Putting Our Differences to Work ─ The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership and High Performance

Differences have traditionally been considered a potential source of tension and conflict. But Debbe Kennedy insists that differences are actually a rich source of creativity, innovation and energybut only if your organization has the right processes and priorities in place. Kennedy shows how to leverage all the dimensions of difference things like thinking styles, competencies, work habits, culture, and management style, as well as more traditional diversity considerations such as gender, race, ethnicity, physical abilities, sexual orientation, and age. She describes five qualities leaders must have, and encourage in others, in order for diversity to become an engine for success, and lays out six action steps any organization can take to make the most of differences in the workforce. Everyone charged with leading diverse, often global teams and organizations will learn strategies and skills to help their organizations reach new levels of success in Putting Our Differences to Work.

Debbe Kennedy is the founder and president of Leadership Solutions Companies, an award-winning women-owned enterprise specializing in custom leadership, organizational, and virtual-communication solutions and the Global Dialogue Center. She is known for her pioneering contributions in people-focused leadership-employee communications using Web 2.0 technologies and other social media. Formerly, she had a distinguished leadership career with IBM. She is the author of Breakthrough! The Problem-Solving Advantage: Everything You Need to Start a Solution Revolution.