I have worked in many facets of the media :radio, print, television and the film industry before I wrote my book, “Achieving Prosperity through Diversity”, and started diversity training in the workplace. At one time I even ventured outside of the media for three years to sharpen my managerial skills as an assistant manager at a well established super market.

Thinking back now, one of the best places I ever worked at was a multilingual radio station in Metro Vancouver. There I was appreciated, welcomed and truly had a sense of belonging unlike many other employers. The owner (and his daughter) created a working environment where they went out of their way to treat every employee with utmost respect.

Even when things did not go according to plan, whether it was on the air or sales were down, the management team never lost its cool putting everyone at ease. Furthermore, the environment was enhanced by taking small but simple steps to create “unity” among all staff members.

Every Friday was known as “Fat Friday” where one or two staff members brought enough goodies for the entire staff of some twenty-five employees. And then everyone’s birthday was acknowledged by having a birthday cake or flowers.

By no means was the working environment perfect, but far superior to many other places where the management or owners had no concept or even cared to go out of their way to accommodate their staff.

Furthermore, a large number of staff members rarely looked for employment elsewhere, which is rare in the media, and several on-air personalities worked there for over twenty years. Often many employees came to work an hour early and stayed late and other times came in on their days off just to say “hello”. This is rare!

It is these little steps that set one employer apart from another. The key to success in today’s business is to make all employees part of a team that is cherished and unified. The bottom line: productity and profits.

Here a several steps to incorporate:

Build Trust:
To build trust takes time and patience and does not occur overnight. It is important to show compassion and do what you are going to say. And offer valuable criticism for one to grow within the organization.

Make Them Part of Team:

Teamwork is an exciting way to work and build camaraderie. It fosters creativity and gives each person a role to fill. It also tells your employees they are valued and your trust them– key ingredient for employee satisfaction.

Cultural Differences Lead to Misunderstandings:

For instance, looking straight in the eyes of an Asian or South Asian person could be disrespectful. When you are speaking, they might look down a sign of respect. In Western cultures, we may view it as lying or not paying attention.
As a manager or leader, it is your responsibility to educate yourself first and foremost and then to pass that education onto your staff.

Trust and Respect Them:

It seems everyone has a horror story about micromanager. It is just not a good way to build a positive working relationship and it belittles your role as a manager. An effective manager/leader defines and assigns tasks, creates a system of the assortment and evaluations, and then trusts employees have the ability to make it happen.

Be Able to Inspire Them:

One of the ways to inspire employee is someone who they can trust, someone who is not afraid to make difficult decisions. And someone who provides an opportunity and hope. And also one who honestly enjoys their job and life.

In many cases, employees do not leave because of low wages but rather due to toxic work environment. It is important that all employees feel welcome and respected not only in harmony but for productivity and profits.

Accents can hold one back not only in social settings but more importantly in careers. Often in the workplace there is the perception that one with a foreign accent may not be well being educated or not familiar with the western culture. And worst if promoted to a higher level such as management, then staff members may or may not respect or follow orders making productivity and profitability decline.

How does one lose or erase their accent? Well there are various types of schools that teach one how to lose or soften their accent, and they definitely serve a great purpose. But it can be costly and time consuming.

Here is one tip that works extremely well. I started applying this process when I first got into radio broadcasting. At times when I went on the air, due to nervousness, a trace of my Indian accent became noticeable. Accents were not acceptable twenty years ago, matter of fact they still are not favourable today in the western radio and television.
Basic steps:

1. Place a soft-led pencil (horizontal) between across your lips and slight biting with your teeth.
2. Read a short paragraph for about 30 seconds
3. Now remove the pencil and read again
4. Repeat the procedure for five minutes

You will notice the results immediately that your pronunciation is becoming much clearer. This simple procedure makes the tongue work harder to pronounce the English words. This concept works quite efficiently for other languages as well.
The key is to read it every day for five minutes and within a very short time your pronunciation will improve immensely. I would highly recommend that you record your readings on a regular basis and then go back later to monitor your improvement. You will be amazed!

I teach this technique to new immigrants getting into the workplace or when I deliver workshops or give private consultation to executive from foreign countries.

One of the main reasons is that the multicultural markets will continue to flourish in the coming years as more immigrants come into the country. According to Statistics Canada by 2031, the number of visible minorities will comprise more than 50 per cent of the population in Metro Vancouver. And in Toronto, it will be over 60 per cent. This is a clear sign that all businesses, small and large, cannot afford not to market their services and goods to these affluent communities.

Although some businesses are beginning to make a greater effort, but not fast enough. If they want to penetrate these growing markets, then they need to start with full force instead half-heartily. Perhaps they are not sure how to market because what works in the Chinese community does not necessarily work in the Caribbean or South Asian.

Here is a prime example of missed opportunity for many mainstream media outlets in Metro Vancouver. When they had the opportunity about fifteen or twenty years ago they shied away from many any concrete efforts to reach the Chinese and Indian community. Now it seems a little too late, as the saying goes “the carriage the horses have left the barn”.

Now these two communities have their own newspapers, radio stations to get their messages across to their respected audience, and are financially viable.

A lesson to be learned, any company that wants to survive and thrive must learn quickly to adapt to the changing market not only at home but also abroad.

And these days there seems to be very little argument against Diversity being an important part of any organization to remain successful in the changing global business climate.

It is predicted that by 2016 China should overtake the USA to have the largest economy in the world. And India is also becoming a powerful nation. India is now where China was almost two decades ago.

Practically every business requires new techniques to take full advantage of the opportunities, whether they are operating domestically or worldwide.

When it comes to any business decisions and strategies, diversity is one of the critical elements that must be kept at the forefront. At the end of the day, an organization’s diversity policy affects its revenue.The main question a company needs to ask itself on a regular basis is, “how is diversity or the lack thereof, affecting our productivity and profitability?”

It seems for many people, diversity is something that is taken for granted. Take a good look around you – stores, cafes and neighborhoods are filled with people from all cultural backgrounds and racial diversity in major cities.
But is it the same in the workplace?

Certain companies have diversity policies that are nothing more than window dressing. They are not fully embracing diversity and all of the benefits a diverse workforce provides.These days diverse staff brings different ideas, different thinking and different solutions. In some ways they are the ambassadors to the ethnic markets at home and abroad.

Business owners must wake up to the fact that for them to survive and thrive in the immediate future they must view cultural diversity as an opportunity and not as a hindrance. Adaptability is vital to the changing and competitive global markets.

Top Bollywood movie stars such as Shahrukh Khan, performing the opening act, and other Indian mega movie stars put on a spectacular show front of 40,000 spectators at the BC Place Stadium.

India has over 400 plus television channels but once the event is aired it will reach over 400 million viewers. This promotion will be good for Vancouver, B.C. not only to sell its natural resources but also will boost tourism.

The event has been a controversy as to why would the BC Liberal government allocates a huge amount of resources to bring such an event, especially when India knows what B.C. has to offer because of the large South Asian population. People forgot that India has over 12 billion citizens and much of the South Asian population in Canada comes from the Punjab state, neighboring Pakistan.

People need to comprehend the long term picture which is to build stronger ties with one of the biggest and strongest economies in Asia.

If British Columbians want to retain a certain life style then they need to make greater connections not only with India but also with other Asian countries. Until now British Columbia, as well as the rest of Canada relied solely on the United States for trade and failed to realize what was happening in Asia.

Also to keep in mind that while the average age in Canada is 40 years plus, but the average age in India is 27 years old who are well educated and have money to spend. To put it in another perspective, India is now where China was 20 years ago.

In the coming years, three of the largest economies will nestle in Asia: China, India and Japan. And it will be these nations that will call the economic shots on the world stage as Europe and the US take a back stage.

These days any organization, province or country to survive and thrive need to make stronger ties with India (and China) and the rest of the emerging markets.

According to a study done by the University of British Columbia geographer Daniel Hiebert, the largest group will be the Chinese followed by South Asians, Filipinos and Koreans. The report suggests ethnic residents will increase by 1.15 million.

The report also predicts that ethnic groups will tend to congregate in certain neighborhoods which will create a racial segregation. Already certain parts of Surrey have the largest percentage of South Asians and close to 50 percent of the Richmond residents are of Chinese descent.

I believe from a cultural point of view, all levels of governments and community leaders should encourage new immigrants to integrate into the mainstream society. For the Canadian multicultural society to function more effectively in the coming decades all Canadians and new immigrants need to make greater efforts to know understand each other.

And on a business front, organizations also need to change to meet the demands their clientele. What worked in the past will not work in the coming years. For instance the needs and taste of the Korean community are much different than the Filipino community.

Already some large grocery stores are being proactive by bringing in different types of foods to meet the demands of their ethnic clientele.

All businesses need to look at the changing demographics in Metro Vancouver as an opportunity for greater productivity and profitability.

Acknowledging one another on a certain level makes all of us feel more at ease and a little closer. Then one realizes that they have a lot more in common than first lead to believe.

It is important to bring cultural harmony in the workplace not only for productivity and profitability but also for stability. High turnover can be very costly, it is estimated that to hire a new employee it can cost on an average about $10,000. Many employees quit not because of money but due toxic work environment.

Here are a couple of ways achieve congenial and better understanding. Have a luncheon gathering on a regular basis, which gives all employees the opportunity to speak up and get to know one another.

The other way is to facilitate a special function such as Saint Patrick’s Parade, Chinese New Year or Diwali. Try to have a diverse team of employees to participate in organizing the event.

Often when such functions are highlighted in the workplace, many employees come for a short time, and leave after eating and socializing without understanding the true meaning behind the function. It is important to offer a brief meaning of the function.

Today’s workplace will continue to become even more diverse in the coming years. It is important for all of us to do our part in making the workplace a more welcoming place where everyone feels they are embraced and respected.

The object of my speech was to be thought provoking which I believe it achieved after the great feedback from the attendees and viewers from fourteen countries during a live webcast.

My speech began by giving a glimpse of my upbringing in a mill town called Prince George, B.C. where racism and ethnic intolerance was rampant in the 1970’s. I can still vividly recall as a 12 year old sitting at a bus stop and getting spat at by an adult, and other adults pretended nothing happened.

The focus of the speech was on how far we have come as a society and we still have a long way to go. Racism and intolerance is an attitude that has been created over centuries in all cultures and in some ways it has been integrated into our economies, laws and social structure. But I truly believe we are moving forward when it comes to “integration” in many parts of the world where the minorities are being embraced by the majority.

From a business perspective we need to keep in mind that the business climate is evolving and China, India, Brazil and Russia will have a greater say in the world’s economy. And western businesses must adapt and embrace diversity if they want to thrive and prosper in the 21st century.

To create cultural harmony in a diverse society we must have cultural diversity education early in schools as well as make diversity training mandatory in the workspace. And new immigrants need to be encouraged by all levels of governments and community leaders assimilate into the mainstream society.

A believe the time has come for us to change behavior and reshape our world.
The TEDX video should be out in a couple of months.