Nomen Est Omen – Ending Racism by Getting Rid of Stereotypes

About 10,000 years ago, if you would have seen me then, and assuming that you were not part of my hunter-gatherer group (typical group size at that time was 20-50 members), you would have seen only two options: running away or trying to kill me.

We came a long way since.

Fast-forward to 1998. I’m in a pub in Cincinnati, USA and Jeff, a younger American asks me: “Where are you from?” With a slight hesitation I respond: “Germany”. Jeff’s instant reaction: “Oh, Germany? So, you’re like Hitler?”

2016 in a taxi in Singapore. The taxi driver asks me: “Sir, which country are you from?” “Germany”, I respond. “Germany?! Very good! Football number one! Karl-Heinz Rummenigge!” I felt a strange mix of pride and unease. On further reflection, the pride went away because I was wondering what have I contributed to football in Germany or what is my relationship with former football star Karl-Heinz Rummenigge? Nothing and none!

2020 in the US and everywhere else in the world. Even though we have come a long way since we were hunter-gatherers, racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, gender oppression, etc. are still alive and well, unfortunately. 

Groupness & Discrimination

It got me thinking, what is at the heart of these mindsets and resulting behaviors and I remembered my first book the Groupness Factor that got published in 2005. Groupness can be defined as ‘sense of belonging to a group’. In my research at the time, I found that there were three factors contributing to groupness: a) Direction, b) Differentiation and c) Identity, with Differentiation being the most powerful one in most cases. As hunter-gatherers, the degree of groupness was often a decisive factor whether the group was likely to survive. The stronger the groupness, the more likely they would survive. This was often leading to an exaggeration of differences between members of the own group and rival groups - sounds familiar?

Racism, etc. are ways of differentiation of ‘us’ versus ‘them’, thus enhancing groupness within the group that discriminates against another group. Should we conclude therefore that this a natural part of human nature and that any attempts to eradicate these kinds of differentiations are bound to fail?

I’m more optimistic than that. Given how far we’ve come in the last 10,000 years, I’m confident we can go even further and channel the need of belongingness (c.f. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) into meaningful and constructive differentiation. A few examples of constructive differentiation:

• Between my company and our competitors
• Between my favorite football team and other teams
• Between the country I chose (!) to live in and other countries

The Poison of Stereotypes

How else can we overcome this evolutionary legacy and end racism, and all the other ways of discrimination once and for all?

That’s where ‘Nomen est Omen’ comes in. It means the name is an omen or prophecy. We should not underestimate the power of names or labels that we assign to people and often to ourselves, such as:

• “The” Germans
• “The” Chinese
• “The” Muslims
• “The” Africans
• “The” White/Black/Brown/…People
• “The” Westerners
• “The” Queers
• Etc.

What is likely to happen when we use these labels? We tend to evoke associations, stereotypes and prejudice to some extent to the person we’re labeling.

When I moved to Hong Kong in late 2001, I used to pride myself as being the most unGerman German in Hong Kong, because I didn’t eat sausages or meat, wasn’t much interested in football, didn’t have a beer belly, wasn’t rigid or overly serious, etc.

Today it appears silly to me, because not only did I contribute to the stereotype of a typical German (by promoting by ‘unGermanness’) but also tried to show that I’m not part of that ‘group’ of Germans.

I would like to propose that we stop associating stereotypes to labels of certain groups to individuals as if the membership to that group would describe who they are. Especially when these members didn’t even choose to be part of that group (e.g., I didn’t choose to be born in Germany, others didn’t choose to be male or female, etc.).

What if we stopped using all these stereotypes and instead recognize and value each person on this planet for who they are: a unique individual with beauty, ugliness, strengths, weaknesses, talents, flaws, etc. Let’s appreciate, heck, celebrate the individuality of each human being and stop prejudicing anyone due to their heritage, culture, country, religion, gender, etc.

"Die Wuerde des Menschen ist unantastbar."(The dignity of man is inviolable)

Article 1, German Constitution

Germany carries one of the most horrific legacies in terms of racism and anti-Semitism. The founding fathers (why were there no ‘mothers’?) of the German Republic after World War 2 recognized that a 180 degree shift in mindset was needed to ensure as much as possible that this kind of history would never ever repeat itself. Article 1 was an important step into this direction.

What can we start doing NOW?

So, what can we do in our every day life to contribute to ending racism and other forms of discrimination? The first step to change is always awareness. We can’t change anything without being aware of it.

For example: at Progress-U we used to run programs on cross-cultural leadership, e.g. for expats how to lead in China, Japan, etc. As part of these programs we would share and discuss what to pay attention to when leading ‘Chinese’, ‘Japanese’, etc. We would discuss what typical Chinese, etc. expect, how they communicate, and so on.

We consciously stopped doing that because it presumes that all Chinese are more or less the same, which, of course, is total nonsense. Are there tendencies that might be more common among Chinese than among French, for example? That’s certainly the case, but it ignores the fact that there is a significant number of exceptions among Chinese for whom the very same stereotypes don't apply.

In my opinion it is a lot more useful to help leaders learn how to become versatile, so that they can adjust their leadership approach to each individual’s unique (!) tendencies and recognize them for what and who they are – a unique individual, independent of what group they originate from or belong to.

Another example: Tomorrow, when we have a new encounter at an event and ask where she is coming from, and she answers ‘Nigeria’: Can we stop ourselves to immediately categorize that lady as ‘Nigerian’ and make related associations, and instead simply be curious about what kind of person she is and the fact that she’s from Nigeria just means, she’s coming from Nigeria and nothing more.

If we can stop stereotyping people according to the group(s) they belong to, and start to be authentically curious about others’ individuality instead, I’m convinced that racism and other discriminations can be at least reduced, if not eradicated.

Are you willing to join helping to eradicate discrimination by eradicating stereotyping of individuals? What stereotypes will you stop using?