It’s Time to Talk about Race at Work: Every Leader’s Guide to Making Progress on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Kelly McDonald
Wiley (June 2021)

Channeling Thomas Edison, “Affirmation of DEI without execution is hallucination.” 

The original meaning of the word “barbarian” (in ancient Greece) was “non-Greek” and I was again reminded of that etymology as I began to read this book. Much nonsense has been said and written about diversity, equity, and inclusion at work in recent years. Kelly McDonald asserts that it’s time to talk about DEI in ways and to an extent that achieve high-impact results that are real and sustainable.

Whatever their size and nature may be, all organizations need effective leadership at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise. True, efforts to strengthen DEI need full support by residents of the C-suite but those efforts cannot succeed without wide and deep buy-in by those who are asked to implement them.

McDonald makes especially effective use of reader-friendly devices such as checklists, mini-commentaries, and direct address (i.e. rapport with her reader). For example, she examines these key points when discussing how to develop DEI at work (Pages 74-75):

1. Be prepared for conflict.
2. Reframe the conflict
3. Don’t get defensive
4. Listen
5. Discuss; don’t debate
6. Don’t conflate or compare experiences
7. Be open to learning [and I presume to add, especially to different opinions and points of view]
8. Push the pauses button if you have to

She introduces the STARTING Method and thoroughly explains HOW to make effective use of its components: Sincerity, Transparency, Acknowledgement, Respect, Tools, Investment, Nurturing talent, and Goals (Pages 90-105).

These are among the other passages that also caught my eye, listed to suggest the scope of McDonald’s coverage:

o Biases (Pages 15-129 and 130-132)
o Business case for diversity (31-35)
o Hurtful, offensive comments (47-50, 129-125, and 171-172))
o Failure of DEI efforts (53-55)
o Destructive comments by opponents to change (79-84)

NOTE: James O’Toole asserts that most resistance to change is cultural in nature, the result of what he so aptly characterizes as “the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom.”

o Seven Ways to Show Respect for Your Team (95-99)
o Racism and sexism at work (119-125)
o Overcoming the Bystander Effect (122-125)
o Diverse job/promotion candidates (129-136)
o Dealing with naysayers (169-174)

It is no coincidence that companies annually ranked among those most highly respected and best to work for are also annually ranked among those most profitable, with the greatest cap value in their industry segment. However different they may be in most respects, all of them have a workplace culture within which diversity, equity, and inclusion are most likely to thrive, They not only encouraged candor, principled dissent, and first-person PLURAL pronouns in relationships between and among workers…they DEMAND it.

With all due respect to the quality of information insights, and counsel that Kelly McDonald provides in abundance, however, the ultimate value of this book will be determined by those who read it and then apply whatever is most appropriate to the given circumstances. Those who vehemently oppose diversity, equity, and inclusion are well-entrenched and formidable adversaries. Only an all-out effort will prevail.

As you proceed, here is some excellent advice to keep in mind, expressed in an African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” At least some of your opponents today can become your allies — perhaps even collaborators — in months to come. Thanks to Kelly McDonald, you understand the WHAT and HOW. The DO is up to you.