An aspirational and well-grounded management guide.
A comprehensive approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion for organizations.
The importance of DEI affects businesses large and small, and Smith, who owns a DEI consulting firm, recognizes that larger, more progressive establishments may already be advancing initiatives in these areas. As a result, her book specifically targets “organizations beginning their diversity, equity, and inclusion journeys.” She straightforwardly asserts that such initiatives must necessarily touch all constituents of an organization, both internal and external—a notion she characterizes as “360-degree” coverage. The book is appropriately divided into three parts (“Diversity,” “Equity,” and “Inclusion”) that define each concept and provide “Action Steps” toward achieving it as well as resources for further reading. The book also includes a brief epilogue that ties the other three parts together by addressing what Smith calls “the holy grail of the workplace: Belonging”; the author notes that “when an employee feels like they belong in their organization, they’re going to do their best work.” Smith begins the book by making an excellent business case for DEI, enumerating “strong selling points” supported by several research studies demonstrating tangible benefits. She then introduces a problem-solving methodology called “ARC” (“Ask,” “Respect,” “Connect”) and shows multiple illustrations of how it may be applied to DEI goals. Each of the three main sections is rich with detail, examples, and suggestions. While discussing diversity, for example, Smith covers such topics as unconscious bias, setting diversity targets, and hiring with diversity in mind. The author’s discussion of racial inequities is particularly compelling, and she also delves into equitable pay and procurement. Regarding inclusion, Smith offers examples of “Business Resource Groups,” explains how inclusive conversations work, examines the concept of “psychological safety,” and offers an enlightened perspective on employee benefits. Throughout, Smith effectively takes a broad view of her subject, citing DEI examples that include race, gender, LGBTQ+, and disability issues. Overall, the book’s illuminating message is honest, forthright, and timely.
An aspirational and well-grounded management guide.Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73763-540-6
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Goodnow Flow Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A vigorous and highly readable plan for building the finances of a new business.
A program of cash-management techniques for aspiring entrepreneurs, aimed at a minority readership.
At the beginning of this business book, Mariga reflects on the birth of her daughter, Florence, and on the depressing prospect of returning to her corporate job and missing some of her baby’s early moments. She realized that she “wanted to show Florence…that I could, that she could, that anyone could be anything they wanted to be in this world.” To that end, she wanted to start her own business, and she “wanted to help entrepreneurs build successful businesses that provide opportunities for others.” In a sentiment reflected by others she’s interviewed, she says that she wanted to strengthen her family legacy, so she founded her own accounting firm. She paints a vivid picture of the hardscrabble early days of other minority business owners like herself, the child of an African American mother and a Chinese father who also had a family accounting business. She and others were “all hustling to acquire clients and build our businesses…and most of us had absolutely nothing to show for it.” She was inspired by Mike Michalowicz’s Profit First money management system, and the bulk of her book is devoted to an explanation of how to make this system work for minority business enterprises. (Michalowicz provides a foreword to the book.) One of the primary goals of Profit First is to build “a self-sustaining, debt-free company,” so a large part of Mariga’s work deals with the details of managing finances, building and abiding by budgets, and handling the swings of emotion that occur every step of the way. As sharply focused as these insights are, the author’s recollections of her own experiences are more rewarding, as when she tells readers of her brief time as a cut-rate accountant and learning that it was a mistake to try to compete on price. These stories, as well as financing specifics and clear encouragements (“Small changes and adjustments accumulate. Over time, they will lead you to your goal”), will make this book invaluable to entrepreneurs of all kinds.
A vigorous and highly readable plan for building the finances of a new business.Pub Date: May 25, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7357759-0-6
Page Count: 230
Publisher: The Avant-Garde Project, LLC
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.
A well-constructed critique of an economic system that, by the author’s account, is a driver of the world’s destruction.
Harvard Business School professor Henderson vigorously questions the bromide that “management’s only duty is to maximize shareholder value,” a notion advanced by Milton Friedman and accepted uncritically in business schools ever since. By that logic, writes the author, there is no reason why corporations should not fish out the oceans, raise drug prices, militate against public education (since it costs tax money), and otherwise behave ruinously and anti-socially. Many do, even though an alternative theory of business organization argues that corporations and society should enjoy a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit, which includes corporate investment in what economists call public goods. Given that the history of humankind is “the story of our increasing ability to cooperate at larger and larger scales,” one would hope that in the face of environmental degradation and other threats, we might adopt the symbiotic model rather than the winner-take-all one. Problems abound, of course, including that of the “free rider,” the corporation that takes the benefits from collaborative agreements but does none of the work. Henderson examines case studies such as a large food company that emphasized environmentally responsible production and in turn built “purpose-led, sustainable living brands” and otherwise led the way in increasing shareholder value by reducing risk while building demand. The author argues that the “short-termism” that dominates corporate thinking needs to be adjusted to a longer view even though the larger problem might be better characterized as “failure of information.” Henderson closes with a set of prescriptions for bringing a more equitable economics to the personal level, one that, among other things, asks us to step outside routine—eat less meat, drive less—and become active in forcing corporations (and politicians) to be better citizens.
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5417-3015-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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