Working Together

I wish leaders of countries and corporations would read this book.

What makes a good anthology? This book is an admirable example. Internationally respected cross-cultural anthropologist and award-winning author Angeles Arrien edited this volume to create a text that speaks about diversity in its form and content. As contributors to this work, she brought together practitioners from the realms of diversity work, art, academics, business and world leadership (most notably Mikhail Gorbachev.) Diverse points of view on the subject combined with different writing forms and styles (conceptual, practical, parable and dialogue) create a vision beyond our grasp and how-to applications within our grip. Ms. Arrien's introduction and the 18 articles expand our awareness for personal growth, interpersonal development and global consciousness. The anthology is not meant to be fully representative of the diversity field but it succeeds admirably in its purpose of creating synergy from different viewpoints and contexts. I was stimulated by the ideas and how the articles, each an entity in itself, opened me to greater understanding of the practicality of and avenues for diversity through synergy. The conviction of the contributors and the stories of how their lives have made a difference were deeply moving. Helpful to me as a practitioner is learning how to live with the paradox that is necessary to discover the opportunity for diversity. This is affirmed over and over by the many role models represented by the articles included in this book.Giving voice to national and global diversity becomes more important as the voice of the US Federal government speaks more and more for big business and corporate interests. The focused and limited point of view of big business may yield short-term, bottom-line results, but it often creates long-term environmental and societal havoc in its wake. This text breathes vitality into the idea that diversity is not just an ideal to seek. It makes the case for diversity as good for business, as well. The synergy of differences is necessary to release creativity and the myriad beneficial results that multiculturalism and interdependence offer us. You may notice two different publishers for this book and ask yourself if they are significantly different editions. In 1998, New Leaders Press published the hard cover edition with the subtitle "Producing Synergy by Honoring Diversity." Later, this small but notable publisher went out of business, so the hard cover is out of print. Berrett-Koehler Publishers recognized the contributions in this anthology and republished it in 2001. The original text remains, with the changes being updated biographical statements, a soft cover, and the subtitle "Diversity as Opportunity." I'm pleased the book is being re-released through a larger publisher. This book needs wider distribution because it is necessary now for diversity to be utilized as opportunity. I highly recommend Working Together as a useful resource.