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I wrote this entry about 5 years ago and never posted it.
My boss and I had not been getting along very well at that point and I wanted to record one of the few things he thought I was doing right.
I ended up not posting it as it really didn’t seem like that big a thing at the time.
But, diversity is big in the news these days. And, I noticed this file sitting on my memory stick amongst the various other posts I’ve started and never finished.
And, thought “maybe I do need to make sure folks know where I stand on things.”

This boss and I worked together from 1997 to 2003 and then 2009 through 2024 over 5 different companies. We knew each other very well and didn’t always get along.

At the time the folks who worked for me were from China, India and Syria.
At the previous company China, Kenya, Switzerland, Greece and the US.

Anyhow, from early 2000:

One of our consultants who is from India quit the consulting company he worked for and we’re trying to hire him direct. This involves a lot of hoop jumping through for immigrations to keep him working here in the US.

As we were going through this my boss and I were going over the paperwork on line and he said:
“No one who works for you was born in the US.”
“That’s true. All of them were born in different parts in Asia.”
“How did that happen?”
“Just lucky, I guess.”

He was silent for a bit. He was born in Asia himself and has talked about growing up in Iran a lot over the years.
“That sort of thing doesn’t happen by accident,” he finally said.
“I’ve always done my best to hire the person who seems best for the job. It happens that the folks in question didn’t grow up here. But, since I did grow up here, I don’t object to folks from the US having jobs.”
“The last place we worked together you hired folks from Asia, Africa, Europe and the US.”
“That’s very true.”
“Your family has been in the US for a long time…”
“We’ve only been in North America 400 years. There are folks who have been here a lot longer.”

He was silent for a bit more.
“When I came here from Iran, it was difficult for me to get a job,” he finally said. “People didn’t even want to give me a chance.”
“I don’t agree with that way of thinking,” I said. “Talent comes from all over the world. And, having folks with different backgrounds gives a wider point of view. It’s never good to look at things from just one point of view.”
“It speaks very highly of you that you think this way and act on it.”
“Thank you, that’s kind of you to say.”