Kathy Castania, Peter F Drucker, and Dave Meldahl

Simply by coincidence, I read these articles in the order that I liked them - or liked their message - from least to greatest. Starting with "The Evolving Language of Diversity," I was biased going in. In my Literature class this semester we are discussing how sexuality came to be defined in the Victorian Era; it was done mostly through the control and enforcement of language and discourse. So while Castania might think she is breaking through boundaries and walls of suppression with these language ideas, I am led to believe that she is doing exactly what the suppressors want her to do. Extreme, I know, but my Literature class basically ruined this article for me, because the following passage on page one exactly relates to the ideas we have discussed:

"We need to know how to name what is all around us and to do it in ways that will keep everyone involved. Having an understanding of the overall dynamics of a dominator society with a history of racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, adultism, etc. allows us to engage each other in what to do about it. Using words that describe groups more accurately is a part of this process." 

In the Victorian Era, discourse on all of these "Others" was encouraged because it made them into "Others."
     But I'm getting off topic. What I really wanted to emphasize was the highlight of inner difficulties and strife that all of these articles discussed. Castania supports an idea that will require us all to delve deep and decide how we have been using language and how we can consciously change it; Peter Drucker encourages us to, "waste as little effort as possible on improving areas of low competence" (4), which would be hard for a majority of people - to basically disregard those areas and accept that there can be no major improvement.
Drucker's idea is a relatively easy one to grasp, but very difficult to apply: "Do not try to change yourself....But work hard to improve the way you perform" (5). And especially, "The person who has learned that he or she does not perform well in a big organization should have learned to say no to a position in one" (7).
     Then, Dave Meldahl's article delves even deeper into the personal as it explains that we must not get defensive when confronted with our weaknesses, "Your approach needs to be listening-focused and non-defensive." This is an idea that I know I have a problem with and I know many others to struggle with.
     All three of these pieces encourage us to do things that will be difficult and that we will have to actively enforce within ourselves.