Diversity, Inc., Pamela Newkirk
Diversity, Inc., Pamela Newkirk
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Diversity, Inc.
The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Business

Author: Pamela Newkirk

Narrator: Tracey Leigh

Unabridged: 7 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/22/2019


Synopsis

One of Time Magazine's Must-Read Books of 2019: An award-winning journalist shows how workplace diversity initiatives have turned into a profoundly misguided industry—and have done little to bring equality to America's major industries and institutions.

Diversity has become the new buzzword, championed by elite institutions from academia to Hollywood to corporate America. In an effort to ensure their organizations represent the racial and ethnic makeup of the country, industry and foundation leaders have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to commission studies, launch training sessions, and hire consultants and diversity czars. But is it working?

In Diversity, Inc., award-winning journalist Pamela Newkirk shines a bright light on the diversity industry, asking the tough questions about what has been effective—and why progress has been so slow. Newkirk highlights the rare success stories, sharing valuable lessons about how other industries can match those gains. But as she argues, despite decades of handwringing, costly initiatives, and uncomfortable conversations, organizations have, apart from a few exceptions, fallen far short of their goals.

Diversity, Inc. incisively shows the vast gap between the rhetoric of inclusivity and real achievements. If we are to deliver on the promise of true equality, we need to abandon ineffective, costly measures and commit ourselves to combatting enduring racial attitudes.

About Pamela Newkirk

Pamela Newkirk is a native New Yorker and award-winning journalist who spent ten years working as a reporter and writer before joining the journalism faculty at New York University. Her articles exploring race, media, art, and culture have been published widely, including in The New York Times, The Washinton Post, Artnews, and The Nation. Her first book, Within the Veil: Black Journalists, White Media (1999) won the National Press Club Award for media criticism.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lauren on December 18, 2019

"During more than three decades of my professional life, diversity has been a national preoccupation. Yet despite decades of handwringing, costly initiatives, and uncomfortable conversations, progress in most elite American institutions has been negligible. [...] Why, after five decades of countl......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on January 03, 2021

"Progress won't come without us being uncomfortable. People want to believe we can have diversity and not really get uncomfortable...It requires incumbent leaders and managers to change their behavior and practices. It means that institutions have to change incentive structures and to fundamentally......more

Goodreads review by Bryn on April 11, 2021

So, the rating is probably overly harsh. I had already bought into the book's thesis--that our diversity efforts in this nation are largely lip-service--before I started reading it, so the cataloging of the failure to achieve diversity across many industries felt repetitive and un-enlightening to me......more

Goodreads review by LeRhonda on January 27, 2020

Such a great read. The billion dollars that people spend trying to hire a diversity director is not the only answer. We need to professionalize the work. Too often the person leading this work have to fight their supervisor because they are not educated to support this work moving forward across the......more

Goodreads review by Michelle on May 01, 2021

This is a really interesting look at why - despite attention and resources being put to diversity initiatives since the Civil Rights movement, little to nothing has changed in a measurable way. I thought it was interesting to look at sectors that are considered so progressive (academia, art, Hollywo......more


Quotes

"Simply by reminding readers of the stories of people like Ingram and Roberts, dedicated employees who endured unthinkable humiliation - the "uncivil" ways in which they were treated, simply because of their race - 'Diversity, Inc.' may do more to help advance the cause of workplace inclusion than any canned bias-training program ever could."—Stephanie Mehta, Washington Post

"a must-read.... a well-sourced and succinctly written report that addresses the overall lack of progress in three key sectors: academia, corporate America, and the Hollywood entertainment establishment...The book is valuable for many reasons, not the least of which is the context Newkirk provides."—Ellen McGirt, Fortune

"Newkirk asks compelling questions as she takes a hard look at the American mosaic."—BizEd

"Pamela Newkirk has written the far-reaching and crisply worded book I had been waiting to read. Cheap diversity statements and costly diversity consultants are not working and Newkirk explains precisely why. Institutions can do better and Diversity, Inc., explains precisely how."—Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist

"With revealing statistics, a compelling narrative, and conclusions about our liberal institutions that will shock but perhaps not surprise, Pamela Newkirk's Diversity, Inc. is a must-read for our times."—PaulaJ. Giddings, EA Woodson Professor Emerita, Smith College

"Rejecting a 'we are the world' approach to diversity for an unflinching examination of the root causes of racial injustice, Pamela Newkirk has written a bold and fearless book about what needs to happen in this country for true diversity to flourish. We have to tell ourselves the truth about our history, our narrative of racial preeminence, and our current practices. Diversity, Inc. is written with the urgency of our times. A must read!" —Eddie S. Glaude Jr., author of Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul

"Pamela Newkirk's Diversity, Inc. is a necessary and clear-eyed assessment of how far we have to go to realize equity and inclusion in the American workplace."—Sherrilyn A. Ifill, President & Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund,Inc.