Program: Moving from Panic to Purpose

Awesome read. Engaging, intentional, actionable and courageous. Read this book!

While the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and society at large has been a popular topic over the past few years, many books and articles on the subject can be formulaic to the point of saturation, falsely leading you to think “you’ve heard it all”. Much of it is good information, but you may think you’re already doing everything you can - it’s other people who need to change their attitudes and then we can move forward.

Network Beyond Bias shatters these myths and provides a resounding call to action for even the most die-hard supporters of diversity and inclusion. If you think you’ve heard it all, you haven’t. Amy C. Waninger’s book is a quick read - I consumed it in one day - that is chock full of information you don’t already know. More importantly, it provides practical tips for concrete actions you can take to improve your interactions with people on a personal and professional level. By incorporating Amy’s clear, concise and specific tips, you will enrich your own life as well as others and greatly improve your workplace culture. A more positive workplace culture, in turn, allows everyone to move from being on edge trying to simply “fit in” to feeling comfortable being authentic. When everyone is being their authentic self, we can leverage each other’s strengths and collaborate together in a more powerful way to deliver improved results to the organization’s bottom line.

On a personal level, the most challenging passages for me were on the LGBT community and specifically learning about the trans community. As the proud father of a trans daughter, our family have spent time learning about how to be an ally for the LGBT community. However, I learned a lot that I did not know from Network Beyond Bias that will allow me to be not only a stronger ally for my daughter, but also for the LGBT employees that report to me as a manager and that I collaborate with on a daily basis - irrespective of whether I know their sexual orientation or not.

Thank you Amy for sharing your personal story in your book and making this so accessible, easy to read, educational with practical advice that can be incorporated in my life immediately. Changing behavior is never easy, but this book does an outstanding job of leading you to consider your biases, how to acknowledge them, and how to move beyond a point where they are limiting your career and your organization’s ability to deliver the best results it can achieve.

It’s a quick read that’s jammed packed with how-to steps on expanding your social network and pushing outside your comfort zone to embrace diversity and be more innovative.

I loved it - straightforward, to the point, great examples and illustrations, practical advice, definitely challenged me at times, and I learned a lot!  Will definitely read it again and spend some time going through the exercises and checking out your website! Well done!