Organizations have only small windows to benefit from monoculture
Organizations have only small windows to benefit from monoculture
Monoculture isn’t desired, but it meets a need and has its benefits . . . until it doesn’t.
Here are two ideas from my book, Reconstructing Inclusion: Making DEI Accessible, Actionable, and Sustainable and other texts I leaned on in writing it. In addition, I’ve included one quote, a book recommendation, and a video or article that has inspired or influenced me and hopefully will resonate with you, too. (That’s ✌🏿+ 💡📚➕).
Pages 30-33
"Who doesn’t love a ripe, sweet, creamy banana? Worldwide banana crops are a $12 billion industry, and in some countries, bananas account for up to 27 percent of calorie consumption. Despite the breadth, nutritional benefits, and economic need for sustaining banana crops, they are currently at risk due to monoculture.
For a banana to travel to Europe, it has to be shipped from Africa or Asia (and in some cases Australia). To do so, it must be picked when it is completely green, much greener than what we call “green” when we purchase them so that it can ripen in our kitchens. Bananas require transport at a temperature that doesn’t require massive amounts of costly refrigeration. They have to be edible and tasty enough; that is, they cannot have seeds (or at least not be seeded when consumed and contain little pulp). When you combine all these variables, the Cavendish becomes the only variety that consistently meets the criteria. Therefore, companies that produce bananas for export have thrived on monoculture. Monoculture isn’t desired, but it meets a need and has its benefits . . . until it doesn’t.
Organizations can unintentionally evolve as monocultures, too. Organizational monocultures can take the form of fixed ways and traditions that people believe the organization must continue. Organizational monocultures cultivate what a small group of influential individuals has determined to constitute success. They articulate and incentivize what needs to be done, and deviations generally have negative consequences. Most modern organizations would shun this type of setup. Yet, it is likely that somewhere in any organization of more than a hundred people [but could happen with fewer people], a monocultural orientation is forming.
Cultivating a monoculture will eventually always negatively impact the bottom line. Your best people will leave because they don’t see space being created for various employees and their respective perspectives. Others, upon getting word of a culture where a certain phenotype (i.e., including and beyond physical appearances) predominates, will lose affinity for your company. As a result, even potential talent will opt out of considering employment with your firm.
Like bananas, organizations have only small windows to benefit from monoculture. Those that recognize that the antidote is diversity (cognitive and identity) will create an organizational culture where people seek out and have cultivated a willingness to be influenced by their neighbors. Those who don’t will likely end up like the Gros Michel banana crops of the 1950s. Extinct."
Photo by Ian Talmacs on Unsplash
Page 4-5
"In 2019, after spending more than forty-eight years living and working in the United States, I started a new journey. I now live primarily outside of the US. Of course, my identity is plural, but as I’ve moved through the world, central to who I’ve considered myself to be has been my identity as a Black man, Black brother, Black son, Black leader, Black epidemiologist, and Black thinker. These constructs are choices and ones that I would make again given the same circumstances, even with the insight I’ve gained about my Blackness through living abroad.
When I spent time in Brazil, I recognized that I was a “gringo” and that most locals in my neighborhood thought of me as “O Americano” (the American). Nonetheless, seeing the dynamics of social economics and hearing stories of the struggles of darker-skinned Brazilians to elevate, I felt as Black as always.
I might now describe myself a bit differently [and this is often changing as identity does]: as [a spiritualist] born into a Christian family, native of Topeka, Kansas; height 6’3” (192cm), weight 235 pounds (107kg), vegetarian, Republican-raised, married to a Spanish woman (whose primary language is French), [a father and step-father], and lives in Switzerland [in a household where four languages are spoken]—who happens to be Black. In fact, the longer I live in Europe, the less my Blackness is on my mind.
For the first time in my life, I feel more American than Black."
💡A Quote
It's a form of human love to accept our complicated, messy humanity and not run away from it.
—Martha Nussbaum, Philosopher & Professor, University of Chicago
📚A Book
Photo Credit: Amazon.com
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
➕A Video
Why Do Societies Collapse? (a TedTalk by Jared Diamond)
A couple of excerpts from the talk (starting around 11:15):
“And so I've been trying to develop a hierarchical set of considerations about why societies fail to solve their problems -- why they fail to perceive the problems or, if they perceive them, why they fail to tackle them. Or, if they tackle them, why do they fail to succeed in solving them?
I'll just mention two generalizations in this area. One blueprint for trouble, making collapse likely, is where there is a conflict of interest between the short-term interest of the decision-making elites and the long-term interest of the society as a whole, especially if the elites are able to insulate themselves from the consequences of their actions. Where what's good in the short run for the elite is bad for the society as a whole, there's a real risk of the elite doing things that would bring the society down in the long run.”
“And the other generalization that I want to mention is that it's particularly hard for a society to make quote-unquote good decisions when there is a conflict involving strongly held values that are good in many circumstances but are poor in other circumstances.”
I hope this was helpful. . . Make it a great day! ✌🏿