Diversity Can Make You Smarter

The concept of diversity has been a hot topic recently in the media. In this past month alone we have seen discussions (debates? arguments?) about immigration, gender equality and a ruling from the high court on gay marriage.

Even Coca-Cola is getting involved using its reputation to combat prejudice. In the Middle East, during Ramadan, Coke is removing its name from their cans leaving only the silver stripe and the words, “Labels are for cans not people”.

There are a lot of reasons to support diversity on the grounds of treating everyone fairly, everyone having intrinsic value, brotherly kindness and love. But, could there be other, more practical reasons to value diversity?

Five years ago our family moved from Gilbert, AZ, a town just outside of Phoenix of about 200,000, to San Jose, CA, America’s 10^th largest city. Aside from having “more” people, this city has “different” people. We moved from an area that is 90% white/Caucasian, to an area where Caucasian isn’t the majority. And it has been great!!

At the time of our move, my oldest daughter was just entering kindergarten. Her first day of class she was excited to meet new friends, Indians, Chinese Americans, Hispanics, a couple of boys who just moved from Russia (and spoke zero English) etc. For her first year of school, she walked home nearly every day with these 2 young Russian immigrants and watched (and helped) as they learned English. She also experienced their culture and taught me a thing or two.

Our kids are growing up racially colorblind and that is important.

Just this past week my other daughter was talking about the new Annie movie starring Quvenzhané Wallis. She said, “I want to see the new Annie with the brown hair”. Curious, I asked her what the difference between the “new” Annie and the “old” Annie is. Her reply, “hair color”. Even baited with a question like that, a seven-year-old, only sees a difference in hair. I smiled, as I am continually impressed with young people today.

But aside from seeing everyone as equal and important contributing members of a larger society, can diversity make you smarter? I absolutely say “yes”! Here are 3 reasons why I think diversity can affect intelligence:

1. Exposure to new ideas and ways of thinking. As we interact with different cultures and beliefs we are exposed to news ways to look at the problems we are trying to solve. A variety of stimuli causes your brain to react differently creating new thoughts and seeing solutions in different ways.
2. Diversity creates friction- but this is a good thing. Studies have been conducted for over 50 years on group cohesiveness and productivity. Studies have revealed both benefits and downsides of diverse teams on performance, but one benefit is that groups with a little friction tend to focus more on objective data and less on subjective opinions… just the facts ma’am. Or as Stephen Covey once said, “strength lies in differences, not similarities”.
3. Diversity prepares us for the future. It is pretty clear that with the expanding accessibility of the Internet, the ease of travel and the increasingly mobile nature of society that the earth is flattening. Today we experience and are exposed to more cultures than our parents were and our kids will experience a more multicultural world than we do. Exposure, respect and interaction with a diverse group of friends, coworkers and colleagues now prepares our kids for the world as it will be.

There have been may great things about our move to San Jose, but one of the most important has been the ease and opportunity to learn and grow with other cultures. Diversity can make you smarter; indeed it has made all of us smarter.

Question: What can you do to expose your family to more diversity of culture? Leave your comments below or by clicking here.

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