Race relations in America has been one of the greatest experiments in the world. The current civil unrest is proof how society is still struggling to get a handle on this necessary function for humanity.
Diversity training was a reactionary move to the civil rights movement of the 60's to improve race relations. The primary focus was to increase sensitivity towards and awareness of racial differences. Over fifty years and billions of dollars spent on diversity and inclusion training and America is still pulling for straws to build value beyond skin color.
Culture War
It doesn't take much thought to realize that we are in a culture war and the question for the ages is how did we get here? Systemic racism has evolved into a sophisticated network of institutions ran by people who are struggling to build value beyond skin color. For years, they suppressed marginalized communities, but the culture war is deeper than institutional networks.
We must face the reality that the nation that fails to build a bridge for the future of race relations will be haunted by attitudes and behaviors from the past. Unfortunately, America is still haunted by attitudes and behaviors from the past because of leaders who struggle to build a bridge for the future. Instead of ending social injustices caused by racism, they are too busy propagating liabilities from the past that stoke the fires of racism.
America is so divided by the culture war that some people will read this blog through the lens of politics and miss one of the greatest opportunities in the world to affect change in race relations. They are so blinded by biases from the culture war that they cannot see the disease that is infecting the soul. As a result, bridging the racial divide is not even on their radar.
Differences
For years, differences have been the focus of diversity and inclusion training. Practitioners use differences to bring everyone to the table, but differences without the ingenuity to draw from the deep wells of purpose only increases the risk for fueling the culture war.
The aim has been to build intercultural competence to improve interaction with people who are different. However, when the Purpose IQ™ of everyone at the table is low, interaction will remain at the mercy of differences. Better interaction has become the standard for race relations, but regardless how hard we try to improve interactions through unconscious bias training, differences remains a challenge that widens the racial divide.
New Standard for Race Relations
The new standard for race relations is not so much as what we have that is different as it is what we have in common to help us draw from the deep wells of purpose. Understanding how to draw from the deep wells of purpose is the key to deconstructing biases that divide. If we desire to end the culture war, we must realize that differences fuel the war, but the Common Core™ ends the war.
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Unfortunately, he failed to mention that the Creator’s endowment also included the Common Core™ that expands the capacity for purpose to build value for all people. America might have succeeded in gaining independence, but since the founding of our great country, we have struggled in building interdependence.
Purpose Development Coaching™ is the new standard for race relations. It takes into consideration that the human soul is a sophisticated masterpiece with assets for building value beyond skin color. The new standard for race relations optimizes diversity and inclusion beyond a policy written on a piece of paper. The new standard includes raising the Diversity Purpose IQ™ to help people function as a purposeful whole.
In short, ending the culture war in our country, communities, and organizations will require a Diversity Purpose™ to remove the infection in the soul that fuels biases that divide. Click here to schedule a Discovery Call on how to help your organization raise the bar in race relations.