NEW YORK, NY - There seems to have been a quite the kerfuffle lately about certain firms and their recent promotion practices. Now I’ve been in the corporate world for nearly three decades and I think we’ve all done more than enough to engender representation in our ranks.
[Ed. note: Mr. Friedman’s opinions do not necessarily represent the views of this publication]
My own firm, Fritz, Julius & Kuhn, has always been a leader in hiring men from diverse ethnic backgrounds. We already have quite a few whites, some Scandinavians, a Canadian or two, and at least one Scots-Irish (he’s mixed-race, but doesn’t like to talk about it). People will say, however, that the senior leadership must reflect the changing world as well; but look no further, in 2014 Fritz, Julius named a Juan Carlos to our board of directors to show our commitment to the Hispanic community. As the trendsetter, we have seen our peers follow in our wake. Lindberg & Ford, another fine institution, reportedly even had an oriental fellow back in the ’90s. What more does the peanut gallery demand?
Indeed, many of us recognize the need for intersectionality and have already diversified beyond ethnicity or skull phrenotype. Almost every firm hires those from different economic perspectives. Fritz, Julius reached all the way down to a state school to show that we care about the lower classes, and I can tell you that “Mr. UC-Berkeley” is doing just fine in his new role as copy boy.
So if we already have a rainbow coalition rising through our ranks, then why is everyone complaining? It’s not like anyone says that there aren’t enough Princeton fellows in the ditch-digging trade.
Mr. Friedman is the Chief Diversity Officer of Fritz, Julius & Kuhn, an import/export firm specializing in Pangolin scales