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To propel meaningful change leverage the promise of Diversity & Inclusion.
Why diversity? If we draw a parallel to the rise and fall of the Roman and Greek empires, consider the
differences between the two and similarities to what we face as a nation. After nearly a 500-year run as
the world’s greatest superpower, historians have blamed the collapse of Rome on hundreds of different
factors ranging from military failures and crippling taxation to natural disasters and even climate
change. Some might suggest it was the culmination of factors such as:
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Economic troubles and overreliance on slave labor
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Overexpansion and military overspending
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Government corruption and political instability
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Christianity and the loss of traditional values
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Weakening of the Roman legions
Contrast that with what we can learn from the Ancient Greeks – given the question of the day running
around inside the beltway with pollsters, pundits as well as the Chief Human Capital Officers Council
“How Can We Work To Improve The Perception of Public Service?
Considering history lessons from the Greeks, the fact that one of the smallest geographic regions,
produced such an innovative culture of learning in STEM but in the application of that learning facing
geo-political conflicts and war, as you recall the city-states had to come together. Military historians
may say it was the notion of the phalanx, but more important the notion of Diversity is the true take-
away for me. If history teaches us nothing it speaks to us today, for example thinking in the context of
Talent Management I recently read a piece on the Greek Army not unlike the recent movie 300 that
depicted the battle of Thermopylae. “A well formed Ancient Greek army, however, didn’t just have a
phalanx. What made the Ancient Greeks so effective was the sheer diversity in their troops.
Figure 4 Brookings America’s Advanced Industries