Diversity Spurs Innovation
“We at company X take great pride in the diversity of our workforce.” I never fully understood the value of such statements used by nearly every major company in America. They always seemed to be something cliché that companies would often use to fit in or avoid getting sued. However, when my group members and I first met with some nursing school students in Leogane to work on a humorous skit in order to educate the local community about cervical cancer prevention, “diversity” and “workforce” began to mean more to me.
My group and I had been working on the script of the skit prior to meeting with the nursing students, and had been struggling to find ways to make it entertaining and humorous. Things started to change once we sat down with the students. Communication was a challenge, but facial expressions and nods told us that the students understood through our translator what we were trying to accomplish. Within a matter of minutes, pens were being used to jot down ideas, high fives were being exchanged, and laughs echoed across the cafeteria that we were seated in. It was exhilarating to know that we were brainstorming ideas with students from a completely different part of the world.