Dear Corporate America: Are you Ready to Embrace Multilingualism? My Seven-Year-Old Wants to Have Una Palabra (a Word) with you!

During my last holiday break, I learned a leadership lesson from my 7-year-old daughter.?My wife and I escaped the cold from Chicago where we live and work, to spend some time with my wife’s familia in Cozumel, Mexico. Within a day, I was basking in all that I had wished for: sunbathing by the pool, reading a book, drinking a pi?a colada, all while my daughter was splashing around in the kids’ pool.

There I noticed she had already made friends quickly with two sisters from Denver, and the three of them were playing with their toys, speaking in English. On the other side of the pool, playing separately were three other girls from Mexico and, to be expected, they were speaking in Spanish. The two groups observed each other from the distance; language creating an invisible barrier for them.

A few minutes later, however, my daughter moved to the middle of the two groups and began making introductions, doing real-time translations. It didn’t take long before the girls in both groups were all playing Marco Polo together and communicating in Spanglish! My daughter had been able to step into this connecting role because she is fully bilingual. Just like that, the invisible barrier had been completely removed through the power of knowing more than one language. And then I got the inclusive leadership lesson from her: if you really want to include others, you also need to be willing to let go of your game and be open to playing a new game.

Minutes passed and just when I was about to take another sip from my pi?a colada and turn the page in my book, I noticed my daughter was speaking in French to a staff member from the hotel, who happened to be originally from Marseille, France. She could do it because my daughter is currently enrolled in a French language program. The staff member was animated, and her eyes shined as she talked in her native language. Afterward she was so uplifted that she came to me and provided unsolicited tips about the best places to scuba dive on the island plus she gave me a free one-hour kayak pass.

Communicating in other people’s native languages has multiple benefits! Not just for vacation fun and perks but, I believe I heard my girl whisper, in the corporate world —especially in the work I do helping organizations with their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategies.

Language matters: The power of speaking more than one language?

It is estimated that the number of bilingual speakers around the world (43%) already outnumber monolingual speakers (40%), with a further 17% being multilingual. And those numbers are projected to increase even more with remote working and climate/crisis-related migration.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 21.6% of people in the U.S. speak a language other than English at home. That’s about 1 in every 5 adults, with Spanish as the most popular spoken language, estimated around 42 million people. Despite the fact that the number of people who spoke a language other than English at home nearly tripled since 1980, the U.S. is lagging significantly behind other countries and regions as it relates to bilingualism: compare U.S.' 22 percent to Germany’s 67%, the European Union 56%, or even the 36% of UK adults, just to pick a few regions/countries.

In addition to those rising global trends of multilingualism, growing research supports the benefits of speaking more than one language: being able to better manage paradoxes, multitask, and empathize with others.?This is why support for programs that help children master two or more languages has grown significantly in the U.S. in recent years. A growing number of parents see biliteracy and/or multilingualism as a crucial skill that will open doors for their children —as important as being proficient in math, science, and reading.?

Building cultures of inclusion and belonging with authenticity

A good friend of mine, who works as a Category Development Leader in an iconic consumer goods multinational company, recently called me to ask for advice around inclusion and belonging.

He was selected to be part of a panel of leaders in the organization to share their experiences and perspectives. As a Latino growing up in Puerto Rico, he has worked his way up in different multinationals, having a wide variety of experiences in best-in-class consumer goods companies in the U.S.

He called me with a dilemma: his company was asking for his experience to showcase the work they are doing on diversity, inclusion, and belonging.

They have been nice to me overall, and I feel included… I don’t want this to be interpreted the wrong way... but if I’m talking about my experience of belonging, I need to be authentic. I need to say that I have been struggling with some headwinds here, because I do things in a different way and I'm not like them. So, in general I feel included, but I’m different from their "success profile", and sometimes I wonder if I fit in, if I’m really valued for the different ideas and experiences that I bring.

He explained to me that his company normally doesn’t have external hires at higher levels: the culture of the organization is to hire young talent and nurture them for leadership positions, to the point that they even have developed their own corporate lingo, which is very different from any other organizations he worked for in the past.

I had to learn their organizational language and culture very quickly, and every day I must translate everything into the way they speak and the way they do things if I want them to understand me and take me seriously.

My friend has been able to adapt and learn their corporate language quickly because he is trilingual in Spanish, English and Portuguese.

However, when I want to show them that this is not the way it is done in other companies or places, that there might be a better or more efficient way, I face criticism. Most people here don’t even want to learn that there are other ways.?

My friend is putting his finger in a very important issue: despite individual, organizational, and societal benefits, some leaders in many companies (not only in the U.S.) are still skeptical about valuing different languages and different ways of working, and many fail to see those as assets to the organization.

In fact, research suggests many employers exhibit negative biases toward some accents and even some hiring managers may discriminate against non-native speakers to the point that they may make it harder for those with accents to get a job since they might be perceived as less intelligent and trustworthy.

This must stop. Not only is it morally wrong and discriminatory: it’s simply bad for business. Companies need to start valuing those who speak different languages more. In an age dominated by global connectivity, the value of multilingualism as an asset has only intensified. Speaking more than one language in the workplace can be a superpower to build cultures of inclusion and belonging with authenticity, a significant advantage in today’s borderless world and a vital skill in the workplace and marketplace.

The bottom line: speaking more than one language can boost economic growth

The ability to communicate in more than one language can accelerate trust and reduce misunderstandings in critical negotiation and deals, such as M&As or even post-merger integration. Also communicating with new clients or employees in their native language is one of the first steps in developing relationships and trust, something that can help companies grow in emerging markets, create more engagement, innovate, and capture new customers.

If you are a monolingual English speaker —even though English is the prevalent business language around the world— you can enhance your team’s performance through a more diverse multilingual team. Consider the following keys to success:

• Be willing to change your game: recognize that “my way is not the only way”. Even if you don’t learn another language, you can at least demonstrate curiosity and try to learn a few new words, explore, and learn different concepts that are important to those who are not native English speakers.
• Focus on the positive: Instead of focusing on what non-native English speakers are getting wrong in your native language, put your focus on what benefits they are offering the team.
• Elevate and leverage the superpowers of those who speak more than one language: Don’t take multilingualism for granted. See it as a premium expertise deserving of hot skill premium in pay.

Suena bien? ?