1. Rev. David Bergstrom, M.Div.
Diversity & Difference Connecting with others, yourself, and your creativity
Rev. David Bergstrom, M.Div.
Pastoral Services
Altru Health System

5. “Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each others’ eyes for an instant?”
Henry David Thoreau

6. Diversity is about people…
how we are different…
and how we try to get along with each other.

7. Culture Defined
Culture is all of the visible, invisible, acceptable and unacceptable things that happen in our lives that define our existence.

8. Respect Defined
The attitude of being at peace with those different from you, allowing them to live and pursue their goals and dreams without hindrance, and with all of the same freedom that you enjoy.

12. “Every change in the quality of a person’s life must grow out of a change in his or her vision of reality.”
Brennan Manning,
The Wisdom of Tenderness

15. “The true sign of intelligence is not wisdom but imagination.”
Albert Einstein

16. What is the opposite of diversity?
Sameness
Uniformity
Agreement
Conformity
Similarity
Identicalness

19. Yesterday’s solutions no longer work today.

20. Open-minded people don’t care about being right, they care about understanding

22. “The human spirit lives on creativity and dies in conformity and routine.”
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

23. Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Frames of Mind, Howard Gardner, 1983

24. “Creativity is intelligence having fun.”
Albert Einstein

25. Creativity is…
Expanding of the range and diversity of what you can know, evaluate, and control
Increasing in your ability to appreciate other persons across greater barriers of estrangement
Increasing in the freedom to absorb a cause acting upon yourself in such a way that it fulfils you
“Man’s Ultimate Commitment,” Henry Nelson Wieman. UPA Publishing, 1958

26. Socially diverse groups are more innovative than homogeneous groups.
Diversity Helps Us All
Socially diverse groups are more innovative than homogeneous groups.

27. Diversity Helps Us All
The presence of difference forces group members to prepare better, to anticipate alternative viewpoints, and to expect that reaching consensus will take effort.
From “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” by Katherine Phillips, Scientific American, Volume 311, Issue 4

28. How Diversity Provokes Thought
Impact of racial diversity on small decision-making groups.
From “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” by Katherine Phillips, Scientific American, Volume 311, Issue 4

29. How Diversity Provokes Thought
Being with similar others leads us to think we all hold the same information and perspective.
From “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” by Katherine Phillips, Scientific American, Volume 311, Issue 4

30. How Diversity Provokes Thought
186 people identified as Democrat or Republican, then asked to read a murder mystery.
From “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” by Katherine Phillips, Scientific American, Volume 311, Issue 4

31. How Diversity Provokes Thought
From “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” by Katherine Phillips, Scientific American, Volume 311, Issue 4

32. How Diversity Provokes Thought
When disagreement comes from a socially different person, we are prompted to work harder. Diversity jolts us into cognitive action in ways that homogeneity simply does not.
From “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” by Katherine Phillips, Scientific American, Volume 311, Issue 4

33. The Power of Anticipation
Members of a homogeneous group rest somewhat assured that they will agree with one another; that they will understand one another’s perspectives and beliefs; that they will be able to easily come to a consensus.

34. The Power of Anticipation
When members of a group notice that they are socially different from one another, they change their expectations.

35. The Power of Anticipation
Differences are anticipated
Assume more work needed for consensus
People work harder cognitively and socially
Hard work leads to better outcomes

36. How do you prepare for the meeting?
Will you work harder?
Practice explaining your rationale?
Anticipate alternatives?

39. Respect what you know

40. Respect what you know Don’t give up on what you know
Admire and cherish what you believe
Accept your natural intelligence and knowledge and use it!
Sing with it, play with it, dance with it!
The world is not served when you play small

41. Respect what you don’t know

48. Open-minded people don’t care about being right as much as they care about understanding.

50. Respect your community/others

52. “The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community

53. Healthy hospital communities are awaiting us if we will love the ones who are already here, and continue to welcome and love others.

54. They are worth it
It brings good survey results – better reimbursement
To communicate belonging
It is only the people who belong that can welcome and invite others to belong as well.

55. “We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong. When those needs are not met, we don’t function as we were meant to.”
Brené Brown
The Gifts of Imperfection

58. Respect
for
ourselves

61. “We can talk about [respect and compassion] until we sound like a greeting card store, but unless we’re willing to have an honest conversation about what gets in the way of putting these into practice in our daily lives,
we will never change.”
Brené Brown
The Gifts of Imperfection

62. What part of life makes it difficult to care for yourself?
What stops you from being proud of who you are and what you have to offer?

64. Stress of self-talk

70. The journey of connecting with others is never a greater distance than the journey of connecting with yourself.

75. Tools for Self-Care & Self-Love
Be aware of your feelings
Ask, “What is it about today that makes it harder to care for yourself or others?”
Change how you talk to yourself
“I never do anything right!”
“I TELL MYSELF I never do anything right.”
Allow yourself to be authentic, vulnerable, and imperfect

76. The Gifts of Imperfection
Brené Brown
The Wisdom of Tenderness
Brennan Manning
Self-Compassion
Kristin Neff