When workplaces introduced “diversity into the organizational lexicon, it usually referred to racial, ethnic, and/or gender diversity. Recently the importance of style and generational diversity has received attention as well. I’ll offer a few thoughts on style diversity in this post and consider generational diversity at Working With Twentysomethings.

There are many style tools in use today. One of the oldest, most common, and most well researched is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®). The MBTI®, which has been in use since right after World War II, is based upon Carl Jung’s personality type theory. The MBTI® provides information about our preferences regarding where we get our energy, how we perceive data and make decisions, and whether we prefer to orient ourselves to the external world in a structured or flexible manner.

While it is no surprise that we are generally more comfortable being around people who are similar to us, we also learn that life can be richer and more interesting when we choose to be with those who are different from us in some way. The MBTI® is no exception. We tend to be more comfortable around people with the same type preferences because it is easier to relate to them. However, people who have similar style preferences, also tend to share the same blind spots. So surrounding ourselves with people who have styles different from us opens the possibility of richer conversations and better decisions that benefit from those different perspectives.

Sometimes I will see organizations where there are one or two style preferences that predominate. And by the organizations’ own admission, everyone seems to see the world the same way. What I have noticed is that when one style preference is in the majority, an organization may unconsciously continue to hire people with that same preference. So the style of the organization can get more homogeneous.

As an aside, the same phenomenon exists when a company tends to recruit talent from the same schools year after year. As a Princeton graduate, I can say that the senior thesis and the instructional method of using small classes called preceptorials has a profound effect on shaping the way students from that institution think. The senior thesis is an 18,000-word research paper that all students complete in order to graduate. The preceptorial method, introduced in 1905 under Princeton President Woodrow Wilson’s leadership, is a method of study in which a small group of students meets in regular sessions with a faculty member. As a result of the senior thesis experience you learn how to research a problem, think critically, and write coherently. And when you are in a small class with your professor and six to eight other students you learn to be prepared. If I work in a company with only Princeton graduates, I know we will have had those common experiences and I will have a pretty good idea of how people will approach a problem. What I lose is the diversity of thinking that would come from being with other smart people who have had a different academic experience , and learned from different teachers.

So, while the diversity tension that comes from bringing together different styles and academic experiences can be challenging, those different perspectives can pay dividends for a company.

As I follow the 2008 Presidential, Congressional, and Senate campaigns, and listen to others talking about them, I hear a lot of criticism about “government. I hear words like inefficient, unresponsive, and incompetent when people talk about government-run services. In the same breath, these critics say that we need private sector solutions – particularly for health care.

Has anyone tried to get medical bills paid through a fragmented health care delivery and payment system lately? Have these critics tried to resolve issues with their credit card, cable or cell phone company only to find it to be a miracle when you can actually talk to a person.

Here is my favorite private sector stories for this week.

First, I ordered a product on the internet and paid for two day shipping with one of the main stream private sector shipping companies. I tracked the package online and discovered that it was not going to be delivered on time because of “an emergency situation beyond our control. After a phone call to the 800 number I learned that (a) people at the call desk and even at the local distribution center have no idea what the emergency actually was; (b) that designation is often used when the driver simply runs out of time to make the delivery; and (c) because it is “beyond the company’s control the consumer is not entitled to any refund! It is also curious that the local distribution centers cannot take incoming phone calls and can only be contacted by the central call center by E-MAIL! When I have mailed an express letter through the much maligned USPS, and it does not arrive by the promised time, I have gotten reimbursed for the cost of the postage.

Second, a couple of months ago I am embarrassed to say that I cut my thumb while preparing dinner. After a not so quick trip to the ER and several stitches later the “fun actually began. The hospital where I went staffs its ER with physicians from a non-hospital clinic. The billing department at this private hospital is supposed send the patient’s insurance data to the physician’s practice administrator, but routinely does not. While the hospital bill was paid without a glitch, I am still getting bills from the ER physician’s clinic – in spite of the fact that I personally sent them my insurance info.

Third, I recently got a new VISA business card – it only took THREE mailings of the new card until this company finally got my name spelled correctly!

So how about we change the discourse about incompetence to include these “private sector solutions as well?