One of the critical success factors in building the strength of organisations is diversity intelligence, or the ability to embrace the differences between team members and use that to strengthen the whole team.

The idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

For time immemorial, world leaders in all spheres have called for diversity, tolerance and acceptance.

In my businesses over the last 30 years, we have created cultures where team members were encouraged to discuss, debate and demystify their differences in an effort to embrace them for the betterment of the team.

Challenging times

Today's challenge is to be able to have honest, open, ethical discussion without stepping on people's boundaries.

Today's challenge is to create business excellence by embracing our teams, their similarities and their differences.

The question I pose to you is (and I would love comments): how much has the idea of embracing and discussing diversity between us been stifled by the current cultural norms and political correctness?