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Hiring and retaining the best and brightest talent is what defines market leadership today. And in the global marketplace winning the war for talent means embracing differences, discovering other worldviews and reframing our organizations for competitive advantage.
What If? delivers a creative and innovative way to explore the issues that dominate today's multicultural workplace: leadership and mentoring, creativity and innovation, organizational culture and engagement. In 26 inspiring stories - some deeply personal - Steve Robbins offers fresh insight into the real and meaningful differences among people and how the power of everyday experiences can be the catalyst for seeing the world through a different lens.
To the witty and thought-provoking stories in this collection, Robbins has added tips and suggestions for putting key learnings into action, including questions and an exercise at the end of each chapter to help readers further explore each topic. What If? also presents specific ideas of what organizations can do to engage our global world, build core competencies in diversity and inclusion and benefit from the best talent available_regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, religion, race or disability.Preface
Acknowledgments
My Story
Introduction
Reframing the World
1 The Right Environment
2 A Better Script
3 Equal Is Not Always Fair
4 It’s All In The Details
5 Below the Surface
6 Cool Features
7 A Difference in Weight
Revising Mental Models
8 “Bizeer Gummies”
9 Inaccurate Maps
10 Harmless Images?
11 Strange New Worlds
12 I Know Everything Already
13 Someday They Will See
14 Recording Errors
Leading and Doing
15 File Cabinets
16 Wanted: Good Role Models
17 Swimming’s Great, Just Don’t Get Me Wet
18 Use One More Club
19 Nubby Sandals
Changing the Organization
20 It’s the System, Stupid
21 A New Search Routine
22 A Late Start
23 I Hate Board Games
24 The Power of Magnification
25 More Cookies
26 Lion Chase
Afterword
I Want to Get Better
About the Author
Steve Long-Nguyen Robbins, PhD is an in-demand keynote speaker, consultant and trainer. Drawing on his compelling life journey as a Vietnamese immigrant rising out of poverty and discrimination in 1970s Los Angeles, he fills his talks and workshops with intriguing stories, laugh-out-loud humor, and a keen understanding of the human condition. He has worked with numerous highly competitive international leaders praised for their powerfully diverse cultures, including McDonald's, Toyota, NASA and Microsoft.
”A powerful storyteller and communicator, Steve Robbins has a one-of-a-kind ability to bring difficult, often complex, diversity issues to a space where everyone can be involved in the conversation. Insightful, humorous, and challenging, these stories are a great way to engage anyone and any organization in sustained diversity dialogue.”—Michael F. Ramirez, Director—Corporate Social Responsibility, Herman Miller, Inc.
”I met Steve Robbins when he came to our organization to help us link diversity and inclusion to creativity and innovation. His insight, knowledge, and stories taught us the importance of becoming intentional about inviting different perspectives to the table and being willing to include them. What If? is about that—it opens a new door to a twenty-first-century dialogues about mindfulness, respect, and caring in the business environment.”—Magda Nowak, Director, Organizational Capability, PepsiCo International
”Steve Robbins is a gifted speaker and storyteller who can move people to see things they may never have seen before. His knowledge of diversity issues is surpassed only by his ability to share that knowledge in an inviting, insightful, and inspirational way. Read What If? and you’ll see what I mean.”—Lynsey Martin, Human Resources, LDP, Raytheon
”Whether bringing an audience of several hundred people to their feet during a keynoe address or sharing his insights in What If?, Steve Robbins is a definite path maker. His humor and real-life examples are catalysts for opening the minds of many and providing them with the tools to better understand and appreciate the importance of diversity and inclusion—both personally and professionally.”—Michelle Dolieslager, Program Manager-Conferences, Society for Human Resource Management
“It’s rare that you come across a person who can make complex, difficult, and murky issues simple, easy, and clear—and have fun while doing it. Steve Robbins is that person on issues of diversity. Whether he is speaking at a conference or through this wonderfully engaging book, he inspires you to see beyond labels and beyond ‘self’ to become more open-minded and willing to entertain ideas and move outside your comfort zone.”—Fanee B. Harrison, Director, Cultural Diversity & Inclusion, for a Fortune 100 company
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