Recommended Reading List

"WDG consultants are very good listeners, and hear the questions well, so they are able to come up with strategies that can be implemented and that suit the organization at that point in time. "Diversity" is often perceived as a vague concept; they provide action steps which allow the organization to proceed with change." –Carolyn Maue, Vice President, Workforce Culture, UPMC Health System

On-line Periodicals

Cultural Diversity at Work Journal www.diversitycentral.com

Diversity Inc. www.diversityinc.com

Books

We have categorized our book list according to our diversity leader self-assessment. Please note that we are now offering service through Amazon.com so you can buy our recommended books online. We will donate our referral proceeds to charitable non-profit organizations that are aligned with our company values. For more information, please see the community outreach page.

1. Courage

Leading with Soul by Lee G. Bolman & Terrence E. Deal - This new edition includes a new introduction that addresses such current issues as the changing nature of work, the new face of today's workers, and the greater need for the infusion of soul in the workplace. The authors have also added a new section in which they relate stories sent in by readers of the First Edition and answer key questions readers have raised. Buy it now

Organizational Culture & Leadership by Edgar H. Schein - Focusing on the complex business realities of the 1990s, organizational development pioneer Edgar Schein transforms the abstract concept of culture into a practical tool that managers and students can use to understand the dynamics of organization and change. Buy it now

2. Discernment

Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes: Linking Perceptions and Performance Facilitator Guide and Participant Guides by Indra Lahiri, Ph.D. of Workforce Development Group offer a comprehensive introduction to the workings of biases, stereotypes and assumptions. The Facilitator Guide walks you through Jane Elliott's groundbreaking and controversial videos----Eye of the Storm, A Class Divided, The Angry Eye, and The Essential Blue-Eyed. The goal of this workshop is to demonstrate how our perceptions about others influence how we treat them, which in turn influences their ability to perform. Buy it now

Gay Issues in the Workplace by Brian McNaught - A corporate consultant/educator shows business people and corporate managers how anti-gay bias impacts the entire work force and harms corporate productivity. The author of On Being Gay presents a field-tested approach to coping with prejudice and eliminating destructive behaviors from the workplace. Buy it now

Voices of Diversity by Sandra Slipp & Renee Blank - This gives the reader a unique how-to-approach to working within the diverse workplace by letting its members to you in their own words- how they feel about their relationships on the job. Buy it now

Talking 9 to 5: Women and Men in the workplace: Language, Sex and Power by Deborah Tannen - Your project went off without a hitch--but somebody else got the credit...You averted a crisis brilliantly--but on one noticed...You came to the meeting with a sensational idea--but it was ignored until someone else said the same thing...This book takes you through communication styles that can hinder or help you in the workplace. Buy it now

3. Effective communication

Hot Buttons: How to Resolve Conflict and Cool Everyone Down by Sybil Evans - We live in an angry society where road rage, air rage and cell phone rage exists. This book will take you through a five-step formula which will help you identify what pushes your hot buttons and how you push others hot buttons-conflict can be avoided. More importantly how you can turn them off once they have been pushed. Buy it now

The Argument Culture: Stopping America's War of Words by Deborah Tannen - The Argument Culture is a remarkable book that will change forever the way you perceive--and communicate with--the world. Buy it now

4. Integrity

Aiming Higher by David Bollier - Each year, The Business Enterprise Trust honors companies or individuals who have shown bold, creative leadership in combining sound business management with social conscience.Aiming Higher presents the stories of 25 of these honorees. These inspiring narratives illuminate the complicated, gritty challenges met and overcome by public-spirited business people. Buy it now

Selling With Integrity : Reinventing Sales Through Collaboration, Respect, and Serving by Sharon Drew Morgen - The sales floor is rarely associated with spiritual values, much less with integrity. Nonetheless, entrepreneur and sales trainer Sharon Drew Morgen believes it is entirely possible for sellers and buyers to experience both--while still meeting their individual mercantile needs. In Selling With Integrity: Reinventing Sales Through Collaboration, Respect, and Serving, she persuasively outlines a revolutionary "Buying Facilitation" approach that remakes a traditional adversarial relationship into one marked by genuine collaboration and honest consideration. Buy it now

Winning With Integrity: Getting What You Want Without Selling Your Soul by Leigh Steinberg, Michael D'Orso - Since entering the nascent field of sports law 25 years ago--before athletes were guaranteed the right of legal representation--Leigh Steinberg has epitomized the high-profile sports agent, successfully negotiating over $2 billion in contracts for superstars like Troy Aikman, Steve Young, and Ryan Leaf. Just as importantly, he has done so with honor. Now, arguing that value-driven negotiating techniques can prove equally productive in other settings, Steinberg lays out his step-by-step process in Winning with Integrity: Getting What You're Worth Without Selling Your Soul. Buy it now

5. Intellectual energy and curiosity

Riding the Waves of Culture by Fons Trompenaars & Charles Hampden-Turner - As U.S. organizations continue to explore overseas business opportunities, they will be challenged to adapt to the new market's local characteristics, legislation, fiscal regime, socio-political system, and cultural system. This book eases this transitory process, showing the emerging breed of international managers how to build the skills, sensitivity, and cultural awareness needed to establish and sustain management effectiveness across cultural borders. Buy it now

Diverse Teams at Work by Lee Gardenswartz & Anita Rowe - Diverse Teams at Work shows how to manage the many differences inherent to today's teams and provides: an analysis of the primary dimensions of diversity (age, ethnicity, race, gender, physical ability, and sexual orientation) and how they shape expectations and team behavior; guidelines for building relationships across diversity lines; key tips for resolving conflicts, solving problems, and making decisions as a highly diverse group. Buy it now

6. Intercultural proficiency

Cross Cultural Dialogues by Craig Storti -This book is highly recommended . It takes the reader through 74 brief dialoges in which speakers miscommunicate because of cultural differences. Buy it now

Understanding Global Cultures by Martin Gannon & Associates - This book takes the reader on metaphorical journeys through 17 countries: Great Britain, Italy, Germany, France, Sweden, Russia, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Turkey, Israel, Nigeria, Japan, India, America, and China. This book is heavily academic in its orientation. Buy it now

Figuring Foreigners Out by Craig Storti - Educators, trainers and individuals alike will profit from this book. Intercultural communications are addressed in a step-by-step manner and includes individualism and collectivism, monochronic and polychronic concepts of time, verbal and nonverbal communication styles and power distance relationships in the workplace. Buy it now

7. Leveraging diversity and inclusion

Action Books (Diversity Breakthrough! Strategic Action Series-Set of Six Books) by Debbe Kennedy, Sally K. Green (Illustrator), General David H. Ohle (Foreword), Reverend Alan Jones (Foreword), Emily Duncan (Foreword), Sue Swenson (Foreword), Bert Bleke (Foreword), J. T. Childs Jr. (Foreword), Starting: Setting Direction, Defining Actions - Six short, snappy booklets--each focusing on a key phase in the "imperfect circle" of change. The first, "Assessment," helps companies take a diversity inventory, while "Acceptance" shows how to build internal support for change. "Action" helps organizations launch a new program or breathe life into an existing one. "Accountability" gets everyone in on the process, and "Achievement" comes with a plan for measuring and celebrating success. Crucially, "More Action" keeps everyone from resting on their laurels once the good work has begun. Buy it now

Developing Competency to Manage Diversity: Readings, Cases & Activities by Ruby L. Beale (Contributor), Taylor, Jr. Cox - Develop a critical competency for today's organizations - the ability to successfully manage diversity. Builds on the author's acclaimed volume, Cultural Diversity in Organizations; organizes learning and skill-building for diversity around thirty-one activities that can change behavior; addresses a wide range of diversity issues through twenty-three timely readings; integrates ideas from the academic world with real-life experience in six detailed case studies; and provides managers with tools they need to successfully managed a diverse workforce. Buy it now

New Leadership for Women and Men: Building an Inclusive Organization by Michael Simmons - This book will introduce you to a profound understanding of the underlying dynamics and tensions that exist between women and men in the workplace. It lays out a stark picture of the challenge facing organizations in the new millennium and offers a new approach to leadership based upon diversity and inclusion. Buy it now

8. Managing up

The Diversity Directive by Robert Hayles, Ph.D. & Armida Mendez Russell - The aim of The Diversity Directive is to help those organizations realize the rewards of their efforts. The Diversity Directive includes a step-by-step, proven process for initiating or revitalizing corporate diversity efforts. Some of the most valuable diversity lessons learned by leading edge companies such as Medtronic, Pillsbury, Honeywell and 3M are shared in this book. Buy it now

The New leaders: Guidelines on Leadership Diversity in America by Anne Morrison - This book shows how companies can reach a broader market, improve employee satisfaction, and increase productivity when diversity becomes an integral part of their business strategy. Buy it now

9. Mentoring others

A Mentor's Companion by Larry Ambrose - A Mentor's Companion is a book written for the active or prospective mentor. Its goal is to be a focused, practical guide into the texture of the mentoring interaction between mentor and protégé. Combining a unique recipe of live dialogues between a mentor and her protégé, with guidelines that glean the key learning from the dialogues, the book teaches the "moves" the mentor should consider in maximizing the learning possibilities for the protégé. Buy it now

Beyond the Myths and Magic of Mentoring: How to Facilitate an Effective Mentoring Process, Revised Edition by Margo Murray - A useful resource for those considering becoming a mentor or looking to improve their mentoring abilities. Offers real examples of what works and what doesn't, providing both sample models and specific guidelines for the design, implementation and evaluation of a facilitated mentoring process within any organization. Buy it now

Mentoring: The Tao of Giving and Receiving Wisdom by Al Chungliang Huang, et al - The new model for business and personal relationships based on the simple yet profound principle of mentoring--both giving and receiving knowledge in a creative mutual exchange. Buy it now

10. Pragmatism

TeamWork What must go right/What can go Wrong by Carl E. Larson & Frank M.J. LaFasto - This book focuses on the individuals who are asked (or volunteered) to function as a team. Why do some teams develop ³team spirit² and some don't? But whether we understand the subtleties of team functioning or not, most of us are aware of the critical role teams play in our lives-in getting work accomplished and in solving problems. Thus, an understanding of teamwork is a fundamental step in assuring our future survival. Buy it now

The Emperor's Nightingale : Restoring the Integrity of the Corporation in the Age of Shareholder Activism by Robert A. G. Monks (Preface), Dean LeBaron - In The Emperor's Nightingale, the author weaves together parables, case studies, and insights from complexity thinking to reveal the true character of the corporation, as it struggles to reconcile the opposing forces of certainty and uncertainty, the predictable and the serendipitous, and short-term profit versus long-term economic value rooted in the social good. Buy it now

Harvard Business Review on Decision Making by Harvard Business Review (Editor) - This is a professional and managerial guide to decision making, with a collection of articles on the subject from leading business scholars. Topics covered include traps in decision-making, problem analysis, the effective decision, and humble decision-making. Buy it no

11. Self-knowledge

Leadership Jazz by Max De Pree - Leadership in the workplace, says Max De Pree, is like playing jazz; it's more an art than a science. Today's successful managers are attuned to the needs and ideas of their followers and even step aside at times to be followers themselves. As a result, they spark vitality and productivity from their work force. They culivate communication and spontaneity, diversity and creativity, and the unique potential of every person in the organization to contribute to the success of the team. Buy it now

Leadership from the Inside Out by Kevin Cashman - Most books on leadership see leadership only as something we do rather than as an expression of who we are. In this book, Kevin Cashman takes readers on a reflective, interactive journey through each of the seven pathways of mastery‹focusing on mastery of life, rather than on mere mastery of circumstances or of managing people‹to help them advance from a one-dimensional focus on external factors to a multidimensional perspective. This book redefines leadership at an essential level and is written for business people in any field. Expect to be transformed as you read and experience this book. More Than a Book: It's a practical explorer's guide with real tools for personal and leadership transformation. Redefines Leadership: It promotes a non-hierarchical view that originates in the character of the person and radiates outward to enrich others. Interdisciplinary: This whole-person approach is multi-dimensional and integrates multiple and interrelated pathways to lea! dership. High-Impact: It is highly recommended by Fortune 500 CEOs, best-selling authors, and the media. Proven and Tested: This is not an academic treatise about leadership, but an in-depth and practical guide that has been developed in over 20 years of coaching leaders and executives. Buy it now

12. Sense of humor

The Wall Street Journal Portfolio of Golf Cartoons by Charles Preston (Editor) - The Wall Street Journal Portfolio of Golf Cartoons is a delightful collection of the funniest cartoons about golf published in the nation's premier business and financial daily. Buy it now

The Dilbert Principle : A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions by Scott Adams - Ever since Machiavelli set out the principles of princehood, the public has been hoodwinked into believing that with the right advice on swimming with the sharks, managing in one minute, and searching for excellence, accompanied by the application of reason and logic, success would be theirs. In The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads, and Other Workplace Afflictions, Scott Adams finally puts things in perspective, fearlessly acknowledging an eternal truth: "If you've worked in the business world for more than ten minutes, you know it's an immense exercise in the absurd." Buy it now

The Lighter Side of Lending by Gordon Schlicke - Amusing perspectives on lending. Trade Show Survival Guide : A Tongue-In-Cheek Sales Handbook : Training Made Fun by Matt Hill This fun-to-read, Tongue-In-Cheek handbook of trade show selling skills, written by Matthew Hill, President of The Hill Group, covers the topics such as:

Besides Free Food, Why Go to Pre-Show Meetings?
SMART Objectives, DUMB Ideas
Offending International Visitors
Your Demos Probably Suck
A New Concept: Be Productive Buy it now

13. Skilled with change

Imaginization The Art of Creative Management by Gareth Morgan - As we leave the age of organized organizations and enter a world of more free-flowing forms, managers are required to rethink their roles and find fresh means of dealing with new challenges. In this book, Gareth Morgan shows how. Imaginization is an amazing book: practical, deadly serious, light-hearted, accessible, powerful and fun. Buy it now

A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America by Ian I. Mitroff & Elizabeth A. Denton - This first-ever survey of spiritual beliefs and practices among managers and executives in the workplace analyzes findings and outlines solutions for bringing those beliefs into the organization. This book examines five distinct models for the ways in which spirituality is practiced in the workplace, spelling out strengths and weaknesses of each model. Buy it now

Breakthrough! Everything you Need to Start a Solution Revolution (Book, CD-Rom, Problem Identification Card Pack) by Debbe Kennedy - In what may very easily be the future format of many business books, Kennedy focuses on the workplace syndrome of talking about problems without ever developing concrete actions to address them. Her technique, however, is special. She provides a hefty book to guide the reader toward a "Solution Revolution," then also includes a universally-accessible CD-ROM that mates with the book, making the reader's search for new ideas to intractable problems simple yet thorough. Simple in format yet wide in scope, Kennedy's book is a thinking experience excellently done. Don't just read it; drive it! Buy it now

14. Strategic vision

Cultural Diversity in Organizations by Taylor Cox - Taylor Cox assembles learnings from ten years of teaching, research, and consulting related to cultural diversity in organizations into a comprehensive text for teaching, organization development, and scholarship. The result is a major advance in our understanding of cultural diversity and its effects on organizational behavior and performance. Buy it now

From the Outside In by Renee Blank & Sandra Slipp - Based on extensive research and firsthand interviews, and loaded with real-life workplace scenarios and success stories, From the Outside In explains how to:

Break past assumptions of hostility
Muster support
Accentuate the positive
Buy in without selling out--and more proven strategies for breaking through the concrete ceiling and enjoying a successful career. Buy it now