Rewire: A Radical Approach to Tackling Diversity and Difference

Rewire: A Radical Approach to Tackling Diversity and Difference takes a fresh look at the issue of equality, diversity and inclusion at work. It critiques the current thinking and practices that are responsible for slow progress in this area, while providing readers with a new, holistic and tactical perspective that leverages what we know about influencing and changing people's mind-sets.

The issue of difference sits at the core of many of the world's crises. Large corporations are a microcosm of the globalized world we inhabit, and hold significant power in shaping our societies and ideas.

Despite decades of work in diversity and inclusion, little progress has been made because current approaches focus on specific contexts, short-term results and commercial returns, rather than taking into account what we know about human behaviour and addressing the social and economic cultures in which we operate. This book argues that in order to achieve sustainable positive change, we need to focus on how to create a culture of openness, empathy and inclusion – which in turn enables corporate strategy and drives innovation.

The authors, who have worked in a number of leading organizations, including American Express, Caterpillar, HSBC, Towers Watson and the National Health Service, put forward a new approach, based on years of experience of achieving both individual and organizational change. They present:

· A causal map, which describes a wide range of social, biological, psychological, evolutionary and organizational factors that influence how we think and operate.

· A unique step-by-step approach to rewiring our fundamental psychological processes and creating change at an individual, organizational and cultural level.

This book offers corporate executives and social leaders a fresh perspective on diversity and difference, along with the tools to create more inclusive, effective and innovative environments.

Chris Yates is Chief Learning Officer and Head of People and Organizational Development for Caterpillar Inc. He is also Founder and Managing Director of Ethical Organizational Design. Previously, he was Group Head of Organizational Development for HSBC, and VP for Organizational Capability & Talent at American Express. Chris has also worked at Canon and for the National Health Service in the UK. He specializes in organizational design, leadership development, articulation of competitive culture, and the management of significant change initiatives. He holds a Masters in Occupational and Organizational Psychology and has lived in four continents.

Pooja Sachdev worked as a consultant Organizational Development Specialist for the HSBC Group for several years. Previously, she worked at Towers Perrin (now Towers Watson) and at Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), and was appointed Senior Policy Officer at the Commission for Racial Equality. She has worked with a wide range of organizations in the public and private sectors, including Channel 4, London Borough of Newham, the Department for Trade and Industry, Novartis and Royal Mail. Pooja specializes in unconscious bias (its impact in decision-making), gender in the workplace, culture (organizational and other), work life balance, employee engagement and wellbeing. She has lived in three countries, and is a qualified counsellor, coach and group moderator. Pooja holds an MSc in Occupational Psychology and is currently working as a consultant in London.