Broadening Perspectives Together
For an even more inclusive and diverse ball experience, the DIVERSITY BALL has created the Diversity Expert Board. Taskin Yüksel, a member of the board, explains why diversity has long ceased to be a niche topic.
As part of the Diversity Expert Board, experts from a range of fields support the further development of the DIVERSITY BALL and contribute their perspectives on accessibility, inclusion and social diversity.
DIVERSITY IS NOT A FRINGE DISTRICT
We entrepreneurs love target groups. We segment, cluster, define personas and draw circles around people we believe somehow belong together. The problem: people long ceased to stay within them.
“Diversity is not a fringe district.”
TASKIN YÜKSEL, MEMBER OF THE DIVERSITY EXPERT BOARD
Our society has become more diverse – in origin, age, identity, ways of life, abilities and needs. And yet we still speak, astonishingly often, of “fringe groups,” as if society were a Vienna city map from 1890. Floridsdorf, by the way, was not even part of Vienna back then. Today, no one would think of writing off the 21st district for that reason.
Diversity is no longer a fringe district. It is the center. For companies, this is not a question of political correctness, but of economic viability. Anyone who does not see people does not understand their customers. Anyone who overlooks real-life circumstances overlooks markets.
In a country with a skilled-labor shortage, moreover, no company can afford to overlook talent because of origin, age, identity or way of life. That is precisely why I consider the Diversity Ball so relevant. As early as 2007, Monika Haider created a space in which diversity does not have to be explained or staged. It is simply there. Accessibility, sign language, different communities, generations and life realities are not the special program of the evening – they are the evening.
This attitude – listening instead of explaining – is also the reason the advisory board exists. The Diversity Expert Board brings different perspectives to the table, so that decisions are not made about people, but with them.
NOT JUST IMAGE POLISHING
This is exactly the kind of advice and support that business and politics need as well. Not only with a logo. Not only on Diversity Day. And please not only when it happens to fit the communications concept. Companies must be where society takes place. They must listen, learn, support – and show conviction. Not for the sake of image, but because it is socially right and, above all, because it is economically smart. The DIVERSITY BALL is not an event for marginalized groups. It is a pretty good indication of what the center of our society – and our markets – looks like today.
credits
Words and personal perspective
Taskin “Tash” Yüksel
Photography
Portrait: Blooming Cactus GmbH; Event: Natalia Maria Dunajska
Disclosure
This article is an independent personal reflection and was not commissioned
Location
Vienna, Austria
Publication
Kurier Daily Newspaper, 7 September 2026
