The Allyship Challenge: How to Move Beyond Performative Allyship and Become a Genuine Accomplice

In these racially fraught times, Dr. Kimberly Harden has created an on-the-job guide for those who have an uneasy sense that racial justice must be served, but don’t know what to do. The question she answers is: What can we do to evoke justice in the context of the workplace—the realm where we’re most likely to meet others with backgrounds different from our own?

Using Harden’s framework of Ally–Advocate–Accomplice, this kind, simple, yet thorough guide offers concrete steps for how we can take actions that will elevate ourselves and our colleagues. As the introduction notes, The Allyship Challenge is about “how to move from awareness to action and encourage those around you to do the same.”

This book is not about judgment; it’s about equity and inclusion. Using examples and humor, Harden teaches us how to truly listen, how to offer grace along with accountability, and how to take strategic action to create a workplace where colleagues understand and support one another.

Dr. Kimberly Harden is an award-winning educator, DEI consultant, keynote speaker, and workshop facilitator. She advises corporate, nonprofit, and academic leaders on their recruitment, hiring, retention, and promotion strategies. She also helps organizations shift from a traditional diversity and inclusion model to a model that emphasizes diversity, equity, belonging, interpersonal communication, and talent management (DEBIT Training(TM)).As the first and only African American female professor in the Department of Communication at Seattle University, Kimberly agrees with Aristotle's assertion that Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. She is passionate about diversity, justice, leadership, collaboration, care, and transformation. In 2020, Kimberly launched the Dream. Plan. Do.(TM) Scholarship with the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle and the B & G Harden Apprentice Scholarship with ANEW.