One of the greatest strengths diversity brings to any organization is perspective.
In my work, I frequently travel to communities across the Bering Strait region and work closely with local governments. Most village governments operate with minimal staff. A city clerk or administrator often wears multiple, expected to manage finances, grants, payroll, council administration, elections, utilities, and countless other responsibilities. It can be overwhelming, especially when there is limited training, support, or institutional knowledge available.
Before serving in my current role, I worked as the city clerk for Whtie Mountain. When I arrived, the previous clerk had left on difficult terms and was unwilling to train me. The utility clerk had started six months prior and was still learning the ropes as well. I like to say the experience was a trial by fire, especially since I had no prior experience in local government or office work. I was a commercial fisherman and graduate student in a previous life.
One thing I noticed early on, both in White Mountain and in the communities I work with today, was the response I would receive when I asked why something was done in a certain way: “Because that’s how we’ve always done it.”
On its face, there is nothing inherently wrong with that answer. The fact that I am engaging with indigenous communities that answer carries significant weight because they have lived in this region for centuries. However, when it comes to local government and longstanding practices that contribute to problems such as weak internal controls, inadequate personnel policies, low wages, limited employee development, financial challenges, or ineffective governance, the phrase “that’s how we’ve always done it” can become a warning sign. It indicates, to me, that the organization has stopped questioning itself.
In my graduate work, I used phenomenology to study lived experience, and one of the philosophers who shaped that tradition was Edmund Husserl. Husserl described what he called the natural attitude: the ordinary way we move through the world when its routines, assumptions, and meanings feel obvious and need no explanation. In everyday life, that attitude is necessary. But in institutions, it can also make long-standing problems look normal. Practice becomes part of the background. People stop asking why. They say, “this is how we’ve always done it,” not always because they are resistant to change but because the system has come to feel self-evident from the inside.
That idea helped me make sense of what I encountered while learning the job. I am curious by nature, and because I came from a different background, brought different expectations, and took courses in accounting, I kept asking questions. Why was this check written? Why was this lease structured this way? Why was there no explanation in the records? In countless cases, there was no context because record keeping was poor, histories were fragmented, and practices had become normalized over time. To the community, I was someone without a local history. To me, the community was a place I saw with fresh eyes. That distance made certain things visible. What had become ordinary to others stood out to me as something that needed explanation. Husserl would say that I was running up against what had been taken for granted within the community’s everyday world.
This is one why reason diversity matters. Diversity is not only about representation, but important as that is. It is also about bringing different histories, disciplines, assumptions, and ways of noticing into the same room. When everyone shares the same background and understanding, institutions can stagnate. The taken-for-granted assumptions to function regularly become dangerous when they prevent us from noticing dysfunctions, asking questions, or imagining alternatives. But, when new perspectives meet local knowledge, what once seemed fixed can be questioned, improved, and renewed. In that sense, diversity is not a threat to a community’s strength. It is often one of the ways a community becomes capable of seeing itself clearly enough to grow.
This is where diversity demonstrates its value. Diversity is often discussed in terms of race, culture, gender, or ethnicity, and those forms of diversity are important. But diversity of experience, perspective, education, and life history are equally valuable. When everyone in an organization shares the same assumptions, it can become difficult to recognize opportunities for improvement. Fresh perspectives challenge old habits, encourage innovation, and help organizations adapt to changing circumstances.
In White Mountain, questioning long-held assumptions helped create meaningful change. The city increased wages, expanded revenue opportunities, pursued major infrastructure projects, strengthened administrative practices, and established a retirement plan for employees. None of these occurred because previous leaders lacked dedication. Rather, they occurred because new perspectives were introduced alongside the experience and commitment that had already existed within the community.
Diversity creates the conditions under which background assumptions become visible. Newcomers can name what old systems no longer notice, while long-term community members carry wisdom, context, and lived knowledge that outsiders lack. Growth happens when those perspectives meet rather than cancel one another. It encourages us to ask tough questions, challenge assumptions, and imagine new possibilities. In that way, diversity is not simply about who is present at the table. It is about ensuring that different voices, experiences, and ways of thinking are welcomed once they arrive.
My name is Joni Yakunin, I am a trans woman from a small Russian Old Believer community in Alaska. I work as a Program Director of the Community Utility Assistance Program at Kawerak, serving the 21 Tribes of the Bering Strait, where we support communities manage and maintain their water & sewer systems through sustainable fiscal management, governance support, and infrastructure development.