Personal Networking

Be Intentional About Diversity

With everything going on in the world today, we thought it would be a good time to take a step back and talk about diversity, and more specifically, about diversifying your business network. Developing a truly diverse network is not only the right thing to do, it is also the smart thing to do. Because let’s be honest, different people bring different things to the table in terms of who they know and how they might be able to refer or otherwise assist your business.

As we said in our book, Networking Like a Pro, networks are, by nature, clumpy. Human beings have a tendency to congregate and surround ourselves with people who are similar to us, whether by race, gender, religion or professional status. Unfortunately, this approach to networking has an unintended consequence — namely, that we tend to form clusters.  This is why it is so incredibly important to be intentional about the way we develop our personal network. A diverse personal network enables you to increase the possibility of including connectors. These are people who cross over in some way between two or more groups of people. The best way to increase the number of possible connections in your network is to intentionally develop a diverse, heterogeneous network that has connections to other clusters of people.

Related: The Questions You’ll Be Asked in a Tech / IT Interview (+ Answers)

If you go with the premise that relationships are the currency of today’s modern business person, then it stands to reason that having an ethnically diverse business network comprised of people who look different than you actually is the next logical step when it comes to building a thriving referral-based business.

But for a lot of people, especially those in the majority, the question becomes: How,  as a white businessman (or woman), can I diversify my network and get to know more business people in the African American, Asian or even Latino communities? 

That’s a great question and one that, at first glance, can seem daunting to say the least. But as with most seemingly complicated questions, the answer is quite simple: Be more intentional about it.

In other words, as a member of any ethnic group, the tendency is to spend time around more people like yourself.  So whatever ethnicity I am, I’m more likely to have friends and business contacts of that ethnicity. And while that’s understandable, we feel that entrepreneurs who diversify their networks — based on ethnicity, gender and a host of other factors — are actually better positioned to be more successful.

As a matter of fact, McKinsey & Company did a report in 2015 (“Diversity Matters”), which determined that companies having a high racial and ethnic diversity are actually 35 percent more likely to perform above their industry’s national median return.

So the question becomes: What can we do to branch out and overcome the gravitational pull we all feel towards spending time around people who look like us? How can we, instead, become more intentional in our actions when it comes to actually meeting and engaging others in different communities?

Another great question, and we have some thoughts....

It is important to note that there is a subtle but crucial difference between inclusivity and diversity. You may have an organization where the members feel like it is very inclusive, but when you look at it from the outside, does it truly look diverse? If not, you need to be more intentional about being inclusive to create diversity. Diversity is a fact; inclusiveness is a choice. Intentionally acting in an inclusive manner is what creates diversity.

Don’t beat yourself up if you’re not there yet. Maybe you haven’t done these things as well as you could have. But today is the day to start. It’s never too late to do the right thing.

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