How to Work with and Lead People Not Like You

Practical Solutions for Today's Diverse Workplace

By: Kelly McDonald

Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt

Length: 3 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

If you're in a diverse team, you know employee differences can cause miscommunication, lower trust, and hurt productivity.... It doesn't have to be this way!

The people you work with may be from different generations, different cultures, different races, different genders, or just different philosophies toward work and life in general, but you need to work together toward a common goal. How to Work With and Lead People Not Like You explains how to dial down the differences, smooth out the friction, and play upon each other's strengths to become more effective, more productive, and less stressed. The keys are to find the common ground and identify hidden conflicts that are hurting productivity.

Many people shudder at the prospect of working with diverse groups of people, but they can't voice their fear or anxiety. At work, it's not okay or politically correct to say, "I'm uncomfortable with this person". In fact, if you do say something along those lines, your job may be at risk. Your company may terminate you for not being on the diversity bandwagon. So you keep quiet, and you keep your thoughts to yourself. But deep down, you are uncomfortable.

If you feel like this, it doesn't mean you're racist, sexist, ageist, homophobic, or any other negative label. It means you're struggling.

You're struggling to understand people, cultures, or values that are unfamiliar to you. You're struggling to do your job with teammates and coworkers who may have very different viewpoints or different approaches to communication than you have. You're struggling to overcome differences and pull together to achieve high performance at work.

Whether you're leading a diverse team, working in a challenging cross-cultural environment, or simply working with people who are not like you, you need to be able to get along with everyone as a team to get the work done. This book explains the skills you need to communicate, motivate, and inspire people to collaborate - even if they have very different values, lifestyles, or priorities.

• Learn key steps that bring cohesion to diversity
• How to have a constructive conversation about working alongside people who are different
• The four magic words that make this easier and smooth over friction
• What not to say - and why
• Learn to set aside differences and get things done
• Learn how to handle a racist, sexist, homophobic, or offensive remarks in a professional way
• Retain your sanity when colleagues drive you crazy

The changing demographics of today's workforce bring conflicting viewpoints, perspectives, approaches, skills, habits, and personalities together in one place; whether that leads to synergy or catastrophe is up to you. How to Work With and Lead People Not Like You helps you turn a hurdle into an advantage so you or your team can do more, achieve more, and enjoy the ride.

©2017 Kelly McDonald (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Basic Ideas Good...

but pushing the typical extreme "diversity" ideals misses the mark & takes away from the message.

Good read, aimed towards leaders.

Good read, really resonated with the first few chapters. The rest of the boom is great and very applicable for team building but might be less valuable for those who aren't in a leadership role. Still worth a read nonethless.

Insightful

This book is eye-opening, a great combination of the big picture and day-to-day practical. A lot of the ideas that are suggested just made common sense, yet people don’t do them. Highly recommend this book.