How would you answer this question?

Ok everytime Marty has an interview within the state he always gets asked this question and he always answers it, but never hits a key word.

What is diversity?

He has a very important interview coming up with state highway soon!

Diversity in the workplace is:

employing people without discrimination on the basis of gender, age and ethnic or racial background.

But I would think that this answer could probably be relative to the position for which he is applying.  What type of position is he applying for?

See thats what I think it means too, but he's used that in the past and never really answered their question. Its boggled us.

He is interviewing for supervisor with state highway.

that's odd.

so I googled it.

I found:

http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~asuomca/diversityinit/definition.html

which says:

The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect.
It means understanding that each individual is unique,
and recognizing our individual differences.  These can be along
the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs,
political beliefs, or other ideologies.  It is the exploration
of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment.
It is about understanding each other and moving beyond
simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the
rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.

Which I really like.

but also to me it means TOLERANCE....

You know today Ive asked around and have been getting many different answers but this one and another one came down to the same thing, tolerance. Maybe thats the key word they are looking for.

I go with this
The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect.
It means understanding that each individual is unique,
and recognizing our individual differences.  These can be along
the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs,
political beliefs, or other ideologies.  It is the exploration
of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment.
It is about understanding each other and moving beyond
simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the
rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.
It is not the PC some agencies are looking for but its good.  Very hard to express on a one on one

I would make sure that the words acceptance, respect, and maybe tolerance made their way into my answer.  And he needs to answer in a way that frames diversity as a positive (i.e. using the words "regardless of ethnicity" rather than "despite ethnicity").  Possibly open with something like "Actually, the diverse workforce is one of the reasons I want to work here."

If asked that question, I would make a point to highlight what I believe is the main benefit of diversity in the workplace.  The greatest benefit of diversity is achieving diversity of thought.  Because we are all different as far as ethnicity, religion, gender, etc., we all think differently.  These diverse thoughts allow us to approach problem solving from different angles making your diverse team more successful than a non diverse team.

If you had 5 people in one room and they were all nearly identical as far as their backgrounds, you decrease the odds of coming up with unique and insightful ideas.  Now imagine if you took 5 people who came from different backgrounds and asked them to solve problems in the workplace.  You get different perspectives and the odds are someone will mention something that others may not have thought of yet.

Diversity is about more than just black/white/brown, male/female/both, baptist/muslim/catholic.  A person that values diversity knows that everyone has valuable contributions to make if placed in an open minded environment.  The person who values diversity will leverage the talents of EVERYONE in the organization knowing that diverse backgrounds offer the greatest chance for diversity of thought.

Big Sam thanks for this spin on diversity. I printed this out and he liked it a lot.

Mellie, congrats on Marty getting an interview - my husband hasn't been able to find a job yet. 

Diversity is definitely a difficult question - and I do make it a point to be positive - almost along the lines of what Purple Kelly said.

Here's the one I have been dealing with....

If you are hearing impaired and consider yourself disabled.......

When do you tell them?  So, when would you tell them?

I have this issue because I don't want to come across as playing the disability card to get a job.