Donald Trump has it all. Racism, sexism, misogyny... Everything that would get him fired from pretty much any job in that is. As someone who coaches business leaders on how to foster diversity in the workplace, and in doing so increase their bottom line, I'm amazed Trump has made it this far in his job interview process for the most important job in the country: the job of POTUS.
Let's take a look at some of Trump's recent sound-bytes:
Racism
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending the best. They're not sending you, they're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists... And some, I assume, are good people."
"The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."
"Laziness is a trait in the blacks. ... Black guys counting my money! I hate it."
Sexism + Misogyny
"All the women on The Apprentice flirted with me -- consciously or unconsciously. That's to be expected."
"Arianna Huffington is unattractive, both inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man - he made a good decision."
Imagine encountering a boss or a colleague who spoke this way to you. Imagine a boss that would chew you out for your looks, your race or your gender. Not a guy you would want on your team, huh? Me either.
There is a reason companies don't hire racist and sexist leaders and employees. It's called lawsuits and company policy. And lawsuits are costly on many fronts. They cost public good will. They cost customers. They cost sales and earnings.
But there is actually a more important reason why office politics matters and why racism, sexism, and most 'isms' should be avoided. The reality is diverse teams outperform their homogenized Caucasian, male counterparts in boardroom decision making, start-up growth, and stock market gains. According to Forbes, "Companies with a female founder performed 63 percent better than our investments with all-male founding teams." Thanks to communication technology, increased global travel, and several equality movements, the world is more diverse and interconnected than ever before. Which means the only way to stay competitive and understanding the market is to embrace that diversity.
Companies hire me to train them on cross-cultural politics, intergenerational dialogue, and office culture because they understand that to stay competitive they need to attract and retain diverse talent. And America needs to attract and retain diverse talent too if we're going to stay competitive on a global scale.
Look at Elon Musk who is revolutionizing NASA, e-commerce, and transportation. He was not a US born citizen. There are more big names like Oprah. Satya Nadella. Salma Hayek, Mary Barra, Melinda Gates, Ava DuVerney, Shonda Rhimes. The list goes on. Women, minorities, and immigrants of all shapes and sizes are re-shaping the American are tapping into what audiences want and reshaping the American and global marketplace. Immigrant founders started 52 percent of all new Silicon Valley companies between 1995 and 2005, and 21% of Inc. 500 CEO leaders were born outside of the US.
When it comes to business and politics having it all really comes down to having diversity at the top. So the only question left, America, is who do you want on top raising our country's bottom line?