Reconstructing Inclusion

Organizational appetites for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) have never been more acute. But how can these new efforts, which often call on old strategies, now result in better outcomes? This book deconstructs and rebuilds the fundamental concepts of inclusion to reclaim their transformative potential for DE&I practitioners and the organizations they work with. Organizations of all types are making unprecedented investments in unconscious bias training, diversity recruitment, and anti-racism education. Words like belonging and equity are on the list of aspirational outcomes for these efforts, but the pathways to those goals are unclear because their implementation has been reactionary, supplemental, and in too many instances cosmetic rather than systemic. In Reconstructing Inclusion, Amri Johnson, CEO of Inclusion Wins, explores why that reactionary stance persists and provides a framework for designing a systematic approach that empowers all stakeholders in these efforts—everyone—to thrive. In deconstructing and rebuilding inclusion’s most fundamental concepts, Johnson illustrates an “Inclusion System” that outlines the conditions critical to inclusion becoming normative—accessible, actionable, sustainable, and positively contributing to the organizational mission. Reconstructing Inclusion offers a guide to better understanding the historical context of inclusion, a rethinking of the efforts organizations are undertaking now, and an actionable, robust approach to carrying this work into the future.