“Without Excuses” by Joe Watson
c.2006, St. Martin’s Press $24.95 / $33.95 Canada 244 pages, includes appendix
T his morning, when you got to work, you walked in and greeted the person at the front desk. You grabbed a cup of coffee and said “G’Morning” to a couple of co-workers. You dropped by a cubicle and answered a colleague’s question.
But here’s something to think about: do your co-workers look just like you? Are the people in your workplace all from the same race? Yes, you say, but it’s hard – no, it’s impossible - to find qualified workers from other cultures.
Management consultant Joe Watson thinks you’re wrong. In his new book “Without Excuses”, find out how you can change your workplace and grow your business in tomorrow’s diversified work world.
Your employees are happy. Productivity is fine. So why diversify? According to Watson, “By 2008, the combined buying power of African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Native Americans is expected to more than triple its 1990 level”. Those are some powerful dollars. Is your company missing out?
The first thing you need to do, Watson says, is to get rid of all the excuses. Eliminate the word “can’t”. Realize that there are ways of finding qualified candidates for all levels of employment. Tell your headhunters, your HR department, and your recruiting firm that you want to see qualified people of all races for all job openings.
Set your priorities and make diversity a goal. Do a business study and get your entire company involved. Make sure your advertising welcomes people from other cultures and pay attention to the “little things” like lobby decor, wall hangings in your office, even magazines in your waiting room. The more welcome you make new hires, the more likely you are to retain them.
This is all good for a big company, you say, but what about small businesses? Is diversity important for workplaces of less than 50 employees?
Yes, Watson says, and it’s easy to make your business diverse even if you don’t have an HR department or use a recruitment firm. One important key to getting high-quality employees is something anybody can do: networking. Ask around. Make some calls. Steal good employees from other businesses. Join organizations with diverse members. And remember, there are lots of qualified workers out there. Watson says that there is one person of color for every two white people under age forty in America.
One of them could be working for you next month.
“Without Excuses” is an important book, filled with basic common-sense steps you can use to step into the New Way of Business. Author Joe Watson is a little dry in his delivery, but his methods are sound, his caveats are mindful, and his examples are easy to understand. While this book is basically written for large corporations, it’s also accessible for small business owners, although it’s going to take a little thinking to translate.
If your business is homogenous and you want to – need to – change, start by picking up “Without Excuses” and dropping the word “can’t” from your vocabulary. You can change. You have no excuse not to.
The Bookworm reads and reviews over 300 book per year.
The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri has been reading since she was 3 years old and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books. She's a really Mensch and a interesting personality.
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Anne Haenni and Rick Pezzner
Owner, Diversity News |
