Inclusify: The Power of Uniqueness and Belonging to Build Innovative Teams

Most companies that think they’re encouraging diverse and inclusive practices are actually not, according to this disappointing treatise from Johnson, an associate management professor at the Leeds School of Business. She sees business leaders as still largely in thrall to the meritocracy myth, and as failing to take diverse backgrounds, experiences, and skills into account when hiring. To address this, Johnson urges organizations to focus on helping employees feel that they belong—the power of this feeling, she argues, is universal, and key to success. She also helps readers learn how to break their own biases, starting with a shift from unconscious to conscious thinking, and how to develop and build solid teams. These efforts need to be incorporated into every single day, she says, and from this conviction comes the term “inclusifying,” a “continuous, sustained effort toward helping diverse teams feel engaged, empowered, accepted, and valued.” (Why this familiar idea requires a neologism worthy of Michael Scott is not explained.) Johnson’s well-intentioned offering doesn’t provide much new to employers wondering why their supposedly merit-based team is, once again, all white men. Agent: Michael Palgon, Palgon Company. (June)