Acronym

When I first heard about the planned diversity general session, I have to admit I was a little nervous. There were just so many ways this session could have gone wrong: too preachy, too strident, too politically correct, too trite, too “we are the world.” I had images of someone back at ASAE & The Center frantically trying to wrestle up a gay Asian American who uses a wheelchair.

Fortunately, my skepticism was ill founded. One of the things I appreciated about the session was that all of the panelists conveyed a sense of intellectual honesty about the issue. No one offered ten easy tips to diversity success (even when prodded to do so) and all seemed to imply that this required a serious mindshift for organizations, not a quick programmatic fix. I also thought the eloquent personal stories captured on video added richness to the discussion. These were really smart people discussing a complex, deeply human issue. And while there wasn’t time to do much more than scratch the surface, they did it in a way that I think moved the conversation forward.

- Scott Steen