Diversity is Not a Buzzword.
It’s a Competitive Advantage.
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Audio Title: Diversity is not a buzzword. It’s a competitive advantage.
Description: This week, I sat next to the University of Pretoria Women's Rugby Sevens Team. I was working on my laptop while my own daughter was practicing. What I saw in front of me stayed with me the whole day. And it wasn't the fact that the ladies played great rugby, but because of what they present
This week, I sat next to the University of Pretoria Women’s Rugby Sevens Team. I was working on my laptop while my own daughter was practicing. What I saw in front of me stayed with me the whole day. And it wasn’t the fact that the ladies played great rugby, but because of what they present.
This was a team that looked like South Africa. There were coloured, Zulu, Tswana, Pedi, Afrikaans and English girls in the team. They are from different languages, cultures and histories, but they had sort of a common language and understanding among them.
If you look at South Africa through the lens of the media, you would expect tension, division, misunderstanding and distance. That was not what I saw at all.
Juran van den heever
PURPOSE AND GROWTH | EMPOWERING AFRICAN BRANDS TO LEAD AND SCALE | CMO, FIO CAPITAL | DRIVING GROWTH ACROSS THE CONTINENT
They Had One Language
Despite all their differences, they understood each other. They had a common language, it was not just words, but there was a purpose. Something deeper, something they understood. Trust and respect and direction.
“They didn’t erase their differences, they played through them.”
– Juran van den Heever
In South Africa, we are often consumed by the negative. We focus on what’s broken and divided and on things that are not working. While we do that, we miss what is quietly working every single day, on the fields and communities among young people who are simply getting on with it.
The youth are already showing us the way. What struck me most was that they are not overthinking it, they are not stuck in narratives, they are doing the work of being together. And maybe that is the lesson. Maybe unity is not something we debate into existence, it is maybe something we practice.
Business needs this more than ever
In business, we talk about diversity., We write policies and frameworks and measure representation, but we often miss the most important part. Do we have a common language? Diversity without connection is just structure but with a shared purpose there is really true power and momentum.
That Tuks ladies rugby team didn’t become one because they are the same. They become one because they chose to meet each other in the middle. That is something we as South Africans, and Africans in a whole need to remember. The future of this continent is not being built in debates, but in places where people choose to understand each other.
Africa already has the advantage. Diversity is not something we need to import, It is who we are. We are already wired differently, we have to harness it.
Tonight my daughter begged me to go and watch this team play, and we will be at the kick off at 15:00. There I can witness the unity in diversity on the field.
As Chief Marketing Officer at Fio Capital, Juran van den Heever combines a PhD in Communication Management with over a decade of brand-building experience to deliver growth strategies that drive both profit and positive change.
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