Gray areas by Adia Harvey Wingfield
NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB's November 2023 Must Read Books * LIBRARY JOURNAL EDITOR PICK * "This vital and accessible study is a must-read for anyone concerned with workplace equality."--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) A leading sociologist reveals why racial inequality persists in the workplace despite today's multi-billion-dollar diversity industry--and provides actionable solutions for creating a truly equitable, multiracial future. Labor and race have shared a complex, interconnected history in America. For decades, key aspects of work--from getting a job to workplace norms to advancement and mobility--ignored and failed Black people. While explicit discrimination no longer occurs, and organizations make internal and public pledges to honor and achieve "diversity," inequities persist through what Adia Harvey Wingfield calls the "gray areas:" the relationships, networks, and cultural dynamics integral to companies that are now more important than ever. The reality is that Black employees are less likely to be hired, stall out at middle levels, and rarely progress to senior leadership positions. Wingfield has spent a decade examining inequality in the workplace, interviewing over two hundred Black subjects across professions about their work lives. In Gray Areas, she introduces seven of them: Alex, a worker in the gig economy Max, an emergency medicine doctor; Constance, a chemical engineer; Brian, a filmmaker; Amalia, a journalist; Darren, a corporate vice president; and Kevin, who works for a nonprofit. In this accessible and important antiracist work, Wingfield chronicles their experiences and blends them with history and surprising data that starkly show how old models of work are outdated and detrimental. She demonstrates the scope and breadth of gray areas and offers key insights and suggestions for how they can be fixed, including shifting hiring practices to include Black workers; rethinking organizational cultures to centralize Black employees' experience; and establishing pathways that move capable Black candidates into leadership roles. These reforms would create workplaces that reflect America's increasingly diverse population--professionals whose needs organizations today are ill-prepared to meet. It's time to prepare for a truly equitable, multiracial future and move our culture forward. To do so, we must address the gray areas in our workspaces today. This definitive work shows us how. Gray Areas includes 15 black-and-white images and a photo insert.
Call Number: FAH/LVFH 521 Win
ISBN: 9780063079816
Publication Date: 2023
Gray areas by
NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB's November 2023 Must Read Books * LIBRARY JOURNAL EDITOR PICK * "This vital and accessible study is a must-read for anyone concerned with workplace equality."--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) A leading sociologist reveals why racial inequality persists in the workplace despite today's multi-billion-dollar diversity industry--and provides actionable solutions for creating a truly equitable, multiracial future. Labor and race have shared a complex, interconnected history in America. For decades, key aspects of work--from getting a job to workplace norms to advancement and mobility--ignored and failed Black people. While explicit discrimination no longer occurs, and organizations make internal and public pledges to honor and achieve "diversity," inequities persist through what Adia Harvey Wingfield calls the "gray areas:" the relationships, networks, and cultural dynamics integral to companies that are now more important than ever. The reality is that Black employees are less likely to be hired, stall out at middle levels, and rarely progress to senior leadership positions. Wingfield has spent a decade examining inequality in the workplace, interviewing over two hundred Black subjects across professions about their work lives. In Gray Areas, she introduces seven of them: Alex, a worker in the gig economy Max, an emergency medicine doctor; Constance, a chemical engineer; Brian, a filmmaker; Amalia, a journalist; Darren, a corporate vice president; and Kevin, who works for a nonprofit. In this accessible and important antiracist work, Wingfield chronicles their experiences and blends them with history and surprising data that starkly show how old models of work are outdated and detrimental. She demonstrates the scope and breadth of gray areas and offers key insights and suggestions for how they can be fixed, including shifting hiring practices to include Black workers; rethinking organizational cultures to centralize Black employees' experience; and establishing pathways that move capable Black candidates into leadership roles. These reforms would create workplaces that reflect America's increasingly diverse population--professionals whose needs organizations today are ill-prepared to meet. It's time to prepare for a truly equitable, multiracial future and move our culture forward. To do so, we must address the gray areas in our workspaces today. This definitive work shows us how. Gray Areas includes 15 black-and-white images and a photo insert.
The scout mindset : why some people see things clearly and others don't by
Recommended by Jonathan Berman
There is a large gulf between believing that we see things clearly and actually seeing things clearly. We all think we see things clearly, but do we really? In this practical and insightful book, Julia Galef, co-founder for the Center for Applied Rationality, argues that too often we are blinded by our motivations. That is, we are too easily swayed by what we want to be true over what actually is true. And this hurts our ability to thrive in our own lives. How do you overcome this? By adopting, what she refers to as a “Scout Mindset.” This book is an easy read, but it is powerful. It’s changed the way I think and reason, and if you read it, it will surely change the way you do too.
Chip war : the fight for the world's most critical technology by
Recommended by James Dow
An excellent account of the chip industry, from the early beginnings in 1950s California to the current political tensions over Taiwan. It explains very well how TSMC in Taiwan and ASML in the Netherlands came to be so important for the global supply chain. Chris Miller is good at introducing the characters in his story, without lingering on irrelevant details. The book is well edited and avoids repetition. Great for understanding how the world economy is evolving and for getting insights into the geopolitical tensions in South China Sea.
The righteous mind : why good people are divided by politics and religion by
Recommended by Dafna Goor
In The Righteous Mind, moral psychologist Jonathan Haidt delves into the emotional underpinnings of our moral judgments, arguing that they stem from stories rather than reason. This book explores why liberals and conservatives often talk past each other, lacking a shared moral language, which exacerbates political polarisation. Haidt traces the evolution of our diverse moralities, highlighting that morality encompasses more than just fairness. He provides thought-provoking insights on how we can transcend our natural self-righteousness to reduce political divides. This is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the roots of our moral and political differences and finding ways to bridge them.