This is a surprisingly strong book that manages to walk the careful tightrope between activism and practical advice. Miranda-Wolff makes a business-oriented argument as to why DEIB work is important to organizations, without that argument being rooted solely in 'because it's the right thing to do'. As an activist myself, I don't need convincing of the importance of that work, and so I appreciated even more Miranda-Wolff's care in making a guidebook for those who aren't deeply engrained in that space. She speaks without judgement for those unsure of how or why to uptake the work, and that's commendable for I'm not sure I could have such patience. While I personally bristle at the idea of merging capitalism and DEIB (as I believe they are diametrically opposed concepts), I am aware that I am an outlier and I'm glad a book like this exists. I will be recommending it to several different people in organizational management. There are practical steps and practical ideas in here that make DEIB less 'intimidating' and more likely to be adopted.

WOW! This is by far the best book on building a mindset around diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) at a workplace. I wish this book had been published when I wrote my thesis two years ago touch-basing on personal as well as organizational values!

Anyway, it is never late too gain new insights that will inform me about my next steps.

Though leaders of organization and teams are now expected to commit to DEIB, little are they prepared on the HOW and WHAT. Most of them may understand the WHY, that is why there is an urgency to create a mindset that revolves around DEIB, but they fail at implementing a DEIB culture.

"Changing someone´s mind is harder than changing their behavior", Alida Miranda-Wolff rightfully claims, hence it is the more important that this topic is treated with its importance rather than its hype at workplaces and with respect rather than throwing a few empty phrases on the stages. Alida Miranda-Wolff did a great job on exemplifying on how to create a DEIB culture by her own company Ethos plus a myriad of case studies of her clients. On top of it, she created templates and articulated incisive questions to implement the DEIB culture in an end-to-end process from hiring to onboarding to retention to rolling out the DEIB culture in an organization that will also scale by means of purposeful principles!

Alida Miranda-Wolff shares valuable templates and surveys, BUT there is one major shortcoming: The action plan that she refers to in every single chapter, which is supposed to be available on a webpage she mentions, is not functioning. Why? Therefore cutting off 1 star.

Great insights! Not a bla-bla book on a highly sensitive, but hyped topic in organizations these days. Please make the action plan availabe, Alida Miranda-Wolff!! :)

#Netgalley
#DEIB
#WalkTheTalk

I am a 82 year old retired CEO of a national manufacturing/sales company with 100 employees in our plant/home office, 43 offices in the US and about 300 salespersons. If I were still active this book would be required reading for all.

Creating a culture of belonging is vital to the growth of any organization. Turn over is a killer and in my experience an employee will seldom leave you if he/she feels valued, welcomed and empowered to make decisions (and mistakes). Ms Miranda-Wolff has with her excellent book given us a leadership guide for training, motivating and retaining your workforce. Hiring and training is an expensive and time consuming treadmill…its much better to retain than to hire and train. Ms Miranda-Wolff has simplified a logical way forward. Buy the book.

An organization is like a baby and as leaders of an organization each of us have a responsibility not unlike that of parents educating, motivating, molding, nurturing, encouraging etc…our “baby”. How that baby turns out to a large degree depends upon us….starting with our game plan, mission statement, our policies and recruiting and training our workforce. Ms Miranda-Wolff has nailed it with her insight on DEIB.

This book is especially important in these trying times for the medical industry….and our educational professionals. I see from news stories that burn out is rampant among our doctors and nurses, teachers, principals, superintendents and anyone involved in the medical or education fields. “The Culture of Belonging” and its teaching seminars are applicable right now and would be most helpful for anyone in these fields.

Sam Golden

Cultures of Belonging is an amazing toolbox for integrating DEIB into your organization. Through concrete examples and thoroughly researched supporting materials, Miranda-Wolff gives guidance for supporting an organization's DEIB efforts at every step of the process: recruiting, retention, promotion, and protection. There are great, functional takeaways for any size business, from surveys and leadership team training ideas to recruiting possibilities and communication tips. I highly recommend this book for those looking to strengthen their current DEIB practices or organizations starting their inclusion work from scratch.

Like the subtitle this book is all about creating room for everyone to thrive, the more diverse they are, the more work you put in to see to that you create an organization that lasts. It is timely because in the recent turn of events so many organizations and workplaces are being called upon to be more inclusive.
The author explores 4 core areas: DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
What does it mean to be equitable, inclusive and belong? These are some the key areas that she explores with case examples drawn for her life-work experiences and those of organizations too.
It is a book that could be key in shaping policies that drive organizations in this current time.

Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

Overall I enjoyed this book and the topic is extremely relevant and necessary for diverse corporate growth and development. My only constructive feedback is to include a summary of the action steps that need to be taken at the end of each relevant section. Some of the implementation was a little lost in the background and context but including a very brief summary will be useful to easily reference as businesses read and implement this well researched work! Thank you for the opportunity to read and review!

I will prepare a more formal review closer to the publication date on Amazon, Goodreads and Barnes and Nobel.