Sue Unerman - Belonging

If there was a time for Belonging , then it is now. This book not only underscores the need and importance of diversity but also makes the case that diversity is not just a nice to have endeavour but a true competitive edge that allows companies to unleash innovation, employee joy, corporate reputation and value creation.

Rishad Tobaccowala, author of Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data

At a time when things need to change, and change fast, the authors of Belonging have written a new guidebook for running businesses today. Current leaders and those who hope to become leaders will gain critical and actionable insights on diversity and inclusion from this important book.

Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO, iHeartMedia, Inc.

Creating a sense of belonging should be a priority for every leader. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in creating happier, more productive and more effective workplaces.

Tanya Joseph, Managing Director at Hill+Knowlton Strategies

Belonging is full of brilliantly practical advice for anyone who is seeking to improve the culture of their team or business. It should be required reading for first time managers to FTSE 100 CEOs.

Josh Graff, UK Country Manager & Vice President, Marketing Solutions EMEA & LATAM, LinkedIn

Written by a triumvirate of serious leadership thinkers who understand and practice the value and values of equality, diversity and inclusion; and can evidence the tangible business benefits of Belonging from their own direct experience.

Stevie Spring CBE, Chairman, British Council

Belonging never forgets that diversity is not a problem to be solved but an opportunity to be grasped. Its essential reading for anyone who wants to take diversity in their organization from fine words to reality.

Mark Thompson, former President and Chief Executive , The New York Times

Belonging , as the title suggests, is a book for everyone. It confronts the elephant in the room that many men feel personally under threat as a result of the diversity conversation with empathy, tact and practical advice on how businesses can work to achieve a truly inclusive environment. Read it!

Larissa Vince, CEO, Now Advertising

Urgent, important and compelling; Belonging leads us into the next frontier of diversity and inclusion. It proves that belonging is the most powerful proof of diversity being recognized and valued in a way that emboldens us all to reclaim the power of being labelled as different.

Harjot Singh, Chief Strategy Officer, McCann Worldgroup Europe & UK

From the CEO with diversity newly on their agenda to the leader shaping their company culture, Belonging is a must-read. The trio has looked in-depth at real peoples experiences and uncovered practical steps to cultivate more welcoming environments and encourage people from entry level to the C-suite to bring their authentic selves to work and thrive.

Dorothy Burwell, Partner, Finsbury

Belonging is an important book for anyone who wants to attract and keep diverse talent. It is full of new voices describing the experience of being different and unable to fully participate and contribute at work. It has practical advice that any one of us could implement the next day to make ourselves more aware and inclusive. If you want to stop just talking about inclusion and start doing something about it this is the book for you.

Jan Gooding, former chair, Stonewall

Belonging takes a complex and often uncomfortable subject and makes it truly accessible and absolutely achievable by weaving real stories, sharp analysis and practical, business-ready solutions. Whether on day one of your career or a 30-year veteran of your profession, buy this book and create the change your organization, and the world, needs.

Sarah Jenkins, Managing Director, Saatchi & Saatchi

The authors would like to dedicate this book

to our wonderful families.

Contents

We would like to thank our collective of advisors, whose support has been invaluable. We would also like to recognise the contribution made by the individuals we interviewed, who shared their experiences and insight with us and who shaped this book.

When we have talked publically about diversity and inclusion, our audiences have been inspiring and educational in their participation. For all of you who gave your time to us, thank you.

Thank you to everyone at Bloomsbury, our publishers, including Ian Hallsworth, Matt James, Rachel Nicholson, Allie Collins, Lizzy Ewer, Jude Drake, Louise Cameron, Jane Donovan and the wider team who have made this book so amazing. Many thanks to our agent Clare Grist Taylor; we are delighted to be some of the earliest clients of The Accidental Agency.

We believe and hope that this book is another step forward on the path to create a better workplace where everyone belongs.

Diversity is not a problem to fix. Diversity is the solution.

Diversity offers us the solution to unlocking greater creativity in our businesses, and to finding growth in todays competitive markets. I have been passionately advocating the benefits of diversity for many years now, and I like to use an unlikely but I think very powerful analogy.

I am a single mum to a 10-year-old boy, who is obsessed with The Avengers. As well as being a hugely successful movie franchise, The Avengers provide a brilliant analogy for a high-performing team and for the benefits of diversity. Are the Avengers all the same? No. They are very different people, with very different attitudes and beliefs. Do they always get on? No. But when it matters, they come together as a team. And their very different skills combine to form a whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts.

I genuinely believe it is our job as leaders to put together teams of individuals with very different talents, then champion and nourish them, so that we can create an Avengers Assemble! of talent in our businesses who can creatively problem solve and deliver. Survey after survey underlines the benefits to organizations of diversity. And we are making progress towards greater diversity at work. But that progress is very slow. Why? The authors of Belonging have identified one of the key barriers to progress that is overlooked time and again, and also outline a clear and achievable solution.

Recruiting a more diverse team of people is only the start. Leaders then have to ensure that they create a culture where everyone in this diverse team feels that they belong. In the old paradigm we would expect new people to fit in to simply absorb and replicate the behaviours of everyone around them. But if we do that, we lose out on the benefits of diversity, because we remove the diverse thinking, behaviour and attitudes that will spark creativity. How often have we heard of people leaving a company because they just werent the right fit? And on how many of those occasions might that person have actually been trying to bring the diversity of thought that the company needed?

Today we need to do more than be open to this possibility. We need to create a work environment where new people feel free to bring their different ways of thinking and where those already in place welcome this. That means a workplace where everyone fundamentally feels that they belong that they are accepted and will be supported. This wont always be easy for any of us. Diversity of thought naturally means that consensus will be harder to get to, and tensions can exist. But with open minds and mutual respect we can work through that. A certain amount of healthy conflict, tension and challenge can be a vital spark to creativity and so will help us create better ideas.