Being such a right-brained engineer has offered me an interesting perspective on most social interactions. Professionally, I might as well be a performing arts major compared to my firmly analytical teammates. And outside work, I end up being the go-to math nerd when folks want to put real numbers to something. I’m a bit of a chameleon. Add on my intense interest in dissecting communication breakdowns and I have ended up with a big question: can I help translate between those that navigate life with their minds and those that lean on their hearts? 

What I’ve found is that life is filled with those situations where two statements can both be true at the same time. Did Henry Ford develop the 40-hour work week because he loved his people or because it offered the most long-term productivity while avoiding burnout? Do we offer better benefits to employees because we want them to be happy or because some metric says it leads to better retention. Can’t it be both? My goal here is to focus this thought process on the topic of diversity and proving that it has value and that it matters.

Now, if you’re like me, you might just want to say “But Matt, diversity obviously matters. Why do you have to explain that it does?” And to that I would lean on the classic ‘seek to understand before being understood’. Well, what good is that? I used to think that was just some cheesy, feel-good slogan, but it occurred to me recently that while you can be very sure of your perspective or stance on a topic, if the other person doesn’t know how to get from where they are with their mindset to where you are trying to be, then it doesn’t matter how righteous you think your stance is. It matters even less if you are secluded in the dizzying heights of your moral high ground, determined to simply shout “No, this way stupid!” and assuming that any amount of validation to the others’ side represents an unacceptable moral compromise. Simply put, we must hop off our high horse and lead the person to our conclusion. This is how you are an effective ambassador and agent of change, and not just a combatant in someone else’s game. 

So, now that we’ve established that its not enough to simply will others into caring about the things we care about, let’s talk about how and why diversity should matter in America. 

America is a diverse place. It just is. In all the high-profile, obvious ways, but also in its regional cultures, music, sociopolitical trends, and the various ethnic groups that helped shape them. Now, that means that America is not homogenous. We’re not Finland or China or Germany. I know those countries have their own regional preferences, accents, and some racial diversity, but most of them have some semblance of unified national history, heritage, and identity. Without this, it’s important that America leverages what it does have, and that is a lot of different people with a lot of different backgrounds.

The engineering and design industry is a great lens through which to analyze this issue. That’s because engineering is inherently team oriented. It’s a team sport because we want to question all assumptions and make sure that a system won’t fail: the power won’t go out, a bridge won’t collapse, a dam won’t give way. 

So, how do we catch each other’s mistakes? Because when I’m looking over your work, and you look over mine, we’re employing a second set of eyes. A second set of eyes is a classic toolset in quality management. Think back to even your most basic College Algebra homework group. Did you ever point out “Ope! You didn’t divide this x on both sides. After that, you carried the error through.” We’re covering each other’s blind spots which is the philosophical basis for why diversity has power.

Now, I’ll set up one more stepping stone using the engineering paradigm. Diversity in thought isn’t just about our racial, cultural, or gender-based differences. For example, you could have a group of electrical engineers who all got great grades in high school, went straight to college, and got a job as soon as they earned an EE degree. Separately, you could have an electrician who went to the school of hard knocks, spent a decade or more beating the hell out of his body, and then decided to go back to school to get that same degree. This is not a hypothetical scenario, and I guarantee that tradesman has a whole new perspective for his academic coworkers about how their code-compliant design does not take constructability into account – or not realistically enough. “Have you ever tried pulling that size wire through that tight of a conduit bend – in 30-degree weather?” The characters in this vignette could very well all be white dudes, but this still gives credence to the usefulness of covering each other’s blind spots with a fresh perspective. 

The final consideration in our thought exercise requires agreement that who we are personally informs how we operate professionally. Does that electrical engineer who used to be an electrician forget everything he knew from before being an engineer? Or does it just make him a more well-rounded designer? Or, at the very least, a designer with a different perspective, therefore covering a new blind spot. If you’re the youngest brother, or the oldest sister, or raised in a three-generation immigrant household: all of these things make up who we are. Our sense of responsibility, stewardship, or willingness to question status quo all make us different designers. 

While I’m not explicitly stating that diversity must be mandated, I am assuredly proposing that a homogenous team will likely have similar perspectives which leads to fewer blind spots being covered. A group of white dudes can have distinctly different upbringings, which can lead to different approaches, but bringing in someone who isn’t just like them is almost certainly going to offer more diversity of thought. 

Anecdotally, there is a German way to design. There is a Japanese approach. Russians do things a certain way. But all our great American strides and discoveries have come from as diverse a population as can be had in our fair country. Polish, Chinese, Native, Black American, men, women, rich, and poor. We want nay sayers. We need outliers. If we weren’t interested in questioning society’s conventional wisdom, then we probably would have all stayed in our respective ‘old countries’. But here we are, bringing all our approaches, all of our perspectives, which cover a maximum number of blind spots, and develop an optimal solution set. 

In summary: more diversity brings more perspectives which covers additional blind spots, lowers risks and unknowns, and develops better products. It’s not a conventional mathematical proof, but it is a way to justify diversity in your team if someone ever questions it. 

Matt Hebert is an engineer and self-published author. His dopamine-fueled creative pursuits have spanned from chicken keeping, sand sculpture, acting, and public speaking, but writing is nearest and dearest to his heart. He lives in Bellevue with his wife and two daughters. You can find him on Instagram at @jerkofalltradeshebert or email him at matt.hebert.books@gmail.com.