absorbed through osmosis was pretty dated. In fact, I am working hard to think of a time when “leadership” and “female” were together in one sentence.  Accepting assignments, following directions, obedience, and harnessing personal thinking were more the order for women. Ironing, baking, dinner on the table, floor waxed while sewing family clothes filled the hours of every day. These activities indicated a women’s value.

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Authors A-H, Teams & Leaders

Key Ways to Recharge Diversity – by Tasnim McCormick Benhalim and Terry Howard

As we connect with diversity thought leaders and listen to the perspectives of employees at all levels, we’re reminded that the decades-long diversity and inclusion journey has reached a critical point. Important progress has been made, but major gaps remain across communities and workplaces.

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Authors A-H, Teams & Leaders

Ten Ways to Build a Flourishing Culture Around Your Values – By Scott Deming

Culture can­not flourish if individuals do not sustain it. Whether it’s a beautiful or horrific culture, it does not exist without one individual after another choosing to support it. In other words, if one person after another shifts away from a set of practices and beliefs that are the core of any culture, that culture eventually ceases to exist. This doesn’t mean there is no society or company, but that surely the culture has vanished.

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Authors R-Z, Teams & Leaders

Kiss of Death: Breaking Customer or Team Trust – By Sheri Staak

Honesty takes courage, consistency, and confidence. Great leaders don’t need to be perfect, but they need to possess a self-assuredness and fearlessness at all times that enable them to act truthfully, acknowledge their shortcomings, and admit their mistakes. Only then can they garner the respect of their team members and, by way of example, teach them to conduct themselves with the same level of integrity. Without a steady moral compass and a strong ethical backbone, it’s impossible to inspire, motivate, and encourage best practices in others. What I like to call “WOW leaders” do what’s right, not what they can get away with.

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Authors I-Q, Holocaust, Social Issues

Please Remember the Holocaust – by Gene Klein (with Jill Klein)

It has been 70 years since I was liberated from a Nazi concentration camp. I was just a teenager then; I’m 87 now. Holocaust Remembrance Day is April 15th, and I have been thinking about what I want you and your loved ones to remember about the Holocaust. I speak frequently about my experiences, and I am able to remind people about what happened, provide them with vivid descriptions, and answer their questions. But I am among the last of the survivors, and one day—sooner than I would like to think—we will all be gone.

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Levine articles, Social Issues, USA Culture

Can Immigrants and Minorities Work Together? – by Deborah Levine

Dr. Fiona Citkin urges minorities and immigrants to work together to bring meaningful, positive change in the U.S. in her Huffington Post article, “Immigrants and Minorities of America, Unite!” Yes, there are many benefits to bringing minorities and immigrants together, but there are also numerous pushes & pulls involved in uniting them, in establishing their local-global connection. I have long maintained that “Harmonize NOT Homogenize” is key to our working together, but today’s highly emotional environment makes even this approach difficult.

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Around the world, Authors I-Q, Holocaust, Religious Diversity Kit, Social Issues

Holocaust Ethical Implications – by John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, Ph.D.

The academic study of ethics, in light of the experience of the Holocaust, has witnessed rapid development in the last decade. In addition to research into ethical decision making during the Holocaust itself in such volumes as Rab Bennett’s Under the Shadow of the Swastika: The Moral Dilemmas of Resistance and Collaboration in Hitler’s Europe, more general reflections on the significance of the Holocaust for contemporary ethics have come to the fore from Jewish and Christian scholars alike. There have also been voices such as Herbert Hirsch who have questioned whether we can learn anything from the Holocaust in terms of the moral challenge facing us today given the sui generis nature of that event as well as the immense complexity of a modern, global society.

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Artists, Levine articles, Music, theater, TV, dance, Race & Ethnicity

How Pow Wow Leaders Inspired – by Deborah Levine

SpiritBearWhen regional Native Americans convene in Chattanooga’s First Tennessee Pavilion, you’ll find me there, too. This year, the gathering seemed larger and more energetic than ever. I come to admire the colorful dress, hear the drum circle, and watch the dancing. The booths full of Native American arts and crafts are irresistible and my drawers are full of jewelry purchased there. I also come for the honor guard, a promenade of Native American veterans, police, firemen, and war mothers.

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Authors I-Q, Gender, Teams & Leaders

Confronting Gender Inequity – by Dr. Joseph Nwoye

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Gender inequity and prejudice usually stems from bias a person forms based on experience. Every so often, we hear, observe, or read about issues associated with gender prejudice, and the extent that it humiliates not only the victims, but also their beloved ones. The victims are tired and are articulating their frustration and sense of oppression in many ways. They are crying out loud and saying, “We are no longer able to tolerate inequity just because we are females.” Their demand for equality and social justice calls for public and private actions to finally address this perennial problem. To that, I offer two strategies – policies and training initiative that will reduce and ultimately eradicate gender inequality in our society.

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Authors A-H, Education, Women in STEM

The Vision of an International Woman in STEM Education – by Dr. Neslihan Alp

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I was born in Istanbul, Turkey. My father was a retired Turkish naval officer and I grew up on naval bases. My family sacrificed to educate me and my brother who is a medical doctor. Without an education, you can’t do anything. In Turkey, they kill each other to get a college degree. I attended elementary school early and learned to read early, a rarity in Turkey. These were French schools, and I spoke French before I spoke English.

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