5 Must Read Books for Today’s Inclusive Leader

Leadership comes in ALL shapes and sizes; ALL genders and races; and yes - ALL with varying abilities to lead and to inspire.

With the changing demographics, it is not only important for leaders to embody the cultural competencies needed to lead diverse teams, but it is also a requirement to do so inclusively.

By the numbers, it remains clear that America's changing demographics are here to stay and puts an exclamation point on the importance for organizations to proactively prioritize dismantling the barriers to inclusion within their organizations to unleash the true power of Diversity.

5 Must Read Books for Today's Inclusive Leader

1) Diversity, Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Business. In Diversity, Inc., award-winning journalist Pamela Newkirk shines a bright light on the diversity industry, asking the tough questions about what has been effective--and why progress has been so slow. Newkirk highlights the rare success stories, sharing valuable lessons about how other industries can match those gains. But as she argues, despite decades of handwringing, costly initiatives, and uncomfortable conversations, organizations have, apart from a few exceptions, fallen far short of their goals. Diversity, Inc. incisively shows the vast gap between the rhetoric of inclusivity and real achievements. If we are to deliver on the promise of true equality, we need to abandon ineffective, costly measures and commit ourselves to combatting enduring racial attitudes.

We know, too, that America’s greatness, its magic, has always been its difference. Its wonder and magnificence defy metrics or methods. America is classical and jazz, country and reggae. It’s Marilyn Monroe and Dorothy Dandridge, Salma Hayek and Joan Chen. It’s every conceivable color and cuisine and has been propelled forward by contributions to science, technology, culture, and aesthetics from people around the globe. While many of its non-White and male contributors remain unsung, no one race, ethnicity, nation, or gender can honestly claim the genius of human progress. This experiment called humanity is expansive and unimaginably deep and implicates us all. Only the uninformed and misinformed, the delusional or those with narcissistic impulses continue to cling to narratives of racial supremacy. Unfortunately, they have been ably assisted by an education and mass media establishment stubbornly bound to history.

2) Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know. Something is very wrong, Malcom Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don't know. And because we don't know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world. In the audiobook version of Talking to Strangers, you'll hear the voices of people he interviewed--scientists, criminologists, military psychologists. Court transcripts are brought to life with re-enactments. You actually hear the contentious arrest of Sandra Bland by the side of the road in Texas. As Gladwell revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, and the suicide of Sylvia Plath, you hear directly from many of the players in these real-life tragedies.

3) White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism. In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

4) The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table. Lean In for women of color: Minda Harts provides a no-BS look at the odds stacked against women of color in professional settings, from the wage gap to biases and micro-aggressions, with actionable takeaways. The Memo is the much-needed career advice guide for women of color specifically, finally ending the one-size-fits-all approach of business books that lump together women across races and overlook the unique barriers to success for women of color. In a charismatic and relatable voice, Minda Harts brings her entrepreneurial experience as CEO of The Memo to the page, as well as her past career life as a fundraising consultant to top colleges across the country. With wit and candor, Harts begins by acknowledging the "ugly truths" that keep women of color from getting the proverbial seat at the table in corporate America: micro-aggressions, systemic racism, white privilege, etc. Harts validates that women aren't making up the discrimination they feel, even if it isn't always overt. From there, she gives straight talk on how to address these issues head on, and provides a roadmap to help women of color and their allies make real change to the system. With chapters on network-building, office politics, money and negotiation, The Memo covers all the basics that any good business book should. But through the author's lens, it offers support and long-overdue advice particularly for women of color.

5) So You Want to Talk About Race. Widespread reporting on aspects of white supremacy--from police brutality to the mass incarceration of Black Americans--has put a media spotlight on racism in our society. Still, it is a difficult subject to talk about. How do you tell your roommate her jokes are racist? Why did your sister-in-law take umbrage when you asked to touch her hair--and how do you make it right? How do you explain white privilege to your white, privileged friend? In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to "model minorities" in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.

James E. Wright is an inclusion and diversity executive with nearly two decades of experience leading diversity, inclusion and belonging + inclusion recruiting at Apple, Inc., LinkedIn, and NBCUniversal among other organizations. James is also the founder and CEO of JamesWantsToKnowYou.com, which provides training and coaching services that transforms consciousness. James is unapologetically obsessed with inclusion and approaches his work with the notion that we – YES, ALL OF US – have a multitude of opportunities in the day to engage, encourage, listen to, and learn from someone who is different from ourselves. Wright constantly poses the question: how will you use today to advance authentic inclusion?