Moving beyond mere tolerance
Us-versus-them is the costly mind-set in which organizations,
communities, and whole nations too often find themselves trapped. In
fact, recognizing difference as a positive force can bring astonishing
value to even the most diverse organizations.
In Us Plus Them, leadership scholar Todd Pittinsky introduces a
groundbreaking new science of diversity that:
- Debunks the assumption that wherever there is difference there will
be inherent tension and animosity
- Challenges the effectiveness of our standard attempts to fight
prejudice and combat hate in our schools and workplaces, our civic and
religious lives
- Reveals how we benefit from the mixing of different ethnic, racial,
national, social, and religious groups in a globalized world
Through a wide range of examples--from Maine and Michigan to Rwanda and
Bhutan, and from small-town classrooms to corporate
boardrooms--Pittinsky opens our eyes to misunderstood yet useful aspects
of us-and-them relations, including many of the neglected positive
dimensions of difference. He provides a bold new assessment of the
popular and scientific approaches to the issue, proving that it's time
to move beyond mere tolerance to build communities in which the two
sides of the us-and-them equation engage each other because they both
want to.
Much as Martin Seligman and positive psychology have shifted the focus
from mental illness to mental healthiness, this book shifts our
mind-set to diversity as a positive force. Understanding the science and
practical use of that energy will help us build the schools,
neighborhoods, companies, and nations we want, and not simply avoid the
ugliest problems of the past. Pittinsky shows us that our great
diversity experiment hasn't failed--it hasn't even begun.
