Starbucks wins my business and respect once again

money.cnn.com/2018/05/29/news/companies/howard-schultz-starbucks-letter/index.html

Many of you know that I am a Starbucks fan. No, not just the coffee but as a company. Recently a Starbucks manager in Philadelphia stumbled…and stumbled badly.

I’m being overly kind here because I am just now in a place where I can discuss the situation without emotion. Today I have my business hat on, not my activist hat. In spite of her failing, the company responded just as I would want… and expect them to. Please read how Starbucks is going about retraining and connecting with their employees.

Starbucks, you have made me proud once again.

Everything You Need to Know About Elon Musk in 5 Minutes

By:  Article curated from Work+Money.com

Click or copy into your Bowser:    https://www.workandmoney.com/s/elon-musk-bio-fe0651afa09c4c5b

P&G’s Thank You Mom Ad Campaign is Another Social Marketing Hit

Following P&G’s successful social marketing ad campaign, “The Talk” [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovY6yjTe1LE ], they have created another hit. This time it has a dual advertising purpose. They are drawing attention to their 2018 Winter Olympic sponsorship. But, they also take this opportunity to thank Moms as seen through the eyes of their children. Note that they never overtly try to promote a single P&G product.

Most of us have fond memories of a caring and supportive mother. My heart breaks for those who have a different, less positive, recollection of their mothers. The mother-child bond is one of the most powerful of positive emotional experiences that most of us have from childhood. It often shapes who we become as adults. It even informs our own parenting skills as we have our own children.

[Click or copy this link into your browser to safely view. 

 https://www.olympic.org/news/p-g-promotes-love-over-bias-with-latest-thank-you-mom-campaign-1 ]

P&G’s central message in the Thank-you Mom campaign is to draw upon the fondest memories of love and support from our mothers. No one sees the best in us, and ignores the things that make us the most insecure like Mom. All the stories told in this commercial execution are impactful because these children are all potentially subject to bully-worthy biases. The 2 vignettes that hit me the most are the Islamic girl and the gay teen boy. Mom’s intuition is so strong that, without words, she knows exactly how diminished her child feels. That’s why a soft touch or a kind look from mom makes it all better as the child goes on to live their lives, partake in a memorable experience…or even flourish beyond their regular best accomplishments.

P&G, keep these social ad campaigns coming. We appreciate it.

Two Titans of the Tech World

Anyone who really knows me knows how much I LOVE technology. I know that sounds alien to hear given that I can’t spell STEM. This joint interview with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates from 2011 is nothing short of AMAZING! Eight years ago these 2 guys had such a grasp on what was to come… stuff that we use every day now. One could almost call it prophetic.

[Copy and paste into your browser.  https://youtu.be/Sw8x7ASpRIY  ]

This video is 1:22:00 long. Few of us have that amount of time to invest. It took me 5 viewings over a 10 day period to watch and listen to the whole thing. But if you have the time it would be so eye-opening to hear these 2 geniuses chop it up. I totally geeked out on these guys. Oh…and they are actually personal friends whose relationship goes back to the 70s. Clearly, they are not the catty competitors that the media would have us believe.

Thanks, Steve and Bill for changing our lives for the better.

Dove Missed the Mark But I See Where They Were Headed

We always admonish marketers to, “take a risk”. “Nothing ventured nothing gained.” “Be bold.” Well, Dove attempted to do just that. Dove has made a reputation for pushing the envelope, especially in the area of body image, and to a lesser degree racial inclusiveness. But this time Dove missed the mark. [Click here to view.] I know what they were shooting for because of really solid prior creative work that Dove has done quite well. But this time it bombed in the execution. It delivered an offensive message… which was not intended.

That would not have happened with a truly diverse and empowered marketing and advertising team. Just having people of color on the team is not enough. They need to be decision makers and influencers, not just junior players whose voices may not be powerful enough…if even get expressed openly. Often with young team members, there is a fear of the optics of the young whipper-snapper swimming against the tide. I was once called a contrarian for expressing a different view than the rest of the room. Fortunately, at that stage of my career, I was seasoned and could defend a point of view with anyone. The diverse players on the team need to have a voice and not just there to check the box for — present.

I, also, remember remaining silent as a junior marketing guy, when a new campaign pool-out was presented by our ad agency. Being Black I knew it was off-putting to African Americans but I remained silent. It depicted a heavy Black woman whose only line was “Oooowee” (spoken in a typical old-school squeaky sitcom voice).

The company got skewered by African American viewers and the ad got pulled in mid-flight. It waisted most of the 3+ frequency weight that the campaign was intended to deliver. I wanted to speak up but feared I had no voice in the matter because of my junior status (not because I was Black). As usual for that company, I was the only Black person in the room. As such, I should have alerted the brand team to the potential issue.  But I didn’t and I have regretted that for most of my career.

Both, my experience, and the Dove debacle are lessons learned. Having a diverse team of decision makers and influencers behind all major marketing efforts should be the standard. This will “help” to keep you from stubbing your toe. But if your intent is to be brave, bold and inventive there are no guarantees for avoiding trouble. But it stacks the deck on the positive side of the equation. I hope Dove continues to push the envelope around breaking down social norms. You will recover from this mistake.

I hope Dove continues to push the envelope around breaking down social norms. They will recover from this mistake, particularly since they have been so open, and quick to apologize for causing any offense.

Great Teachers Make a Difference

Taylor Mali

Taylor Mali — What do teachers make

Normally I post about marketing issues. You know, the branding, communications and engagement kind of stuff. But this time I am doing a tribute to teachers. I pose this question to you all: “Are teachers equally as valuable as other public servants?”.

I live in Dallas, TX now. I was out for a stroll through a neighboring community. It is kind of an enclave surrounded by Dallas, but it is a separate municipality. There is a beautiful park with plaques placed around and throughout the park. Most of them were from families honoring a loved one. But one of them was a plaque honoring a teacher for the dedication to service she put into instructing students in this community. I began to think about how valuable teachers are to a society.

I recently took a test that popped up in my Facebook feed. You know those Facebook evaluations that often shows you how complete inadequate you are in some area. This quiz was an English grammar quiz with 25 questions. These were not easy questions. To my utter surprise, I got all of them correct. I have always felt that I was a good writer, but grammar was something to be worked on. Not that I was bad. I always spoke well. I just needed to be careful not to send out something in writing with incongruent verb tense and other minor technical errors like that. But errors none-the-less. Let alone my real Achilles’ Heel…spelling. All this reminded me of a high school teacher that I had. She was as dedicated to serving others (students in this case} as any fireman, police officer or emergency health care provider.

I was so fortunate to have, not one, but four great influences from high school that prepared me for my professional and adult life. Most folks are lucky if they can point to just 1 high school influence that made a transformative impact on our younger lives. I can boast four influences of significance. Not that they would necessarily want me to name them but I would be remiss if I did not give them all a proper shout-out: Irvin Wright, Jacqueline Greenwood, John Thomas and Azilee Kincaid. But the hero in this article is the latter, Mrs. Azilee Kincaid. (I’ll save the other 3 for a later blog post as they were also heroes to me in my high school academic, sports and spiritual growth.)

Mrs. Kincaid was my teacher for a class called Pre-college Grammar. Mrs. Kincaid taught other lower grade English classes as well, but for some reason, I never had her as a teacher until my senior year. Pre-college Grammar was an elective. To tell the truth, I was scared to death of college level courses based on all that I had heard about the preparedness (or lack thereof) of public school students vs. the theoretical superior preparation of my private school peers. So Pre-college Grammar sounded like one of the courses I needed to get ready for the rigors of post-secondary education, and to that point, I was not disappointed.

In this class, we were required to write a paper each week on top of our other homework. But remember, I felt that I was a good writer, so this should not be a problem. The first paper that I turned in came back looking like someone had slit their wrist over the paper it had so much red ink on it. Luckily, I still got a grade of “A-“. But the comments written all over it were, “Please be sure to check your punctuation and your SPELLING”. I don’t want to date myself but it went on to say, “USE A DICTIONARY”. Yes, this story predates Spellcheck, Grammarly, and Google. In fact, the internet would not be developed for several years to come.

The next week I re-doubled my efforts as I was determined to give Mrs. Kincaid the best that I had to offer. Turning it in I was confident. Did I say confident? Well, much to my chagrin it came back with just as much red ink on it. But due to the content, story development and phrasing I still received a “B”. But the warning of “USE A DICTIONARY” was prominently scrawled across the paper. This, also, got me a request to remain after class where the same warning was nicely articulated verbally. She had a kind way about her and even when you were getting scolded she was so pleasant about it. You just felt that you let her down in some way.

“Well, I’m going to make her proud”, I thought. I’m going to kill this next paper. Again, I put my best prose down on paper. By now my punctuation and grammar are showing real improvement. However, that darn spelling was going to be the death of me yet. Being as diligent as I could I turned in my work on Friday that I knew I could be proud of. As our papers were returned that next Monday I did not see copious amounts of red all over the paper. SUCCESS I thought…until I saw my grade…”C-“.

What?! How can that be? Yes, there were a few circled words, but clearly, there was a definite reduction in the use of red ink vs. the prior papers. Upon closer inspection, what I thought was a “few” circled words uncovered several spelling errors. As I flipped through pages it was revealed that, indeed, there were “many” circle words. At the end of the paper was a brief note that simply said, “This is a very good paper BUT I TOLD YOU TO USE A DICTIONARY.” To really burn the seriousness of this message into my brain the note went on to say, “It would have been an A+ and that is the only reason it was not lower than the grade of “C-“.

What was I going to do, sit there with a dictionary in my hand and look up every darn word? Really?! Gone was my cockiness about believing that I was a good writer. In its place was a bit of self-doubt. On the next paper, I sat with my dictionary next to me and I looked up everything that was the least bit questionable. Word after word after word until I must have looked up every 5^th word in the entire paper. No longer was I content to razzle dazzle with a good storyline, compelling content and much-improved grammar. I had to spell words correctly too.  All words!

I wish I could say that that cured me completely. Unfortunately, to this day I still have spelling issues. But I learned some super valuable lessons from Mrs. Kincaid: 1) the quality of my spelling was not going to be tolerated in college; 2) people judge you on your writing regardless of all the other good things about your performance; and 3) I WAS a good writer but not nearly as good as I thought I was. But my deficiencies could be overcome with hard work. All these revelations were due to the fact that Mrs. Kincaid cared to make me see the errors of my ways before it was too late.

As a result, I think I got all “A” grades in my required arts and letters courses in college. Even today, with spellcheck and Grammarly actively working in the background I have a trusted colleague review my important writing, especially if it is going to the board, or to be published.

At the end of my senior year in high school, at the pinning ceremony for the National Honors Society induction, it was Mrs. Kincaid who fought off another teacher to be the one who pinned me. That is a pleasing image that I will take with me to my grave. Thank you, Mrs. Kincaid!

At the beginning of this article, I asked a rhetorical question regarding the value of teachers. Great teachers make a difference to us all. I hope this story and the accompanying spoken word performance by Taylor Mali hammers the point home – teachers are invaluable.  [Taylor Mali.]

Taylor Mali, Youtube – What do teachers make 

P.S. I found out that my public school education was as good at preparing me to be competitive in college as any of my peers. I know someone will be critically reviewing this work to see if they can catch any errors. Please save your “gotcha” comments. I know I’m not infallible. I have been humbled.

Product Positioning Matters – Apple Repositions iPad Pro as a Computer

Have you seen the latest Apple iPad commercials? It is for their iPad Pro. Apple has finally accepted that this device is a replacement to a laptop computer. For years now, since iPad’s inception Apple and the industry has referred to the iPad as a tablet. Well not any more. In order to compete with the latest light weight “convertible” tablet/PCs, which is Windows operating system driven.  In fact, Microsoft’s Surface line, HP Spectre and Samsung’s Galaxy TabPro are the hot completion that probably forced Apple to change the positioning and embrace it for what it is…an ultra lightweight computer.

I suspect that their reluctance to go with the computer positioning long ago, when the Pro version first came out, was to prevent cannibalization of their MacBook Air laptop business. But with touch screen convertible competition bighting at their heels their latest commercial suggests that they have caved under the pressure.

I don’t see this as a defeat for Apple. I think it is great opportunistic re-positioning on their part. The competition has paid to educate the convertible audience that these little guys can do all that their slightly larger cousins can do. In fact, the category that Apple created is under assault and the best way to protect their flank is to join them.

As the guy who has had an older iPad-2 for years now I have used it in every way “except” as a laptop PC replacement.  I think I can finally retire the PC from my travel briefcase (backpack actually) that was always been accompanied by my older iPad because I just didn’t trust that I would be able to handle an unexpected “stop drop and roll” emergency project while traveling.

Perhaps this new computer positioning will allow me to test out the ios world for my main core computing needs and cut the cord to my PC, literally. It’s a brave new world and I have just been too chicken to make the Apple Computer leap. I’m not being a PC hater, but by being so comfortable with my ancient iPad already, I think Apple’s new “computer” position for the iPad Pro may be just enough of a confidence boost to prod me to make the leap…without the proverbial parachute.  Here goes nothing.  Geronimo!

Good product positioning works.

Good Slogans Cut to the Brand Essence

A HubSpot writer, Lindsay Kolowich | @lkolo25, needs credit for a great blog on the value of slogans and taglines.

See the blog.

Good Slogans are memorable and they quickly cut to the brand essence for the reader/hearer.  Kolowich has listed 22 great slogans. Now, I don’t completely agree with all of them as being great legacy slogans but clearly we agree more than we disagree.  Who isn’t still moved by Nike’s Just Do It tag? Good job Lindsay Kolowich .

Marketing Disruption? When Buzzwords Make You Uncomfortable

We live in a world of acronyms, buzzwords and marketing speak. I’ve read that these words have a place in professional language. They are like a kid’s password to the clubhouse. They say, “I’m a member of the club and I belong to this profession”. As business people, and particularly us marketers, we pour it on a bit thick at times. These words and phrases need to continue to change and evolve. Otherwise how would we keep the outsiders out, right?  I’m guilty as charged. Well, let’s just say I participate in the use of buzzwords, phrases and acronyms at least as much as my esteemed colleagues.

But sometimes a word comes into vogue and it leaves me feeling uncomfortable with its new meaning. “Should I incorporate that into my vocabulary?” Sometimes I don’t feel good about it. One example is the growing use of the word “disruption”. I get it, one’s message must be heard to affect change, create consumer/customer activation, gain conversion or land a transaction. Your message, storytelling, technological explanation, consumer education and your call to action is worthless unless you somehow grab the attention of your target audience. But do we really want to “disrupt” them?

When I’m disrupted I get perturbed.  Personally, I don’t want to be disrupted. But if the message or image is compelling, engaging and grabs my attention, I don’t mind being “interrupted”.  Think Matthew Mc Conaughey and Lincoln Cars (hey, I can hear those chuckles), the famous viral ALS Ice Bucket Challenge social media campaign, and one of the best interruptive campaigns ever — the E*TRADE Baby commercials, which are not new but still so effective.

Am I splitting hairs? I have wondered this myself. “Is it just me and is the verb ‘to disrupt’ just a pet peeve of mine?” Perhaps, but I just can’t yet embrace good marketing being a disruption. If it is, I don’t see it as being a positive experience.  I get it, but for the sake of having fun please indulge me.

At political rallies, protesters are often referred to as disrupting the event. I see the value in civil disobedience and disrupting for a worthy cause. Extreme acts can accomplish extreme good. The goal of gaining awareness for the cause that otherwise could have been ignored is a good thing. But can’t there be negative blowback associated with disruptive actions just for the sake of selling product? As marketers we are seldom pushing a social platform that is as important as the common good and affecting social change. Therefore, why do we need to disrupt?

Perhaps PETA needs to disrupt. Underserved populations need advocates who disrupt in order for their voices and be heard. Battered women and children need to be heard loud and clear…and to all of them, and the like, I say DISRUPT as much as you need.  Please be heard. But marketers who strive to gain incremental lift on volume and heightened brand awareness for a fast moving consumer good (FMCG) this does not pass the disruption test.  Marketers do not need to disrupt people to get the message across.  Colleagues, now that you have gained national awareness for your product how much reputation damage occurred due to the disruptive message.  Perhaps it is actually interruption that we really desire.  If so, let’s call it that…not disruption.

Let’s say there are those out there who disagree. You may feel that disruption is the best way to break through the clutter with your message, to achieve the highest ROI for your media budget and to gain market share.  Mission accomplished. America now knows the amazing product benefits of said product. For me, personally, now you have to make me like your company because you went in too hard with the message and disrupted me (i.e. damage control is needed). Whenever I hear about marketing intentionality of to disrupt, no matter how great the product may be, a twinge of discomfort runs through my body when I know the strategy was to disrupt me. I guess that word disrupts my positive vibe, challenges my attempts to have a calm spirit and overall clouds my good-thoughts.

Marketers go ahead and interrupt with compelling content, creative executions and outstanding graphic design but don’t “disrupt” me while I’m getting my “chi” on.  Okay?!  Whooosahhhhh.

Like or follow me using the social media buttons at the bottom of my website at http://www.wendell-hall.com/ .

The New Face of Diversity…Called Multiculturalism

Just when we all thought we were current on what diversity looks like, the game changes again. As business people we speak of diversity all the time. It is usually in the context of organizational structure, staffing or marketing plans. Few evolved business leaders will disagree that diversity is a good thing for American business. When a diverse workforce builds a company, develops a product, creates a marketing position or a message it is almost always better and offers a broader appeal if the development work is from a diverse mindset. Some individuals are naturally gifted to be able to singularly think from a diverse perspective. Most likely though the diverse viewpoint comes from a diverse team of colleagues. That is why human resource and organizational strategists push for this thing called “diversity”. Oh, I’m not . I know that sometimes it is the optics that drives the push for a diverse workforce. And sometimes it is good old governmental intervention, particularly if government contracts are in play. But at the end of the day CEOs and business leaders will talk about diversity as a positive condition to aspire to.

Take Silicon Valley for instance. I will speak in the collective about the tech industry, not wanting to shame any particular major tech company. (Google “How Silicon Valley is trying to fix its diversity problem”.)  Silicon Valley firms have openly addressed their gross shortcomings regarding ethnic diversity among their workforce. The root cause has been debated for some time now, with no appreciable improvement. I believe that the c-suite of these companies is, indeed, scratching their heads about how to fix this problem. Don’t get me wrong, I believe if they were as committed as they lead us to believe there would at least be some incremental improvement. After all, these are the most creative and innovative business leaders in the world running these companies. They can do much better than they have, particularly since they, themselves, have identified it as a problem needing to be resolved. But they are not alone in wanting a quick and easy fix to their homogenous employee pool.

I’m speaking of ethic and national origin oneness, not gender diversity as I feel their gender hiring is far more in line with industry norms. I think the problem is that they still want to fix the old diversity problem and have not realized that the problem is not the same diversity challenge of old. Today, to effectively achieve a representative mix you must think in “multicultural” terms. Yes, multiculturalism is the new face of diversity.

I can hear the exasperated tone in your voice already. Just when you got your diversity plan in place here I come with another “ism” to incorporate into your business, marketing and staffing plans. Intentionality in achieving the “proper” mix (whatever that is) is not enough. Historically we can look back to the 1950s and 60s of the civil rights era. Back then we thought everything would be in cosmic alignment if we had desegregation. The problem with desegregation was that some group, or both groups, had to be grossly inconvenienced by displacement to force change. It was not a natural occurrence. It was a contrived action and often against the will of innocent parties to achieve the goal. Just think of the failed bussing programs in school systems in the 60s and 70s.

Diversity started to gain popularity as a business construct in the 80s. That is when we started to see corporate positions and departments tasked with achieving diversity in the workplace. If you are old enough you may remember the Diversity VP and director roles that cropped up on organization charts. Still popular today are the diversity procurement functions. For this reason the rest of this article excludes procurement diversity because the motivations are so vastly different from all other forms of diversity initiatives.

Marketing teams across the largest consumer products companies started developing niche marketing strategies to reach broader, more diverse, consumer segments. From my personal experience there were 2 problems with these well intentioned efforts. First, when budgets got tight, and they often did annually, the first marketing campaigns to go were the ethnic marketing spending. Thus, the well crafted media strategies that were built around achieving 3-plus impressions never attained enough exposure or share of voice to have the message resonate with the segmented target consumers. Gross Rating Point (GRP) advertising weight goals were never achieved. Secondly, from the senior staff on down to the brand assistants that had a diversity focus were also expendable. They may not have been released but at best they were absorbed back into the core marketing teams, therefore, abandoning the diversity initiatives. Over time it became painfully obvious that if diversity was to thrive we had to re-double our efforts and not short-shrift diversity initiatives. By the 90s we had figured out this thing called diversity…or had we? Things were still changing.

By the 2000s we had so overused the term that the spirit of real diversity had been watered down. The term no longer carried the same weight as the must-achieve goals of old. We were all on autopilot. We often achieved our stated diversity goals. We did whatever it took to maintain our diversity balance but it was no longer the flag waving cause that it once was. The diversity dragon had been slayed and we all went to sleep.

But just when we thought it was safe to back in the water globalization and global markets caused us to rethink our strategies. Multiculturalism became the new buzzword. Globalization is what started the “newish” conversation around cross-cultural segmentation. But the thing that is currently on my personal radar is homegrown cultural confusion, which is happening all around us, all the time.

I can best explain what I mean by citing an example of what I witnessed last week. This story starts out dark but please stick with it. I promise it has an uplifting ending that includes a moral to the story for all of us. If we just listen to these subtle allegories in life we will have learning opportunities aplenty. I was headed to my local Starbucks which is right around the corner from my house. As I approached I heard the distinct sound of a heated conversation. As I got closer, I saw it for what it really was…it was out and out bickering. What really gained my attention was the liberal use of the “N” word. Not the word that is pronounced with an “ah” at the end but the really inflammatory “er” ending on the word. Don’t be shocked that I make a distinction between the 2 uses of the word. The hip-hop culture has sanitized the word ending in “ah” for many African-Americans. Dangerously, some outside the Black community have picked up on this too. My advice, if you are not black, there is no acceptable option. Simply don’t use it at all. But that has merely made the word ending in “er” that much more vile because if said in that vernacular it is unmistakably meant to cause hurt. As an African-American myself my ears are very attuned to the sound of that word ending in “er”.

I looked around to see what the situation was. There was a Caucasian man in his late 30s or early 40s freely throwing the “N” word around. It was directed at an older Black lady. But she too was assailing his heritage with ever other word. Words like “trailer” and “trash” were combined in very creative ways to equally cause harm to him. I think there were some references to his mother thrown in there too. I looked at the man to gain eye contact. It was apparent by the look in his eyes that he was not intimidated by my presence.

I entered the Starbucks to place my order. After receiving my Grande brew I looked out the window to see what the current state of the altercation was. I looked up just in time to see… (Wait for it, wait for it) …to see the two of them hugging. Yes, I said hugging!  It gets better. I slowly walked to the corner to feign crossing the street but I was still watching the events unfold out of the corner of my eye. The woman moved over to the bus stop where she sat on a bench. The man slowly, non-threateningly approached her and sat down next to the woman. I learned he did so to get to know her, not confront her. They freely talked without any vitriol in their voices. I couldn’t really hear their conversation but their body language said it all. They were engaging each other in friendship. Soon the man got up to leave and before he departed he reached down and hugged her again. MY HEART SOARED. I had to go over and just say thank-you to both of them. They understood my meaning.

Here is the backdrop of this neighborhood. It is called Oak Lawn in Dallas, TX. This area is in transition. It is just a few blocks from our northern neighbors; one of the wealthiest areas of DFW; the state of Texas and arguably one of the richest communities in the whole country called Highland Park and University Park. Together they are commonly referred to as the Park Cities. To the South is a slowly gentrifying old community of single family homes that are made up of middle class working households. Just to the west are old-school public housing projects and section 8 apartments. And finally, to the east is the Uptown area which is made up of millennial and gen-Y young professionals who are attracted to this locale because of its proximity to Downtown Dallas and the active nightlife. And if you thought that wasn’t enough culture mixing in this area, Oak Lawn is ground-zero for the LGBT community of Dallas.

I can’t identify with any of the aforementioned groups, so I guess there is at least one more segment attracted to this area. I and others like me are attracted to this area because of the mixing of cultures. Like a good stew (or gumbo if you are from the South) it gets better the more things that are thrown into the pot.

If diversity issues were all we needed to be concerned about, the heated exchange between the man and woman would, probably, never have happened. But the dynamics that drove the heated portion of their encounter was a culture-clash. But I believe that is also what allowed then to hug-it-out in the end. The same fuel that supercharged the situation with tension was also the medicine to cause them to reach an understanding. They had just engaged in the most organic multicultural exchange that any change management course moderator could have contrived, on their best day. But these two were already aware that they were living in the midst of many shifting cultures. Their mindset was already attuned to being open to new learnings and a keen understanding of those that are different from them by culture, not race and/or national origin.

Let the culture mixing begin. Besides, this is one of the best forms of job security for us marketers. Can anyone say “re-write” to the old diversity strategic plan.