Month: May 2016

During the summer of 2001, I was one of 50 law students chosen to work as a summer associate in the Washington, DC office of an international law firm. Coming from Indiana to the place commonly called “Chocolate City,” I expected to see a diverse class of summer associates. But as I looked around the room, I didn’t see any other African Americans and only a few other law students of color. This lack of diversity concerned me, so I boldly expressed my concerns during a training session. I distinctly remember pointing out the irony of a summer associate class that did not reflect the diversity of Washington, DC.

A marked change is taking place in workplace demographics across the country that has employers...

Minority Owned organizations tend to wait on contracts, go after RFP’s, and then wait for the results. These are barriers that can hold you back.

How often have you listened as someone rationalized his or her mishandling of a business problem by externalizing its source: “I can’t meet my projections because . . .,” “They won’t do business with a company of my size” or “the margins are too low”? Closer scrutiny almost always reveals the source of the problem to be internal, stemming from the persons concept of self – specifically, a state of mind that prevents him or her from trying to break through their “success barrier.” This state of mind is your “comfort zone.”

By 2020, Traditionalist, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y and Generation Z will co-exist in the workforce. Workforces are becoming progressively diverse in age demographics, creating environments that are opulent with experience as well as youthful enthusiasm. If organizations want to remain competitive in the 21st Century, it is imperative that they implement strategies to navigate the age-diversity of the 2020 workforce. Organizations that embrace the concept of the multi-generational workforce can benefit from the diverse range of skills that comes with employing workers in a varying age ranges.

There are  many types of systems of thinking in today’s organizations, and as new generations...