Читать книгу It's Time to Talk about Race at Work - McDonald Kelly, Kelly McDonald - Страница 14

Let me tell you what this book is not. This is not a book about activism. It is not a book about racial or social injustice. While the very topic of diversity must encompass the recognition that our society, and especially the workplace, is not currently racially or socially just, this book will not be dissecting root causes, nor will it be lamenting the impact and effect of such injustice.

This is a business book. This book will show you, as a businessperson, why identifying and addressing your diversity blind spots is important to your business. It is a practical road map from a business perspective, not a bunch of theory, to help you get started.

I will take you through the problems that most businesses have with diversity efforts, the most common mistakes that businesses make when trying to create a diverse and inclusive work culture, and the obstacles that can derail diversity initiatives and give diversity a bad name.

This book is titled It's Time to Talk about Race at Work, but shouldn't we have been talking about it before? Yes. Absolutely. As a society, we should have talked about race a long time ago, and this conversation is long overdue. For businesses, it's been a challenge, because while many, many companies and organizations have created diversity initiatives, programs, recruiting methods, and training, they haven't done a good job with how to really talk about race at work, how to identify and work through the obstacles, discomfort, and tension to build effective plans that tackle these thorny subjects. Our inability to talk about race was the catalyst for this book, but I believe that it's hard for us to talk about diversity and our differences in general. Throughout this book, I will use examples of different kinds of diversity that we encounter at work. Race is the anchor, but women, people of color, LGBTQ+, those who have disabilities, those of different generations and religious groups, and more will also be discussed.

In writing this book, I found myself often overwhelmed with the sheer complexity of it. There are a million facets and layers and I struggled with what to cover and what to leave out. I could fill five books on this topic and never cover it all. This book is designed to get you started—to help you have the conversations you need to have but are anxious about having. You'll become more comfortable with what is currently uncomfortable. It will provide you skills that can get us all talking to each other and maybe, just maybe, help in narrowing the huge divide we all feel.

You picked up this book for a reason. You're a good person—and you're also brave. It takes bravery to talk about subjects that make people squirm. It takes courage to say, “We can do better. We can be better.” It takes commitment to start somewhere. So let's get started.