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Driven by Difference
Book

Driven by Difference

How Great Companies Fuel Innovation Through Diversity

David Livermore
AMACOM, 2016

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Corporate culture expert David Livermore offers an unusual note of practical advice. He argues that diversity matters only if it contributes to your organization’s mission. Livermore offers chapters on showing respect, listening, gaining clarity and arriving at consensus in diverse teams. Only when such teams truly leverage their differences in perspectives and ideas can their organizations reap the benefits of a variety of viewpoints. Livermore refreshingly derides political correctness and suggests that people should embrace their differences instead of seeking commonalities. Though no organization can hope to implement all of Livermore’s ideas, getAbstract recommends his practical suggestions to diversity and inclusion professionals and their HR colleagues.

Take-Aways

  • High-functioning, diverse teams outperform homogenous teams, and generate more and better ideas than individuals working in isolation.
  • However, diversity by itself doesn’t contribute to organizational success unless it supports your corporate mission.
  • Unless leaders leverage diversity’s potential, it erodes performance and productivity.

About the Author

David Livermore, PhD co-leader of the Cultural Intelligence Center, speaks worldwide about culture, identity and inclusion, and is a visiting fellow at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

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