The Millwright Died

Problem statement:

In the high competitive market of work force every employee brings unique talents and skills that help companies grow and compete, producing more profits and impacting the society (DuPree, 2004).

Facts given: Endorse concept of persons. Understanding and acceptance of diversity in people's gifts, talents and skills. Diversity as a tool to see the need for diversification amongst employees. Connect and serve the corporate goals through diversity.

Diversity calls for opportunity, equity and identity. Leadership draws support from the recognition of people's diverse gifts and skills. Diversity is a key factor in today's successful business companies where growth surpasses geographical location and embraces methods like outsourcing, international alliances and presence in foreign countries. Globalism enhances the recognition of diversity and forces even firms that have homogeneous structure to undergo serious changes that will bring diverse work force environment. In this regard the case that DuPree (2004) builds in the story about Millwright's death is an illustration of episodic diversity from 1920s and its impact on the corporate life, which is also one of the subtopics in the concept of leadership as an art.

In international terms diversity calls first of all for recognition of the multi language environment and the communication barriers it has created. Language barrier often impedes communication and motivates business people to pick up a foreign language. Companies that do not adapt to the multi language setting might lose markets and revenues like the case that BBC describes in Scotland where business companies do not accommodate other languages than English and suffer economical loses by limiting their exports only to English speaking countries (BBC, 2012). Clearly diversity needs to have both corporate and national recognition in order to bring significant results in business but this still does not leave business from having the leading role in incorporating foreign languages in its international structures; thus preceding the role of the state in accommodating foreign communication.

Forbes list six contemporary characteristics that companies need to fulfill if they want to be competitive: create cultural and generational mosaic, embrace risk as the new normal, continuously see and seize opportunities, make room for the individual, do well by doing good and create a family within the organizational culture (Llopis, 2011). These features, according to the influential online media, form competitive skills in companies, helping them face changes in the fast paste technological venues of business.

Diversity is not a foreign topic to me because I have experienced the tension and the difficulty of getting across cultures and languages as a student in a foreign environment in different periods of my life and then in my professional career as a translator between Bulgarian and English language and culture. I have learned to accept the complexity of life and respect the far otherness, which many times puzzles me and requires time and experience to be comprehend it in a reasonable sense. I have found out that working between cultures and languages is a very educating experience that strains both the intellect and the patience of the human being, pushing the person beyond the comfortable known into new learning experiences that bring opportunities worth pursuing for business and personal growth.

Even though diversity brings a lot of positive aspects, it can create a lot of challenges as well and it is the latter aspect that I need to explore more and learn how to deal with the intricate areas of this subject. Language and culture are not the only aspects of diversity but there are others that create tensions like race, religion or gender. Religion is becoming one of the serious diversity issues where I see an increasing demand for tolerance from employees or employers who are Christians than vise versa, which points out that it is the Christians who are the tolerant category and the others who demand tolerance but are not willing to exercise the same characteristic towards Christians. As a person who has been involved for over than fifteen years in Christian education I am perplex as to what degree we, including myself, need to show tolerance to moral practices that are not Biblically moral.

"The Millwright Died" is a fascinating story of an ordinary employee who was also a poet who resembles a lot of employees today with skills and talents who go to work and do their duties quietly and responsibly without showing any glamour or significance beyond their job, yet many possess talents that if discovered can become assets to the corporate culture. When diverse talents and gifts are discovered then these special abilities complement each other and demonstrate that every person is needed and has a place in the company, which is distinguished from everyone else's. With globalism that encompasses more of everyday life and business structure it is becoming mandatory for entrepreneurs and executives to come to good terms with diversity and allow more opportunities of their employees to show their unique talents.