In the News

Benson: Business Sets Good Example in Diversity

By Dawn Schuett, schuett@postbulletin.com

January 14, 2005

As the former executive director of the Minnesota Business Partnership, Duane Benson is convinced the business world understands the value of diversity, but that's not the case for many people.

"If we don't start engaging each other, we won't maximize the opportunity," Benson said Thursday as the guest speaker of the annual meeting of the Diversity Council in Rochester. Benson, also a former state senator and NFL linebacker, said businesses are trying to make sure their employees feel like they belong to a community in the workplace. However, that sense of community doesn't exist outside the workplace, he said.

"We all need to belong beyond where we work," Benson told about 200 people attending the meeting at the Kahler Grand Hotel.

Instead, "we are isolated," he said, quoting a statistic that only one of four Americans knows his neighbor. "We do not communicate with each other."

People need to reach out to each other and seize the opportunity to embrace diversity, he said.

He also said more should be expected from schools in providing a quality education for all students.

"The behavior we model will be replicated," Benson said. "We should be empowering people by being good role models, by being good examples."

During the meeting, the Diversity Council and Olmsted County Human Rights Commission also announced its annual awards.

The council's Champion of Diversity Awards went to Mary Callier and Robin Taylor. The recipients of the Human Rights Awards, presented jointly by the council and commission, included Tara Kotagal, Liz Newman, Abdul Noor, and Greg Parker.

© 2005 Post Bulletin. Used by permission.

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