Page 348 - leadership-experience-2008

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Check either NO or Yes for each question below. 9. Your conversations make use of
phrases like “you people” or “our
No Yes
kind.” _______ _______
1. What you notice first about people
around you are the characteristics 10. You avoid talking about cul-
that make them different from you. _______ _______ tural differences when dealing
with people different from you
2. You make it a general rule never
because you’re afraid of saying
to discuss the subjects of race,
the wrong thing. _______ _______
ethnicity, politics, age, religion,
11. When complimenting someone
gender, and sexuality when you
from a different background,
are at work. _______ _______
you might tell them, “You are
3. When others make bigoted remarks
nothing like the others” or
or jokes, you either laugh or say
“I really don’t think of you
nothing because you don’t want to
as a ______.” _______ _______
seem sensitive or self-righteous. _______ _______
12. There are people in your
4. When you see publications that are
organization whom you like and
targeted at an ethnic, gender, or
respect but whom you would
religious group that you do not rep-
feel uncomfortable introducing
resent, you usually ignore them. _______ _______
to your family or close friends. _______ _______
5. When you look for a mentor or
protégé, you pick someone like
Scoring and Interpretation
yourself. _______ _______
Give yourself five points for each “yes” answer. The
6. If someone tells you about a appropriate score for today’s world is “0.” However,
cultural difference that you have if you scored less than 20, you’re probably making a
never heard of, you don’t ask good attempt to eliminate personal passive bias. A
questions about it. _______ _______ score of 20 to 40 means you need to watch it—you
7. You are affiliated with organizations reveal passive bias that is inappropriate in organizations
that practice subtle discrimination, and society. If you scored more than 40, your level of
but you say nothing because you bias could get you into trouble. You should definitely
didn’t create the rules. _______ _______ consider ways to become more diversity-aware and
8. Before you hire someone for a culturally sensitive.
position, you have a vague picture Source: Adapted from Lawrence Otis Graham, Proversity: Getting
in mind of what the ideal candi- Past Face Values and Finding the Soul of People (New York: John
Wiley & Sons, 1997). Used with permission of Lawrence Otis
date would look like. _______ _______ Graham.

now run by African-American Stanley O’Neal, Capel and other African-American
brokers have charged in a race-discrimination suit that the company system-
atically limits opportunities for African-Americans to succeed and maintains a
work environment where only whites are comfortable. Other minority groups
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may struggle with biculturalism as well. They find themselves striving to adopt

behaviors and attitudes that will help them be successful in the white-dominated
corporate world while at the same time maintaining their ties to their racial or
ethnic community and culture. Many minorities feel they have a chance for career
advancement only by becoming bicultural or abandoning their native cultures
altogether.

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