THE CHAIR of the Harlow Hindu Society delivered a fascinating speech as part of a Diversity event at Harlow Council chambers on Thursday night.

Nishall Garala’s speech is below

“Look around, what do you see?

I see humans, but not just humans, incredible humans with different thoughts, experiences, and backgrounds that make our town extraordinary.

When you’re in business, regardless of the industry you are in, you are always told to diversify to survive, whether it be people, products, or services, so, how different is that from our community?

Let’s take the iPhone as an example, most people will agree they are great phones. If Apple didn’t diversify their workforce, we’d still have great phones, but would we know how great they were in reality without using them? Probably not.

Apple has some of the world’s best engineers, no doubt, but if they were left to do the marketing, they’ll probably stick to the technical specs. They’d probably emphasize the phone has 256GB of memory, but what does that even mean? But by diversifying their staff, and getting people who are marketers, and not engineers, they actually say your phone could store up to 8,000 + photos. Now, this makes more sense to me than 256GB.

We can apply this concept in diversifying our communities.

Firstly, we need to do more to promote acceptance and tolerance of diversity. We need to teach our friends, our families, and the people around us about the importance of respecting people who are different from them. We need to challenge prejudice and discrimination whenever we see it.

We also need to be aware of our own biases. We all have biases, but we can learn to recognize them and overcome them. This will also help prevent tokenism.

When we accept and tolerate diversity, we make the world a better place for everyone; we create a more just and equitable society where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. Not only that, but by embracing unique cultures, traditions, and perspectives, it helps us become stronger as we learn and gain new understandings.

Even in the work I do, whether it be the president of Harlow Hindu Society, coordinator of #BigUpHarlow or a charity trustee, I try and get opinions from everyone from different backgrounds and understandings of society, and this makes a big difference in the results I produce, even when you have years of experience.

A diverse mind helps to create a diverse society, fact. By including individuals from various backgrounds and experiences, you can foster a creative environment where different ideas and solutions are brought to the table. This can lead to breakthroughs, unique approaches, and ultimately, progress within communities. i.e., getting more inclusive and comprehensive approaches to addressing community needs and challenges, and creating a more vibrant and dynamic environment for everyone.

“So, if we take Apple’s workforce diversity concept, and apply it to our community, imagine what we could achieve? Imagine what heights Harlow could reach, if we don’t just stick to our comfort circles”.