Rising Together: How We Can Bridge Divides and Create a More Inclusive Workplace

by Sally Helgesen, Marshall Goldsmith (Foreword)

In this follow-up to her international bestseller How Women Rise, Sally Helgesen draws on three decades of work with executives and aspiring leaders around the world to offer practical ways to build more inclusive relationships, teams, and workplaces. Participants at leadership conferences often tell Sally, “Please don’t spend your time telling us why developing and retaining a diverse workforce is important. We get it. The problem is, we don’t know how to do it.” Rising Together provides that missing how in full detail by identifying both what holds us back and specific tactics that can help us move forward.

First, Sally identifies the eight common triggers most likely to undermine our ability to collaborate across divides—not only of gender, but also of age, ethnicity, race, sexuality, and life experience. These triggers are widespread, yet rarely acknowledged. They include differences in how people from different backgrounds view ambition, competence, perceptions, fairness, communication, networks, attraction, and humor.

Sally then offers specific practices designed to address these simple behavioral tweaks that we can use on a daily basis; a method for informally enlisting allies to hold us to account; and a means for cultivating and disseminating the dynamic power of we.

Rising Together is for readers at every stage and level in their careers who recognize that building a broad range of relationships is essential to their advancement, now and in the future. This book also serves as an indispensable guide for HR, diversity, and leadership professionals tasked with addressing the misunderstandings, resentments, and derailments caused by the eight triggers. Sally’s focus on behaviors—how we act —rather than bias—how we think —promises to redirect the inclusion conversation in a grounded, real-world way that brings us together.
 

Genres: Leadership

240 pages, Hardcover

Published February 28, 2023

Reviews

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

practical tips and reflections

Love Sally Helgesen and this one didn’t disappoint. Great tips on building inclusive cultures and how we can overcome common misperceptions. Highly recommend

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the chapter titles, which explain what you will learn:
- We rise together by understanding the common triggers that hold us back
- We rise together by claiming visibility while acknowledging the contributions of others
- We rise together by neither over, nor under managing what others think
- We rise together by distinguishing overconfidence from competence
- We rise together by appreciating and learning from one another's communication styles
- We rise together by recognizing the extent to which "it's not fair" is a losing game
- We rise together by knowing how to develop, extend, and leverage our networks
- We rise together by getting humor right
- We rise together by acknowledging the role attraction can play in workplace relationships
- We rise together by practicing inclusive habits on a daily basis
- We rise together by enlisting one another's support
- We rise together by understanding the true nature of power

[AnnieM · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read other things by Sally Helgesen so am familiar with her work. While this book had some good tips in terms of bridging divides and creating an inclusive culture (such as working with different generations like Gen Z), I did not feel there were enough tangible actions to apply in a practical way. Some of the information I feel I have read in other places so this felt like a repackaging of ideas from previous articles and books with not much new added to the mix.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Books for an ARC. I have left my review voluntarily.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best business books I've read. Sally Helgesen wrote "How Women Rise" with Marshall Goldsmith. It was a very good book with great insight. I love that "Rising Together" takes the information and builds on it and supports with specifics.

I highly recommend reading this one. It's better than many of the business books out there. And it's great for women and men alike.

[Reneer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as the book she co authored with Marshall unfortunately, a little bit of a repeat of some principals- which in hindsight is to be expected.

[Kate Nack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the better leadership books that I’ve read in a long time. I found the recommendations very relevant for today’s workplace culture as it was just published in 2023. Lots of good reminders and tangible practices to take into account. I would definitely recommend this book. And the best part is I got it from a LittleFreeLibrary while I was traveling this spring.