THE NECESSARY JOURNEY

Diversity scholar Washington delivers meaningful stories on how companies have—and have not—done the hard work of becoming equitable and inclusive.

An organizational psychologist and business professor at Georgetown, the author began this wide-ranging survey when, after George Floyd’s murder, CEOs and human resources officers expressed concern that their companies were not doing enough to promote diversity. Arguing that the effort properly falls under the threefold rubric DEI—diversity, equity, and inclusion—Washington notes, “DEI is a journey. It includes programs, yes, but also making cultural changes, finding new ways to influence people, making difficult decisions, and more.” Some of her case studies are impressively positive even if the journeys are never quite complete. For example, Slack, the technology company, began to “shape equity and inclusion into its culture from the start,” with a workforce that has large minority representation, numbers nearly 45% women in management positions, and is committed to coaching to advance employees equally. Some companies talked the talk but fell short in reality: Nike did noble work in advancing the idea of diversity publicly but had a workplace culture that sometimes seemed hostile or indifferent to that idea. “To get past this tactical part of the journey,” writes the author, “organizations must create alignment between their DEI efforts internally and externally, and it must come from the top down and emerge from the bottom up.” Many of those alignments come from executives who themselves embody DEI’s goals: A Black woman, for example, has led her spirits company to a strong position in the sector by “doing something that other spirit brands haven’t figured out how to do, which is to market to everyone.” Similarly, Denny’s, after having been legally enjoined to commit to compliance, became a model in working toward such things as recruiting minority businesses into its supply chain and encouraging minority employment in and ownership of its restaurants.

Highly useful for diversity officers, HR workers, CEOs, and activists in the business community.