From the Publisher
In today's global environment, diversity and inclusion training is no longer an option. Implementing strategies to attract, build, and leverage a diverse workforce is a must if organizations want to get the most value out of their human resources and gain competitive advantage. National speaker and diversity and inclusion consultant Steve L. Robbins, a Vietnamese-American who immigrated to the U.S. as a boy during the Vietnam War, understands firsthand the damaging effects of prejudice, cultural assumptions, and closed minds. In WHAT IF?, Robbins presents a series of short, memorable stories that illustrate key concepts about diversity, inclusion, and the value of an open mind. This is an easy, fun read filled with insightful observations about human behavior, featuring questions to stimulate diversity dialogue and activities that help individuals and groups practice new thinking and behaviors.
This workshop-in-a-book is designed to get leaders, managers, HR professionals, and employees thinking, talking, sharing, and leveraging everyone's perspectives, talents, and experience for the good of the organization.
Having trained employees at numerous Fortune 50, 100, and 500 companies and national nonprofits, Robbins shows fresh ways to:
* Discover hidden talents in all your employees * Solve problems better by tapping more perspectives * Assess your leadership's inclusion policies * Prepare your people for diversity training * Identify systemic inclusion gaps in your company's culture * Ramp up your organization's diversity and inclusion practices
Leaders and employees tend not to have crucial conversations around issues of diversity and inclusion. This book is an invaluable conversation starter and teaching tool for any type of organization--nonprofits, governmental agencies, small businesses, corporations, schools, even sports teams--looking to develop an environment in which all members can thrive, contribute, and reach their potential.
From the Back Cover
Storytelling at its best, focusing a powerful lens on inclusion, diversity, and caring at work. When Steve Long-Nguyen Robbins was growing up, his mother routinely told him, "Long, you walk on a path cleared by others." Her insightful guidance and self-sacrificing example are the forces that drive Robbins's corporate work around diversity and inclusion today. His goal is unwavering: to clear the path for others and recruit more "path makers"--to honor his mother and to make a better world for everyone.
In WHAT IF?, Robbins provides twenty-six inspiring, lively, and somteimes deeply personal stories illustrating diversity and inclusion concepts. He offers insight and practical advice on how to reconcile unity with diversity and reframe our organizations for competitive advantage. He adds tips and suggestions for putting key learnings into action in your organization, ending each chapter with questions, an activity, and an assignment to inspire you to be more open-minded and inclusive and to discover how the ideas presented in the book might apply to your daily life at work and at home.
About the Author
Steve L Robbins is founder of S.L. Robbins & Associates, a consultancy specializing in diversity, inclusion, cultural competency, and myriad other issues increasingly affecting organizations in a global world and marketplace.
Born in Vietnam, he immigrated to the United States with his mother during a time of heightened anti-Vietnamese sentiment and rose through the challenging circumstances of poverty and discrimination to receive a BA with honors from Calvin College and MA and PhD degrees from Michigan State University.
Robbins works with for-profit and not-for-profit organizations of all sizes, drawing on his compelling life journey to bring insightful perspectives on the power of caring and inclusion, and a keen understanding of the human condition. He is highly sought-after as a keynote speaker and has worked with organizations including Toyota, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Boeing, NASA, the NSA, General Mills, and Pfizer.
