Diversity is Bad If You End Up With 'Will Self' in the Office

Are there any diversity boxes you shouldn't tick?

I think the answer is yes! Here's why...

I don't have too many 'Life Rules'. Actually, I've never been very good at rules in general - the amount of corporal punishment I received at my brutal northern prep school can attest to that! The few rules I do have include flossing, saying 'please' and 'thank you', and not being judgemental.

And I'm pretty good at following those simple self-imposed guidelines.

Judging and categorising people

Taking time to form a character opinion is important. Most people have something to offer even if you need to scratch a bit harder with some than others to find the good bits. It shouldn't really be a surprise that I'm a patient scratcher. The list of people I've scratched and found nothing to like is pleasantly short. Personally, I've been judged and found wanting far too often not to have learnt the lesson pretty well!

If judging people too quickly is a sin, then categorising people isn't helpful either. The problem is, we all do it all the time:

• Blonde or brunette
• Male or female
• Gay or straight
• Fun or boring
• Miserable or happy?

In business, there's no room for naysayers

I went to an Intelligence Squared debate last week entitled "We've never had it so good". Against the motion was the miserable, energy-sucking, master concatenist Will Self. (Yes, I'm trying to be more like him with my "concatenation" - I think it means putting words together cleverly.)

Let's be clear; there's probably a place in every society for a habitual naysayer like Will Self. But in a business, negative energy-suckers are a cancer.

I follow the John Timpson approach of "no drongos"! If you end up with Eeyore in your office, by all means scratch a bit. But then you want to usher them on their way as soon as possible. Everyone will be happier as a result...

Ben Black