James T. McKim, Jr.’s new book is genuinely something we haven’t seen before. An elaborate, literary roadmap of sorts that makes the case interactively for optimizing diverse practices for both established and burgeoning workplace hierarchies in the postmodernist era. McKim Jr. is wise in that he never shames the reader into a certain state – i.e. Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility, nor does he pull back too much from calling out things very loudly that are worthy of consideration, analysis, and deletion. Things warranted for being replaced with fairer-minded, more equity-driven structures. Akin to a long version of an extensive MLA paper, McKim Jr.’s book is titled The Diversity Factor – complete with the subtitle Igniting Superior Organizational Performance.
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“Igniting superior organizational performance can happen through diversity, equity, and inclusion that creates a sense of belonging for every stakeholder of the organization. Organizations today are faced with ever evolving, ever more demanding and diverse customers. They are faced with doing more with less while still striving to be more efficient in their operations.
And they are faced with pressure to be socially conscious,” he writes. “Diversity is touted as a solution to (or at least a tool in) addressing all three of those challenges. But is diversity really the solution for your organization? What are the potential benefits? How can you tell if your organization could benefit from diversity efforts? How do you convince management to dedicate resources to such efforts? How do you make the changes necessary to achieve those benefits?” He adds in this vein: “During 30+ years of experience working in and with small and large organizations in the private and public sector internationally, I have seen first-hand that organizations underperform because of lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This book is for any leader in an organization looking for ways to increase organizational performance.”
It’s through this casual, matter-of-fact phrasing McKim Jr. is able to turn the book’s premises up until they purr. Not just on an obvious, ideological level, but also by way of the technical structuring of the text, charts, spreadsheets, and fourth-wall breaking factual articulations. “Studies by organizations such as Deloitte, McKinsey, PWC, and the World Economic Council confirmed that diverse organizations outperform their peers who are not diverse by upwards of 80%. But the writings on how to achieve these results seemed to be piecemeal. Books and articles that exist seem to focus on the human side of the equation in an organization.
How having a focus on diversity brings out the best employees? How leaders can be inclusive. A scant few focus on the financial benefit of diversity. All good and needed. But this book goes further. It pulls those pieces together on one place. And it goes beyond the notion that financial benefit is the only business case for diversity to talk about,” McKim Jr. elaborates. “This book is meant to be a resource. While it provides anecdotes and a roadmap, it is not a substitute for a change management effort led by senior level management in your organization.”
Troy Johnstone