The Inclusion Dividend

By: Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan

Reviewed by: Glain Roberts-McCabe

The Premise: Diversity and inclusion are no longer topics that can be treated haphazardly in today’s increasingly global organizations, suggest authors Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan. In The Inclusion Dividend, Kaplan and Donovan work to provide leaders with a clear road map that lays out the business case for focusing on diversity and inclusion. They then proceed to walk you through the journey to get there. Each chapter explores a specific topic (eg: the business case for inclusion; unconscious and unintentional bias; etc.), providing a mix of research, author examples and case references to make a series of convincing points. Each chapter also includes quick hit summaries plus a mini-case with reflection questions to help the reader take the learning further.

The Bottom-line: I received this book from the authors and decided to read it because it’s actually out of my interest area. So imagine my surprise when, after reading it, I discovered that I had been on the receiving end of organizational exclusion and bias for much of my career! Even more shocking was to realize that I was also a perpetrator of said biases. (Spoiler alert: we all are.) This is an important book for leaders for the simple reason that we need to understand the systems, processes and biases (both personal and organizational) that may be affecting our ability to truly get the best out of our teams (and ourselves). This book takes the topic from a number of levels (personal, team, business, society) and arms you with a variety of tools in the final chapters to take action.

Roundtable Rating: Highly recommended for leaders interested in broadening their self insight and understanding the complexities of diversity and inclusion.

Check out the book and learn more by visiting www.thedagobagroup.com