Strength in Diversity

This article appeared in The Edge, issue 917, page 61. The writer of this piece is Dato' Nazir Razak, the brother of none other than our current PM.

What I like about this article is his way of creating a sphere of diversity, giving particular examples to the company that he is now running, CIMB.

I too am currently employed in a diverse organization where it comprise of individuals coming from many countries: from Asia to Middle East to Africa.

What is interesting is that working and dealing with diverse people makes you more mature, confident and open minded.

You get to know the existence of many interesting and hard-to-pronounce cities, observing interesting cultures and traits (such as the friendly and mind you, gay-looking kiss between two Arab men) and hearing them speaking their own language as if you can understand the conversation.

You also get to know how to deal with hot-tempered Arabs, aggressive Iranians, big-sized Africans, talkative Indians and hardworking Chinese.

Each nationalities must be dealt and handled with care for if you push the wrong button, you may end up making the situation a worst one.

That people, is the benefit of working in a diverse organization where your eyes are constantly being entertained seeing many colours from all walks of life.

I also have had experiences working in many racial (and to a certain extend, racist) organizations where preferences and preferential treatments are given to your ethnic background, skin colour and your original mother tongue.

For example, if you are not from this particular race, then it is very difficult for you to climb up the career ladder (read: promoted to a higher position).

Furthermore, you get a high chance of getting your back stabbed by working in racial-based organization, where in meetings, you would listen to language where you understand not a dime of it.

Anyway, to jobseekers out there: master many languages (mandarin is a must) and look for conglomerate companies: organization of distinction where there is equal opportunity for everyone (yourself included) to progress and develop their career.