The Inclusion Paradox – 2nd Edition

Dramatically changing demographics are upending politics, marketplaces, and workplaces. In this Second Edition of The Inclusion Paradox: The Obama Era and the Transformation of Global Diversity, Andrés T. Tapia, President of Diversity Best Practices and former Chief Diversity Officer for a global firm, examines how today’s hyper-diverse world of the Obama Era is transforming policy agendas, marketplace penetration, and workforce management — and what those changes mean for our future.

With its more than fifty new pages of updated facts, figures, and current event references, in this Second Edition, Tapia explores not the political implications, but rather the cultural implications of what it takes to move into the next generation of diversity work to grow business and attract and retain the best talent.

He makes the case that the work of diversity and inclusion has never been more urgent, particularly as everything has globalized at a massive scale. But nations and companies are woefully and dangerously unprepared for this diversity. Because it’s one thing to acknowledge the diversity already here, quite another to make the most out of it. “Diversity is the mix. Inclusion is making the mix work” is what Author Andres T. Tapia says about this reality. Which means that inclusion is hard. Very hard. Harder than diversity itself. Inclusion defines the challenge all leaders face as they address the dramatic shifts of diversity --racial, ethnic, generational, gender, sexual orientation, faith, personality, nationality, and on — in our workplaces and communities.

As author Tapia writes in one of his pivotal chapters, not being able to manage these differences well is leading us all to ask about others, “Are You Evil, a Moron, or Just Plain Incompetent?”

The key, therefore, to facing these diversity and inclusion challenges is developing the skills and abilities to, while still nurturing our commonalities, to constructively know how to surface our differences so we can treat others not as we would like to be treated, but as they would like to be treated.