The Building on the Promise of Diversity

<p><strong>This book is an impassioned wake-up call to bring diversity management to a new level -- beyond finger-pointing and well-meaning initiatives and toward the shared goal of building robust organizations and thriving communities.</strong></p><p>Leading diversity expert R. Roosevelt Thomas Jr. has has continually raised the bar on how we think and act on a complex array of diversity issues and states that despite good intentions and hard work most organizations are stuck in their diversity efforts. In our communities and our workplaces a feeling of frustration has emerged as the promise of the Civil Rights Movement and affirmative action has become overly politicized and polarizing. Managing diversity is not a new issue however it is both a hallmark and core challenge that organizations and society have confronted since the founding of America an experiment in diversity.</p><p>This original thoughtful yet action-oriented book will help leaders in any setting -- business religious educational governmental community groups and more -- break out of the status quo and reinvigorate the can-do spirit of making things better. The book includes a deeply felt analysis of the tangled intersections between diversity management the Civil Rights Movement and affirmative action agendas...and a roadmap for mastering the powerful craft of Strategic Diversity Management(TM) a structured process that helps you: </p><ul><li>Realize why multiple activities and good intentions are not enough for achieving sustainable progress.</li><li>Recast the meaning of diversity as more than just race and gender but as any set of differences similarities and tensions.</li><li>Accept that a realistic goal is not to eliminate diversity tension but to use it as a catalyst to address key issues.</li><li>Recognize diversity mixtures analyze them accurately and make quality decisions amid differences similarities and tensions.</li><li>Build an essential set of diversity skills and develop your diversity maturity -- the wisdom judgment and experience to use those skills effectively.</li><li>Reflect on the ways you might be diversity challenged yourself.</li></ul><p>Whether you let diversity be a drain on your organization or a dynamic contributor to your mission vision and strategy is both a choice and a challenge. <em>Building on the Promise of Diversity</em> gives you the insights and skills you need to navigate through simmering tensions -- and find creative solutions for achieving cohesiveness connectedness and common goals.</p>