The Next Smart Step: How to Overcome Gender Stereotypes and Build a Stronger Organization

by Kelly Watson, Jodi Ecker Detjen

“A candid, readable, and useful book about how we can get past talking about gender bias and actually start doing something about it.”
   —Adam Grant,  New York Times  bestselling author of ORIGINALS and GIVE AND TAKE, and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

Empowering women empowers everyone. Women with confidence, equal pay, and leadership opportunity enrich workplace culture and help the whole organization. The first step is understanding that gender balance is not a zero-sum game.  The Next Smart Step  is a clear, assured guide to understanding the challenge of gender imbalance, implementing solutions, and equipping readers with the tools we all need to ensure change that is positive and enduring. It is about all of us becoming leaders.
The Next Smart Step  builds on a positive reality, helping readers recognize and manage unconscious biases, see diversity as a 21st-century skill, and work towards equal partnerships in the workplace. It outlines strategies for flexibility, communication, openness, and mutual respect. Gender equity is not only the right thing to do—it makes life better, workplace culture more diverse, opportunity more widely available, and organizations more successful.  The Next Smart Step  will help everyone from new hires to corporate executives learn the personal leadership this important issue demands.

253 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 15, 2020

About the author

Kelly Watson is Managing Partner of Orange Grove Consulting and has spent more than 20 years as an accomplished operations and organizational development consultant. Kelly is an adjunct professor at Loyola Marymount University and is co-author of the book, The Orange Line: A Woman’s Guide to Integrating Career, Family, and Life. Her upcoming book on building inclusive workplaces will be published Fall 2020.

Prior to consulting, Kelly served as Vice President, Marketing for Telecom New Zealand USA and has held other senior operational roles. Kelly holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada and an MBA from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Kelly is a Recreation & Parks Commissioner for the City of El Segundo, CA. Outside of work, Kelly helps women and girls reach their full potential through AYSO coaching, refereeing, and playing soccer. She also serves on several non-profit boards.