I’d like to start this post off by thanking my eighth grade science teacher Mr. Prato. For his many scientific and un-scientific lessons, weekly Friday ‘Question Day’, his tough love, and this gem that’s stayed with me for a lifetime:
“In life we shouldn’t be questioning why we have so many differences. No, we should be question why the hell we’re all so much alike”
I often think of this as I watch seasons of the Office for the millionth time. Could you in again a band any more different, and crazy, and yet loveable? What I admire most about the Scranton crew is that here is this mix of people who are nuts, wild, nice , inept, ineffective, straight, gay, black, white, Hispanic, antisocial, mature, immature, married, single, fat, skinny – and cohesive. No matter what anyone’s personal feelings or rivalries are, they make it work in spite of their differences and would put their feet to the fire for each other. So concerned we’re they that everyone keep their jobs, they’d do anything. And as a result, they had the highest sales in Dundee Mifflin and outlasted executives and entire branches at that. Much to the miraculous disbelief of corporate. But an amazing allegory for all of us.
Now Mr. Prato stated his quote in the context of a scientific discussion of randomness and experimentation, but we were crystal clear on the subtext. I had the luxury of going to a very diverse middle school and Mr. Prato’s beloved understated Italian mafia vibe gave no leeway to subtlety.
In light of all that’s going in today with racial and political reckonings, and nationalism on alarming scales I often think of his statement and how beautifully it applies to all manner of subjects. Any area of life you can think of benefits so greatly from diversity, it’s not easy to encapsulate in words.
Diversity of race and ethnicity bring to organizations a wealth of resources to help them conquer market shares. It elevates all manner of people and all manner of workers. Diversity of thought in politics enables a balance of both economic and civic achievements that make life pleasurable for all and dreams attainable for all no matter where you are on the ‘dream’ spectrum.
Similarly, diversity of skill is important for your projects and most definitely my PMOs. Junior, intermediate, and senior PMs; agile experts and scrum ninjas. Those who are more skilled in day to day operations and those who are more suited to governance. DevOps and Marketing Specialists. You name it, the greater diversity you can achieve in you project’s skill mix- the exponentially greater the outcome.
I hope that you think of this in your hiring, resource allocation and project green lighting activities. May you also think of this in your personal life as we move forward from 2020. Let’s make the aftermath an afterglow.
MissPMO 
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