A useful, forcefully written, and wide-ranging study of inequities—and how to fix them.
A comprehensive guide focuses on how to increase diversity and inclusion in society.
In these pages, Bhargava and Brown assemble facts and personal stories from many walks of life —entrepreneurship, the business world, academia, the entertainment industry, the creative arts realm, even home and family—in order to paint a detailed picture of how deep-rooted cultural practices often forge systemic barriers to inclusion, equity, and diversity. Throughout the book, they cite studies and statistics to shore up their claims (often surprising data, as in the World Health Organization’s estimate that 15% of the world’s population—well over a billion people—has some form of disability). Many of these informative tidbits are separated from the main text with eye-catching graphics. In all cases, the authors first assess how things currently stand in the area they’re exploring and then outline what needs to change and sometimes give descriptions of how things are in fact shifting. They finish with “What You Can Do,” a series of calls for actions both big and small that readers can accomplish themselves, everything from publicly noting an instance of inequity in the workplace or classroom to getting involved in organizations dedicated to increasing diversity. The authors repeatedly point out that merely noticing diversity problems is not sufficient. They urge their readers to take action and lay out several strategies for how to institute changes on the grassroots level, including how those in majority groups can be better allies for their colleagues.
The authors skillfully emphasize the importance of narratives in their discussions. “The stories we choose to consume—and believe—shift our worldviews,” they contend. “Beyond the stories we read, our worldviews commonly come from the movies we watch, the news we follow, or the events we attend (either virtually or in-person).” It’s for this reason that their primary goal is for society to change the tales it tells about itself so that those stories more accurately reflect the diversity and demographics of the real world. Occasionally, the authors’ efforts to avoid the typical pitfalls of identity politics falter. They argue, for instance, that “our identities are a spectrum that cannot be reduced to labels” (such as teenager, gay, Hispanic, creative, etc.). But they spend much of the volume seeming to equate these labels with identities, writing that “identity is race, gender, abilities, and sexuality. It is ethnicity and religion.” Likewise, they assert that people “must be guaranteed the freedom to explore, express, and bring their full selves to work without fear of reprisal or discrimination” while advocating that workplace diversity be mandated by law. But the book’s calls for fair treatment and equity in pay scales are very effective, buttressed by extensive research showing that, for instance, men are paid more than women for the same work and that minorities are underrepresented in most fields of study. Managers, CEOs, and hiring directors—as well as ordinary people—will find a great deal of valuable insights in these pages.
A useful, forcefully written, and wide-ranging study of inequities—and how to fix them.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64687-051-6
Page Count: 268
Publisher: Ideapress Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
IN THE NEWS
A passionate and accessible guide to humanizing the workplace.
Helbig and Norman present a game plan for making leadership more responsively human.
In this expanded update to The Psychological Safety Playbook: Lead More Powerfully by Being More Human (2023), the authors provide “practical strategies for responding to resistance, sparking change, embodying the change we want to see, and moving forward deliberately,” specifically in a business setting. They suggest ways to encourage what they call “changemakers” through the use of five key “plays” from their playbook: Communicate Courageously, Master the Art of Listening, Manage Your Reactions (“shift from automatic reaction to conscious response to stay better connected to yourself and others”), Embrace Risk and Failure, and Design Inclusive Rituals. The goal is to ensure that organizational cultures promote psychological safety, guided by leaders who “walk the talk” by emphasizing their own humanity at every turn. (“We must be the first to share our own failures with our teams, which will start to make it possible for others to do the same.”) This call for example-setting is sounded throughout the book as Helbig and Norman urge their target audience (leaders and would-be leaders) to go beyond mere instruction and instead embody the qualities they want to see in their subordinates, such as continuous learning, active curiosity, and self-reflection. Each chapter includes a detailed “Recommended Reading” section and text with extensive numbered and bulleted points formatted to make the core concepts more immediately digestible. The authors effectively employ clear and empathetic prose to assure readers that psychological safety is slow to build and quick to break, observing that such safety requires steady attention and delivers outsize payoffs as a result. They refreshingly ground a great deal of the material in psychology and neuroscience, pointing out, for instance, that research has demonstrated that the parasympathetic nervous system responds to honest appreciation, which improves creative thinking. Some wistful readers might consider some of the authors’ suggestions beyond the reach of their own organizations, as when group facilitators are advised to “gently intervene when someone dominates the conversation,” but hope springs eternal.
A passionate and accessible guide to humanizing the workplace.Pub Date: May 19, 2026
ISBN: 9798993550503
Page Count: 170
Publisher: Crazy Idea Press
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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