Читать книгу Voices of Design Leadership - Ken Sanders - Страница 11

My wife Regina – a first-generation immigrant from Brazil – has taught me many things, one of which is how culture and language are closely woven together. A simple word in Portuguese, for example, may have additional layers of emotion compared to American English. Brazilian culture also generally encourages more emotional expression; to be trusted in Brazil, you do wear your heart on your sleeve. That is one reason why the best language translation cannot be achieved through one-to-one vocabulary mapping. Sorry Google! To learn a language well is to learn a culture well, and vice versa.

As design leaders, we need to extend our thinking about diversity beyond the traits most often associated with employment discrimination: race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or disability. Those are important markers. But diversity is also about life experience. About culture. About economic status. About family background. Biography matters.

In general, life experiences that introduce design leaders to different geographies, languages, and social contexts broaden their understanding of cultural preferences and helps them challenge conventional wisdom. Such experiences also help them recognize that the needs of diverse clients cannot be addressed in a homogenous manner, and that innovative design solutions are often discovered along unconventional paths.

In Chapter 12, you will hear from Rafael Viñoly, a remarkable design leader who was born in Uruguay, built a successful design practice in Argentina, and immigrated with his family to the US after the 1976 military coup d’état overthrew President Isabel Perón. As Rafael points out, “Immigration is probably the only university that can teach you how much you don’t know.”

For those who did not enjoy a particularly diverse life experience prior to beginning their professional career, it is never too late to start. First steps might include overseas graduate school or short-term exchange programs within or between firms. Enlightened organizations with global footprints offer cross-border opportunities to their talent for that very reason. The intention: enhancing the creative output of collaborative teams through diversity of biography and life experience.