Page 50 - FDI Alliance International Magazine. Winter 2020 Digital Interactive Issue.

STRENGTHENING ECONOMIES WITH IDEAS AND INNOVATION:

MAKING THE CASE FOR DIVERSITY

If there was ever a case study for the benefits of the process. If we were all the same, think about ethic and a belief in education and the notion
diversity and how diversity, equity and inclusion how boring the world would be. These different that education was the key to achieving the
positively impact an economy, it is the United points of reference which comprise who we American Dream and economic advancement.
States itself. Of course, the U.S. is not perfect, are as individuals, create a massive collision They achieved their dream and with the next
but it is moving in the right direction, with an of ideas and innovation, and yes, sometimes generation that followed, their accents were
upswell in societal support for sweeping civil racism and exclusion. lost and the only thing tying them to Ireland
rights reforms and the evaluation of norms when was their name, a few distant relatives, and faint
it comes to being an inclusive society. When my grandparents immigrated to the U.S. bits of Irish culture that were most dominant in
from Ireland, they were part of America’s labor domestic life.
Long known as being one of the world’s most class. My grandfather worked in construction and
prolific sources of ideas and invention, diversity my grandmother was a maid in a household in The Irish story is an important distinction to make
of culture, race, and religion have been the Boston. They brought with them a strong work because people of color and different religions
key ingredients in America’s innovation “secret
sauce”. This democratic experiment of a country
has attracted people from every corner of the
world, all vying to be part of the “American
Dream” and the melting pot that is America.
Immigration, diversity, perspectives, and the
differences we all bring with us, foster a sense
of curiosity, dreams, and drive that has fueled
the U.S. economic engine. Diversity is America’s
secret sauce, and the most important elements
of diversity are the differences themselves. Color,
race, sexual orientation, gender, culture, religion,
foreign born; the things that make people
unique, inspire them to create.

Our varying perspectives, vantage points, and
cultures create the friction, which produces the
energy and spark that pushes us all to achieve
and reach higher. It is not always perfect, and
it is not always pretty, but the friction is part of

50. FDI ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL