Michelle MiJung Kim

This book contains the 2021 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion education to rule all others.

Kim sources the need for DEI in the humanist ideal of doing minimal harm, and where possible, making others' lives easier. Though rather unsurprisingly she steers far from the religious overtones of that motivation, she simultaneously criticizes the idea that diversity is valuable because it makes companies more valuable -- that iconoclasm is a breath of fresh air. She's clearly an educator (she owns a company that delivers corporate trainings). The book is structured to reinforce take-aways so readers find it hard to miss them, and it balances generalities with anecdotes and appeals to authority.

I expect this book won't age particularly well (it's only two weeks old as I write this, and it draws extensively on recent news and today's zeitgeist for examples). But then again, I'm not sure it is supposed to age well. I also get the impression that the book is a labor of love for its author, who deeply believes in and wants to spread this gospel in a way that will be most relatable to people today. I also suspect that she expects the ways to show others you actually care will be so substantially changed in another 10 or 15 years that a new book & training will supersede hers.

MiJung Kim has written the exhaustive and actionable training that folks are unlikely to have ever received at work. It delivers more tangibly on the promise implied by the title of Kendi's How to be an Antiracist than anything else I've read. If you're looking for that kind of guide, this is your book. If you've had some trainings and done some reading, you probably won't find much new here -- though it might still be nice to have someone talk you through it all with a "what should & can I do" lens.… (meer)