The Conversation

The Conversation

Shortlisted for the FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2021

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Whether it's the composition of a company's leadership team or identifying the candidates that are a 'good fit' with the organization, racial divisions play out as starkly in the workplace as they do in wider society. What can we do to eradicate bias and create a more diverse, inclusive and equitable environment?

Social psychologist Robert Livingston has made it his life's work to show people how to turn difficult conversations about race into productive instances of real change. With wit and clarity, The Conversation distills Livingston's decades of research and practice into a solution-oriented road map for anyone seeking to uproot entrenched biases in the workplace.

Founded on extensive data and blending psychology, sociology, management and behavioral economics, Livingston's framework reveals that racism can be defeated with the right information, incentives, strategy, and implementation. With vivid storytelling, The Conversation explores the root causes of racism, ways to foster greater empathy and solidarity and offers tangible steps to progress towards racial equality. It is the essential tool for turning well-intentioned diversity statements into measurable, achievable outcomes.

© Reobert Livingston 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Reviews

  • The Conversation is an extraordinarily timely book. Just as companies and organizations in the U.S. and around the world are focusing anew on the entrenched bias in their culture, The Conversation comes along to offer a path forward. Livingston has digested his authoritative understanding of the science into a remarkably approachable volume, one that is animated by his storytelling and voice on the page. The Conversation is a major achievement, one that is poised to play a significant role in improving our understanding about bias and addressing systemic racism in the workplace
    Robin J. Ely, Diane Doerge Wilson Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

About the author

Robert Livingston

Robert Livingston is a social psychologist whose research has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, andHarvard Business Review. For two decades, he has served as a diversity consultant to scores of Fortune 500 companies, public-sector agencies, and non-profit organizations. He has held professorships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and the University of Sussex. He now serves on the faculty of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
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