It's Time to Talk About Race at Work

Every Leader's Guide to Making Progress on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

By: Kelly McDonald

Narrated by: Carolyn Jania

Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Many White leaders want to create change but don't know how to do so appropriately and effectively. How do you know where the blind spots are that can create obstacles for people of color? Your intentions may be sincere and heartfelt, but intentions aren't enough.

In It's Time to Talk About Race at Work, Kelly McDonald delivers a much-needed road map for businesspeople. This book will help you successfully create a fair and equitable workplace that recognizes diverse talent and fosters productive and constructive conversations in your organization. It's Time to Talk About Race at Work does not approach diversity from the standpoint of social activism or an HR perspective. Instead, this book shows you exactly what to do and how to do it so that you can make real progress on diversity and inclusion, regardless of the size of your organization. The author's clear, “real talk” style makes it easy to learn: the costs and risks you're incurring if your organization lacks diversity; how people who don't consider themselves to be racist may still have diversity blind spots; how to start the hard conversations you may not know how to approach; the STARTING Method - an eight-step framework that shows you how to ensure your diversity and inclusion efforts are effective; how to recognize the excuses people use to avoid taking action on diversity and inclusion; and more.

©2021 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (P)2021 Gildan Media

Talking about race is emotional and challenging

I’ve known the author for nearly a decade and I have appreciated her best selling books and recommend them often to the individuals in HR and those who I mentor.

As a member of the National Diversity Council and former executive for DE&I at ADP and Conduent I can attest to the sensitivity of the subject. Kelly’s book provides a good perspective and insight as to the journey of a good DE&I program and the value the program brings to your organization. Read, listen and learn as the subject is not going away and we all need to embrace change.

Problematic Book

While I get the intent, the book had a bunch of cringy parts and I do not recommend. Early in the book, it uses an example of racism was about a Jewish woman experiencing a microaggression about Hanukkah. The pronunciation of “muslim” was wild. There is a section framing of disparities people of color experience but it uses stereotypes to do so and does not connect the systemic racism. This is why, as a woman of color in an executive role I experience people making a lot of assumptions about my background. I would ask, did a person of color review this before it went live?