Culture Cake

I recently introduced my leadership class to Tom Rath’s Strengths Finder 2.0 (2007). We were talking about their various strengths and how we need to work together with the other people’s strengths in order to make up for our shortcomings. This discussion led into one about culture and how it would be great if we were able to work more closely together. We live in Auckland, which is a very diverse city. The majority of my students come from India and they have been adjusting to the Kiwi culture and learning more about it through the classroom and through their work experiences. My students lamented that there wasn’t more opportunity to ‘mix’ with those from other cultures. One of the barriers they saw was the fact that many cultural groups just stick to themselves. They acknowledged that this wasn’t always the case, but it was common enough for the class to as a whole to nod their heads in agreement regarding their similar experiences in this matter.

Thinking that this would be a good teachable moment, I shared with the class one of my strengths – connectedness. According to Strengths Finder 2.0, those with the connectedness strength are “certain of the unity of humankind” and act as a “bridge builder for people of different cultures” (Rath, 2007, p. 73). In our classroom discussions, we’ve covered how culture is learned through our upbringings and experiences. These experiences make us unique. But at the heart of it all we are all human beings. We all need air, water, food, security, and connection among other things in life. Our cultures and traditions are layered on top of these things and often become the values by which we are identified. So we get lost and consumed by our cultural identity and the ‘rightness’ of the culture to which we belong. In the process, we lose sight of the fact that we are first and foremost human beings.

We must value life at the most basic level. In the process, we must learn to deal with our disagreements regarding the ‘learned’ values of life. If this is our starting point we can, as civilized beings, discuss the things that we are most passionate about without giving way to hatred for the human being behind the passion. Sadly this isn’t usually the case.

So what do we do with this conflict between culture and humanity? I suggested that the students think about a chocolate cake (the flavor of the cake doesn’t matter, it could be vanilla, butterscotch, banana, or whatever suits your fancy). In order to make a cake you need sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, vanilla, milk and cocoa. There may be some variation to this recipe. Any cake includes various individual ingredients, each with their own properties and characteristics. They all play a part in what will eventually become the final tasty treat. Once we mix all the ingredients in the bowl, the individual ingredients take on a different property. Together they create something that is far better than any one of the ingredients on their own. For me, working with people from diverse backgrounds is like the chocolate cake. If I’m willing to mix and integrate with people who are different than I am, then I’m a lot more likely to be part of creating something much bigger and better than myself. It doesn’t mean that I have to sacrifice my culture any more than sugar has to sacrifice its sweetness as part of the cake recipe. 

Being part of a globalized world means that the diversity in our workplaces and communities will continue to increase. How I as an individual view these other ‘ingredients’ is really up to me. Will I throw part of myself in the bowl with those that are different than I am so that we can create a better world for our children and grandchildren? Or will I keep to myself and those like me? The choice is mine.

Works Cited

Rath, T. (2007). Strengths Finder 2.0. New York, NY, USA: Gallup.