Dei Deconstructed: Your No-Nonsense Guide to Doing the Work and Doing It Right

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But I feel like sometimes really easy for practitioners to spin their gears and to say a whole bunch of really meaningful, powerful things that don't actually mean anything.

We're talking about de-biasing an organization and different processes and policies, which by the way is not glamorous work at all, but it doesn't need to be framed in the way that it's been framed. I found the chapters on types of power within organizations, roles necessary for any movement to create change, and the role of trust in institutional change the most exciting and interesting. And so when I meet leaders who have some resistance to this larger idea of DEI as an industry, I say, "Okay, that's fair.They're just like, Okay, maybe DEI is one of those kumbaya hold hands leaders that are really soft with their followers and ask people about their feelings all the time.

Inclusion is the achievement of a felt environment that stakeholder populations trust as respectful and accountable.And oftentimes when I speak with leaders who are skeptical, they're actually pretty aware of what type of person does DEI, right? This is a good introduction if you want to get involved with diversity, equity and inclusion work within your organization. Or if you don't know where the power really lies, there's the official and unofficial power as well, and you certainly don't have the access and maybe in that old hierarchical model, which still exists, the seniority to and the influence.

So in that sense, this is one of the easiest things I've ever written because every single time I doubt what I'm writing.I really enjoy Lily’s LinkedIn content and if you do as well, this book will absolutely be useful for you. I hate to say it, years ago there were a few students who were like, "We're actually going to join this committee to push for changing this thing. But I think the approach that I've tried to take is to deconstruct DEI, if you will, to turn it less into a unified body of you have to be all in or you're not one of us to regardless of how you feel about the industry, there are practices that achieve certain things. There's no reason why we can't be sharing some of these specific tools that we've developed in the industry that are proven to work with anyone, with everyone. Lily shows readers that these days are not that far in our rear view mirror and, perhaps, vestiges still haunt our present day thinking.

This topic can either be approached in a detrimental or a positive/correct manner, but there’s really no definitive way to execute it. Then it gets into a really complex process of negotiation where people figure things out, when people try to put new policies into practice. Building a foundation for DEI involves creating a vision that aligns with the organization's mission and strengths, establishing accountability structures, fostering transparency, and integrating DEI commitments into every aspect of the organization's structure. Zheng looks at how many DEI practices often frustrate marginalized people, how there are better approaches and how we can work towards a better world.The book begins by deconstructing the three key components of DEI: diversity, equity, and inclusion. This was a great book, because it makes for a great group read (it provokes really great discussions), is refreshingly pragmatic, it addresses some of the challenges that truly due pervade the DEI world. Power distance refers to the degree in a society to which people are more or less comfortable with hierarchy, with power differences.