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Recommended Reading

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Dec 20
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What We’re Reading – On Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

By | Recommended Reading

Our recommended reads on Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

It’s a part of my job – and I’m sure yours too – to keep up to date with all the latest trends, white papers, and thinking in the sector. Some topics– like the latest melodrama on Twitter– can first blow up and then disappear relatively fast. Others never really go away. At least not in my lifetime. That’s in part because as much progress as you think you’ve made, there is almost always more to learn, new voices and perspectives to hear, and ways to get better.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is such a topic. Here at Room40 we recently asked everyone in the organization to go out and find new (to us) resources and perspectives on DEI issues. Some of what people came back with had been seen by some of us, but everyone found something new.

The list of recommended readings linked to above barely scratches the surface. But I’m sharing it in case anything there is something here that is new to you, too. And in hopes that you’ll return the favor by recommending something you’ve found particularly insightful, fresh or valuable.

We should never stop trying to be better people, and better colleagues, building better organizations in service of a better world.

Let us know what you think! Send us resources and perspectives about DEI that you feel make a big impact on Twitter and LinkedIn.

All the Best,

Ben Mahnke
Founding CEO of the Room40 Group

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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - The Danger of a Single Story

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"Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person..."

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“I come back to this video because it reminds me how easy our brains fill in the gaps of what we see and hear with our own stories. Adichie makes such a great point that you can only beat the habit by consciously acknowledging it.” – Karena

Standford Social Review Logo Diversity Equity Inclusion DEI
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Emily Teitsworth - Practical Ideas for Improving Equity and Inclusion at Nonprofits

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Addressing a DEI leadership vacuum at the top of organizational hierarchies is the work of those in positions of power.

Emily Teitsworth

“What I liked about this piece was the emphasis on how people in positions of power can help, even if that means sitting down and shutting up.” – Karla

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Vernā Myers - Harvard Business School Has A Diversity Problem — Here’s How To Fix It

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Diversity is being invited to the party; Inclusion is being asked to dance

Verna Myers

“This article made me think about the individual responsibility we all have to DEI efforts. In order to see real changes, we must be willing to acknowledge the privileges and challenge the biases we bring to work.” – Liz

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Lani Guinier - State of the Black Union 2009

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"Merit is something that we find in groups of people, particularly diverse groups of problem solvers."

Lani Guinier

“The most effective and powerful teams are more than the sum of their parts. Instead of assembling teams who share the same strengths, we should choose people who all have different abilities and points of view. If you build an organization of people who think and experience the world just like you, you can create a lot of organizational blind spots.” – Ben