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We need your diversity

  • Published
  • By Capt. Alannah Staver
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
There is something to be said about being wholly yourself through every step of your career.

Far from the likes of Google or Amazon, the military is a structured organization that hinges on uniformity and discipline, which can make it difficult to find a way to bring your full personality to the workplace.

But, let’s be honest. Just because we’re in the military, it doesn’t mean that we should not be ourselves.

It also doesn’t mean we should take ourselves too seriously.

We don’t have a “professional self” that we don Monday through Friday and a “real self” for the rest of our time spent off-duty.

While we juggle fitting in, truly being ourselves and sending the message that we have the qualifications and experience to be an effective member of our team, we lose touch with our unique characteristics. In the past these attributes may have allowed us to think outside of the box or see problems from a different viewpoint.

Diverse backgrounds and unique experiences cultivate innovative ideas and groundbreaking revelations. When we restrict certain aspects of our personality, there is a potential to limit the novelty of our ideas and confine the connections we create with our coworkers.

As both leaders and followers, we must ourselves feel and help others to feel the freedom to bring their entire selves to work because our diversity makes us stronger.

Max de Pree, an American businessman and writer, once explained, “We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing and inclusion.”

We all, our organizations included, benefit from every individual having the freedom to express their truths, talk about their personal lives, share their diverse backgrounds and even be silly now and then.

By sharing a laugh, your individual perspective, or even a more personal experience you had during a challenging time in your life, you show others they too can share their stories. This allows you to grow a deeper, more personal connection with the teammates around you.

The differences that may be presented by our diversity are eradicated by our willingness to share them. We must be comfortable being exactly who we are during our military careers.

Simply put, we need your personality, we need your ideas, we need your diversity.