Make it Last: A Roadmap and Practical Strategies for How to Do DEI Work

Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant, and to face the challenge of change.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

How do we turn our good intentions and high hopes toward DEI into real and lasting change?

Many of today's organizations lack mature and effective DEI efforts. In recent studies, several were found to be only "going through the motions" with much being promised but little delivered.

Despite these dismal reports and external resistance, backlash, and polarization that sometimes exist toward DEI work, we've made some progress. We're doing better at teaching what DEI is and why this work matters. Where we've fallen short is the how.

At its core, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work is about change management-changing individual behaviors and systems. Yet, most major change efforts fail. So, what do the few that do succeed have that we can learn from?

Using her DEI Propel(TM) Framework, an evidence-based change management process, Sandra Upton uncovers the secrets to successfully implementing DEI initiatives and creating a lasting diverse and inclusive workplace culture where everyone thrives, regardless of their background. This step-by-step process includes a DEI roadmap, practical strategies, and effective tools that push your diversity, equity, and inclusion effort beyond lip service into an operational part of your organization's DNA.

Whether you are a chief diversity officer, a member of a DEI council, the leader of an employee resource group, a human resource professional, a middle manager, or a department head, but lack the support, skills, cultural intelligence, or confidence to help lead and implement the real work, the map has been drawn. With Make It Last, you can turn feelings of failure and frustration when it comes to DEI into realities of success.

Dr. Sandra Upton (she/her) is a sought-after DEI and organizational development thought leader who works with DEI professionals and organizations around the globe. Using a research-based, change-management framework and culturally intelligent strategies, Sandra uses her decades of experience in this space to support organizations' efforts to create behaviors and systems that support diverse, equitable, inclusive, and culturally intelligent work environments.Prior to relaunching her own consulting practice, Dr. Upton was vice president, global diversity practice with the Cultural Intelligence Center and was responsible for providing strategic leadership and expertise on diversity, equity, and inclusion matters for numerous clients across the globe. She led organizational responses to the growing demand from global and Fortune 500 companies to Ivy League universities. She is a frequent speaker, has written numerous articles and blogs on DEI, has been featured on several global podcasts and has worked across numerous countries and continents.