The Secret Power of Diversity

Bill Murray would describe me as a mutt. Clearly a Northern-European mutt. British, French, Irish, Dutch. Blonde hair. Blue Eyes. Big feet. A white-mutt. With too much hair (except on my head). 

I can trace family back to 1600 in North America. A bunch of scoundrels mostly. Coal miners and limestone cutters. Poker-players and moonshiners. A minister who ran off with the church pianist. Farmers, Teamsters, truck-drivers, and mafia union organizers. 

My branch of the family wound up in Southern Indiana. My little town was a great place to grow up. But, I was surrounded by a bunch of other mostly-white mutts. We ALL went to the same school together, and the same church. We all played basketball. We raced cars. Our mothers all knew each other, and spent evening on the porch together smoking the same cigarettes and drinking the same iced-tea. We were of the same ilk, and we thought about things in the same way. It was comfortable. When John Cougar Mellencamp sang “Small Town”, he was almost definitely singing about us.

Something always gnawed at me, though.  I wanted to see what else was out there. I wanted to see what the other mutts packs were doing. 

I graduated from high school, and I moved out my Mom’s house the next day.

Eventually, I joined the Air Force. And from the time I stepped foot into basic training, I was struck by the MASSIVE VARIETY OF HUMANS that I was now living with. Eating with. Training with. And learning to depend on.

They didn’t look like me. They did things differently than me. They thought differently than me. They had all these crazy experiences, and they had some of the most amazing stories I’d ever heard. Most of them were mutts too, but ridiculously different mutts. Watching, learning, listening, and asking questions became my favorite pastime.  #EmpathyOverdrive!

Because of their wide variety of experiences, they processed and solved problems differently than I would have on my own. That’s the thing that really hooked me. It created a very interesting learning dynamic in our group.  And so, right there, I fell in love with the magical power of diversity. And while the kids in my basic training unit were different from me in many ways, it turned out we were exactly the same where it really counted – we all wanted to learn, explore, and make the world a better place. As fast as possible.

Since then, building teams with diverse backgrounds has become one my personal “secrets” of leadership. 

Although calling it a secret probably isn’t right. At one point in my career, I received a phone call from my HR exec telling me that the new rule I’d imposed on my leadership team wasn't necessary. “You’re going way beyond what we expect – I just wanted to let you know, in case you misinterpreted something from our staff."

My rule? Anytime we have an opening, do your best to make sure there are always at least two candidates in the selection pool who don’t look like me. 

Diversity* is force-multiplier. Don’t handicap yourself or your leadership team. Actively seek out those who are different from yourself when it’s time to grow the team. Build your own pack of ridiculously different mutts.  It’s one of the best lessons I’ve ever learned/taught.

PS: *Diversity comes in lots of different forms. It’s way more that race, religion, creed, etc. For example, in the Healthcare IT business, it also means looking for candidates who are NOT from healthcare. Some of the best teammates I’ve ever had as a CIO came from construction, manufacturing, and the coffee business.  

PSS: Want to see what Chris Vrooman wrote about this week as part of our endless pursuit of Empathy-powered healthcare, technology, and innovation? Click here!

PSSS: The day I wrote this article, the Philadelphia Eagles celebrated their Super Bowl win with their hometown. Brian Kelce (Eagles Center) gave a particularly memorable speech. The best line: "Hungry Dogs Run Faster!" That's solid culture. Congrats, Eagles!

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You can always find me at www.drex.io

You can trust a leader who has been in your shoes! Drex DeFord has spent nearly 30 years leading some of the nation’s most respected health systems. As a digital health leader, he works with health systems, vendor-partners, start-ups, and investors, and boards. He understands competing priorities. Strained resources. The pressure to differentiate your services, distinguish your brand, demonstrate value, and the drive to find ways to deliver better, faster, cheaper, safer, easier-to-access care to patients and families. All amid seismic changes in our industry. 

You’re busy. Let drex help. 

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