PLAY FAIR

by Deb Weidenhamer

I sat on the ground of the hard desert floor watching a group of fifteen-year-old boys play soccer. One team's membership was that of primarily Hispanic-Americans and the other team was a group of Anglo-American boys. As the Hispanic team continued to score goals against the Anglo team, I was shocker to hear the parents of the losing team yell derogatory ethnic terms at the Hispanic players. I couldn't believe that parents would set such a terrible example for their children of a lack of acceptance of other people. But more significant was the parents made an issue out of ethnicity just because the other team was winning, instead of accepting their loss with dignity.This concept was demonstrated to me in an even greater sense just a few days later when a reporter asked me "if I could change anything in the world of business, what would I choose to change?" My response was that I would like to see a change to the amount of reporting that federal and state organizations place on small business owners, which in complying with such reports are time consuming and costly for the business owners and their staff. The reporter was amazed by my answer. He thought my answer would be that I would want to create an even playing field between men and women since I work in such a male dominated industry.In considering the reporter's statement I couldn't help but reflect back to the soccer game. As people, we are all unique regardless of our gender or ethnic background. What makes us who were are is a combination of our life experiences. But often when some people are faced with competition they choose to focus on what makes others outwardly different and poke and pick out those characteristics. Their belief obviously is that to make such brutal statements about someone's differences will have an outcome on the competition.

As an industry, we will continue to be introduced to more members of our profession that are different from the status quo. It is exciting to think that we will attract new ideas, thoughts and perspectives on how to conduct our business and market to different segments by new members joining our ranks. Let's set a good example and welcome these changes. Because regardless of your personal beliefs, we live in a climate and times when people are treated on an equal basis and the only thing left about which to be prodigious is cultural ignorance.