I have been asked so many times why Hispanics don’t learn or want to learn English, that I just smile and jokingly answer back with, "¿Qué?, no comprendo inglés." That means, "What, I don’t understand English?" Well, this gets their attention real fast and hopefully yours.

I strongly believe that Latinos who come to the United States should assimilate into the culture. In this article I’ll tell you how they should go about doing this and how you can help them to make this transition.

The Hispanic culture is, at its core, a non-trusting culture. We have learned not to trust people quickly. We come by this justly. If you have ever lived in Latin America, you will know what I mean.

In last month’s article (“Detecting and Developing Latino Leadership”), we learned how to spot leaders among your Latino workforce. Now let’s take a serious look at how to develop Latino leadership.

I mean, you can be great at scouting out talent, but if you don’t know how to coach that talent to reach its maximum potential, it does you very little good. At best, your people will be operating on their natural abilities, but these abilities will not be honed nor maximized in your organization.

It’s a crazy and difficult spot to be in - leading your friends, relatives and countrymen while all the while trying to be loyal to your company and company ownership. I mean, how do you choose your loyalties in this situation?

Ramón didn't understand. He said he did, but he didn't. He said he did because he wanted to make his supervisor happy. Making his supervisor happy cost him his life. Making his supervisor happy cost his family their husband, their father, their provider.

OK, OK, I know that Latinos should learn English. I know this and believe this as much as anyone, so let's just get this point out of the way. Perhaps someday I'll write an article in Spanish about the subject so you can hand it to your Hispanic employees, but for right now I want to invite you to open your mind to consider why and how you should learn Spanish

Things continue to stay red-hot on the immigration front. On May 26 of this year, the U.S. Senate passed landmark immigration legislation. Senate Bill 2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, was approved by a 62-to-36 vote.

If you recruit and hire correctly, as we have discussed in the last two articles in this series, retaining your Latino workers will be a slam-dunk or, as our soccer loving people would say - gooooooal! No hay problema, as we say.

I used to say everything begins with hiring, but I was wrong - everything begins with recruiting. A long-term, happy, safe and productive employee is just as valuable as - or perhaps even more valuable than - a client to your overall success in business.