What If?: Short Stories to Spark Diversity Dialogue - Softcover

National speaker and diversity and inclusion consultant Steve L. Robbins, a Vietnamese-American who immigrated to the U.S. as a boy during the Vietnam War, understands firsthand the damaging effects of prejudice, cultural assumptions, and closed minds. In WHAT IF?, Robbins presents a series of short, memorable stories that illustrate key concepts about diversity, inclusion, and the value of an open mind. This is an easy, fun read filled with insightful observations about human behavior, featuring questions to stimulate diversity dialogue and activities that help individuals and groups practice new thinking and behaviors.

This workshop-in-a-book is designed to get leaders, managers, HR professionals, and employees thinking, talking, sharing, and leveraging everyone's perspectives, talents, and experience for the good of the organization.

Having trained employees at numerous Fortune 50, 100, and 500 companies and national nonprofits, Robbins shows fresh ways to:

* Discover hidden talents in all your employees * Solve problems better by tapping more perspectives * Assess your leadership's inclusion policies * Prepare your people for diversity training * Identify systemic inclusion gaps in your company's culture * Ramp up your organization's diversity and inclusion practices

Leaders and employees tend not to have crucial conversations around issues of diversity and inclusion. This book is an invaluable conversation starter and teaching tool for any type of organization--nonprofits, governmental agencies, small businesses, corporations, schools, even sports teams--looking to develop an environment in which all members can thrive, contribute, and reach their potential.

When Steve Long-Nguyen Robbins was growing up, his mother routinely told him, "Long, you walk on a path cleared by others." Her insightful guidance and self-sacrificing example are the forces that drive Robbins's corporate work around diversity and inclusion today. His goal is unwavering: to clear the path for others and recruit more "path makers"--to honor his mother and to make a better world for everyone.

In WHAT IF?, Robbins provides twenty-six inspiring, lively, and somteimes deeply personal stories illustrating diversity and inclusion concepts. He offers insight and practical advice on how to reconcile unity with diversity and reframe our organizations for competitive advantage. He adds tips and suggestions for putting key learnings into action in your organization, ending each chapter with questions, an activity, and an assignment to inspire you to be more open-minded and inclusive and to discover how the ideas presented in the book might apply to your daily life at work and at home.