What will this change mean to American businesspeople? First, it should make us all happy, because diversity - whether in business or in any other realm - is a key to survival. The more approaches you have to thinking about a problem, the more likely you are to find a solution. Diversity of thought, diversity of experience and diversity of outlook are extremely important characteristics for a team to have. After all, when all group members are thinking alike, no one is likely to be truly thinking much at all. So 1, for one, welcome the news that our nation will soon become more like the true melting pot we once claimed to be. However, changes in our population will mean that many businesses must rethink their marketing strategies and their approach to customers if they are to continue to thrive in the 2 1 st century.

Businesses must understand how to engage African Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanic Americans, among others, as their customers, their employees, and their vendors and business partners. Many businesses already reach out to specific population segments through targeted, or "ethnic:' marketing. But coping fully with these changes - and taking full advantage of the opportunity they present - will not be as simple as translating advertising and other marketing collateral into different languages.

For one thing, many cultural groups retain their distinctness, even as they enter the mainstream of American life. Businesses contemplating reaching out to targeted population segments must realize that the broad categories we use for convenience and understanding, such as Asian American, for example, are not monolithic, unified wholes, The census data define as Asian American anyone whose origins are in China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and India, among other countries. Similarly, the term ''Hispanic" is used to refer to people whose traditional language is Spanish, but who come from many different parts of the world - whether they speak Spanish as their primary language or not. The fact is that these diverse groups carry with them a variety of languages, religious faiths, cultural traditions and political beliefs. And a simple-minded approach to a phenomenon this complex will not succeed.

Furthermore, the population shift must be addressed as much more than a marketing question. It will touch every aspect of American life, profoundly transforming the landscape wherever we do business. In North Carolina, for example, as well as many other states, the Spanish-speaking population is growing very quickly Interestingly, it is doing so not only in the urban centers such as Charlotte and Raleigh. as one might expect, but in rural communities as well. Many smaller towns are finding new ways to deal with a growing Spanish-speaking population. And most of them are doing so with great energy and enthusiasm. Schools and churches have added services and instruction, and businesses and government offices have posted signs in Spanish. Grocers have added new foods to their shelves. Schools that never faced the question before must find ways to accommodate children with limited or no English, whether that means offering instruction in languages other than English, placing children in English as a second language courses or finding other solutions.

But none of this is new in major urban centers or in areas where large immigrant populations tend to retain their identity generation after generation. Not surprisingly, California, Florida and Texas are ahead of the curve on this population trend. In fact, the demographics for those three bellwether states today look the way the total U.S. population will look in 20 years or so. The population shift is expected to have a significant impact on rural areas, southern states, northern cities and farm communities - in fact, nearly every type of American community.

Luckily for us, Bank of America is well positioned to respond because we have leading market positions in those very states on the leading edge of these population trends. Our experience tells us that businesses must find ways to capitalize on the changes in their customer base or they will surely wither as the new century proceeds. The growing population segments are extremely attractive as customers. My company is eager to be the provider of financial services for families and businesses that will expand and need more from us in the coming years and decades. Therefore, we are forging those relationships, and have been doing so for many years.