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How To Get Your Act Together

A Judgement-Free Guide to Diversity and Inclusion for Straight White Men

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Brought to you by Penguin.

LEAD MEANINGFUL AND POSITIVE CHANGE WITH THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO IMPLEMENTING DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Of the very few Fortune 500 companies that share diversity data, 72% of their senior executives are white men. And it's been proven that companies with more diverse management teams have nearly 20% higher revenues. Surely YOU don't want to be left behind?

Moral imperatives aside, the business case for diversity and inclusion is clear - they are clear drivers of innovation, profit and employer brand. But how can male white leadership implement this change? There's no denying it's difficult - perhaps you feel left out of the conversation, afraid to make mistakes, and confused about the evolving language of diversity and inclusion.

In this practical guide, leading diversity specialists Felicity Hassan and Suki Sandhu OBE teach you how to create an inclusive environment for your employees and have educated conversations about diversity, illuminating what can sometimes be tricky territory with humour and heart.

© Felicity Hassan, Suki Sandhu 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

 Racism & Discrimination Social Sciences Workplace & Organisational Behavior Workplace Culture Discrimination Business Equality Management Employment Social justice Leadership

Critic reviews

Suki Sandhu and Felicity Hassan make a compelling case why creating more diverse and inclusive workplaces is everybody's business. How To Get Your Act Together is a must-read and a powerful call to seize the opportunity that lies in embracing and celebrating people for who they are.
There is no finish line when it comes to creating a more equal, fair and just world. How To Get Your Act Together is a pivotal guide for going from awareness to action in creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace and society.
The magic of diversity is that it protects us from our blind spots and drives innovation - it makes all of us stronger. This book offers ways to help you embrace what people can do and how they think, rather than where they were born and what they look like.
Successful businesses rise on the shoulders of talented employees who are confident bringing their authentic selves to work. This book is a valuable guide for enabling leaders to take action to ensure they can.
Diversity and inclusion are the gateways to stronger teams and better performance. Fact. But it takes a good deal of self-awareness and continuous learning to really ingrain the behavioural changes that are needed. This book holds up a mirror and then guides us - skilfully and persuasively - to the actions we all need to be taking.
Obligatory reading for anyone - straight, white and male or otherwise - who wants to do better but doesn't know where to start.
Hassan and Sandhu present a blueprint for positivity that shows how business interests and operations can dovetail neatly with social change and diversity goals...a study in business transformation, it only requires an open mind and heart from business leader readers who seek to make their workplace better than 'average'.
All stars
Most relevant
The authors know something about gender, race, and sexual orientation, but nowhere near enough to talk on other areas.

They keep using outdated terms which are hated by communities (differently abled, Latinx) or no longer used (Aspergers hasn't been a diagnosis for years). They refer to a screen reader as something that magnifies the screen (screen readers read the content out loud). They have a section where they say a ramp helps access for someone in a wheelchair and able bodied people, despite ramps causing problems for people with some disabilities. That's not even beginning on them splitting anyone not a wheelchair user off as able bodied. Or the total lack of talk about the social vs medical model of disability and what each means for your organisation.

They also seem intent on splitting the world into Straight White Men, and everyone else, ignoring the intersections between protected characteristics; how can we help our young or old straight white disabled Jewish man be their true self?

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is not just about race, gender, or sexual orientation. It's far more nuanced, something this book doesn't attempt tl delve into.

Where the authors know their subject, they're decent. If they admitted to not knowing about some subjects, and instead pointed us to authors in religious diversity, disability studies, intergenerational relationships, etc., then this could be a useful primer. As it is, readers looking for a primer will come away thinking they know far more than they do, take it back to their businesses, and harm true DE&I efforts.

As an autistic questioning man with a lot of interest in helping people think in a more cosmopolitan and inclusive manner, if any manager said they learned about diversity equity and inclusion from this book, I'd be worried.

The narrator is the best part.

More harmful than helpful for inclusion

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