Diversity in the Workplace: Eye-Opening Interviews to Jumpstart Conversations about Identity, Privilege, and Bias

Diversity is, in my opinion, an important component to a successful workplace. However, many people who fall into any one of several different minority groups are not always welcome into companies and even if they get their foot in the door, they often find they can’t advance very far. The obstacles that minorities of all stripes face are the subject of Diversity in the Workplace.

This book is an interview book. It lets individuals from various marginalized groups have their turn to express what life is like for them in the American workforce. The individuals share what it was like growing up, going to college, and finding a job as a member of a specific minority group. They share their struggles and frustrations and what they have tried to do to cope with the situation the best they can.

What I like best about this book is the candid words of the people themselves. The individuals interviewed are free to express themselves and explain what it’s like to be a member of an ethnic minority, an LGBTQ member, someone from a religious background that causes them problems or conflicts with their chosen career, etc. The book asks basically the same questions to each person so that the reader can compare from person to person. Much of what they experience and the obstacles they face are similar, but there are also some key differences from person to person, which is nice. If every person expressed similar sentiments, the book would come across as somewhat contrived, but it isn’t like that.

My issues with this book are only a few. For one, the interviews are a little too brief and they leave you wanting to know more. Each interview receives only a few pages of questions and answers. I would love to know more about these individuals including more examples of specific incidents in their careers and how they dealt with them. Another small issue I have is with the dialogue. It reads like a conversation and that means, in some instances, you are not one- hundred percent sure what the individual was trying to convey.

Still, Diversity in the Workplace is a good book overall. We all need to do what we can to make workplaces free from unfair bias and we need to give everyone a fair shake. This book lets you hear what certain individuals have to deal with in the workaday world and helps you develop a better understanding of what minorities of different types have to deal with each day as they try to advance in their careers.

I received a complimentary copy of this book but was not compensated in any way. All opinions are mine.

This book is essential reading for every employer, manager and employee who wants to thrive in the 21st century workplace. The stories exemplify the many faces of diversity- gender, racial, cultural, spiritual, biological/physical, social, environmental, moral, ethical, economical, educational, political. The author brings us inside the experiences and worlds of diverse individuals and offers tools to promote understanding, awareness and inclusion.

Full disclosure: I am a practitioner and advocate in the field of civil rights, so I took a very critical look at the content of this book.

The subtitle of this book promises more than it delivers. Yes, it’s all interviews with people from various diverse backgrounds. But they’re not particularly eye-opening. And just one person representing each major category of diversity seems like a disservice. I suppose this might be useful as a small part of a large, multifaceted diversity and inclusion initiative, but these interviews themselves wouldn’t really “jumpstart” workplace diversity conversations.

Generally, the interviews were tremendously banal and provided no real insight that would help shape organizational approaches to diversity. It was mostly individual success stories, which are less helpful than discussions of how non-diverse and under-inclusive environments drive out valuable talent, or explorations of what approaches made the interviewees feel welcome and included. Glimpses of such ideas peek in, but on the whole it felt far too much like a collection of puff pieces to sell boardrooms on how diverse employees are nice and hard-working. If your organization needs to do that, the problem is probably a lack of diversity in the boardroom and not willfully ignorant middle managers, as the latter are merely a symptom of the former.

This is a book of interviews with individuals speaking about their experiences as members of various minority groups. The five parts of the book address race, women, LGBTQ+, ability and aging, and religion. Each section ends with a summary of takeaways. The interviews tend to be unfocused and lack impact on the reader. The summaries provide general information and guidelines but not enough to support the initiation of sensitive conversations about diversity in the workplace.

Bäri is an intelligent, thoughtful, and compassionate writer. I love that she’s able to capture the interviewees’ story in an unbiased manner, staying objective all throughout. I saw myself/my experiences in several stories so the book really hit home for me. I highly recommend reading it.

This is a great primer for anyone in business, but especially people who fall into the majority. Often, straight white people (especially males) don't realize the privilege they have just because they have these physical attributes that they have no control over. Even though it's getting better, there's still a wage gap of 18% between men and women. LGBTQ+ people often don't share the same protections that straight people do. Trans people suffer from microagressions, flat-out intolerance, and denial of their gender pronouns, among many, many other discriminations.

Offering easy-to understand explanations as well as one-on-one interviews with a variety of people, this book helps bring to light the issues mentioned above and many more. I think this book can have an impact on anyone who reads it. It's especially effective for people who are hands-on with the day-to-day operations of a business or organization. If nothing else, it makes you more aware of the biases that minority populations face.

I received a free copy of this book, but that did not influence my review.

Very interesting book about a range of diverse issues people have at school/work and throughout their lives. Most interviews are from people working in tech in California. Would have liked a bit more of a range but other than that, good read! Hearing stories first hand from people really does highlight realities better than most studies can

The formatting here might not be ideal for some readers but I did appreciate how it was divided up into sections with an interview style approach to various individuals who shared their experiences and stories in various company settings and shed light on issues and help draw awareness or at least having conversations to hopefully improve work environments.

I don't think it's able to be comprehensive to all workplace diversity issues but I think it runs a good selection and certainly helped me brush up on some mindfulness when working with others and being less presumptive. I felt I was pretty inclusive and mindful before but as a mid-30's white male in corporate America I think this is still a good read and not just something directed toward older work force with more stereotypical tendencies.

My brother does training classes for various local companies. I gave him this book to see if it was useful. He thought it was good enough he shared it with his coworker who purchased a copy for herself. He liked the stories. It could go more in depth on certain topics like ageism, but overall, it is a good book.

It was slow for me. All the information was good but I kept putting it down and eventually just forced myself to finish it. Maybe helpful for those who are looking to learn about what collaboration looks like.