Rating: 5/5

I’ve really enjoyed this book. As a background, I’m a mixed Asian woman.

The author does a really good job at explaining privilege and how to be an ally to others. She also does a good job at explaining that although we may have hardships, we still may have privilege that affords us more opportunities than others, which is important to think about as we attempt to be allies with friends, families, coworkers, and just others in general.

As a mixed Asian woman, I do understand I have privilege that is not afforded to some of my friends and coworkers, while I also have hardships that my other friends and coworkers do not experience.

One of the biggest gripes around being an ally is actually discussed by this author: listen to the people you ally with for their input AND support them to talk for themselves. Like the example of a woman being talked over, where instead of naming her idea and summarizing her point, allow her to speak her thought so the idea is truly attributed to her.

I think this book is something that people should read in general. Even as a WOC, I found ideas to take away from this book on how I could be a better ally for other people.

I was provided an e-book copy for review by the publisher.

This book took a long time for me to start and then for me to read. As a white woman in academic science, I have often been and often am the only woman in the room. This makes me both an ally and someone who can benefit from allyship.

While this book focuses on tech, there are many parallels in fields that also have under-representation of women and minorities. While reading, I thought of several people that I could give copies of this book to encourage thinking about diversity and being better allies in my workplace.

This book should be read cover-to-cover and used as a reference thereafter. However, it isn't a book you can sit down and read cover-to-cover in a single or even multiple long sittings. I recommend reading and absorbing one chapter in a week and working on the principles in the chapter that week, adding techniques every week as you go along.

Catlin makes every effort to use relevant and current examples of both good and poor behavior in allies. Her writing is easy to read and understand. She goes the extra mile to engage people who may be skeptical or who do not quite buy into the need for everybody to take action in creating inclusive workplaces.

Overall, I highly recommend to people who can use their privilege to make the workplace better.

This is a timely, helpful and all-round awesome book! Full of examples and useful advice on how to be an ally to under-represented groups in the workplace, without every being ‘preachy’ and never underestimating the scale of the challenge.

It’s time to put an end to just publishing an equality and diversity strategy full of potentially empty but impressive aims; this book will help you get into action. A must have for every business that cares about valuing people as human beings.

I was fortunate to receive a complimentary digital copy of this book (through NetGalley) in return for an honest review.