RECONSTRUCTING INCLUSION:
Making DEI Accessible, Actionable, and Sustainable
In Reconstructing Inclusion, Amri B. Johnson - Founder and CEO of Inclusion Wins - explores why a reactionary approach to DEI exists, and illustrates an “Inclusion System” that empowers all stakeholders to thrive.
Does Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) truly Benefit Organisations and their Employees?
It’s an age-old question…
Diversity and inclusion are often considered desirable at the boardroom level. Ask some stakeholders and customers, however, and you’ll find a mixed set of responses. Why do such drives for equality meet with resistance, and how can they move closer to realising the change they seek to promote?
Amri Johnson challenges current thinking in Reconstructing Inclusion. After exploring (deconstructing) the historical context of DEI, he asserts the conditions necessary to make inclusion as normal as a morning cup of tea or coffee.
At the centre of Reconstructing Inclusion is developing Inclusion Systems. Inclusion Systems create the conditions for DEI to be accessible (to everyone), actionable (unambiguously prioritised), and sustainable (aligned with purpose).
Johnson’s revelations swerve the politics that have dominated the space in favour of framing inclusion as shared purpose, centering on humanity and embracing our universal aspects.
About the Author
For over 20 years, Amri Johnson has been at the cutting edge of DEI. Providing the launchpad for excellence, as a key player in several organisations, he has driven the achievement necessary to create outstanding results.
From his early days as a sportsman through to his role as Head of Cultural Intelligence at one of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies, Johnson always focused on creating the connections on which understanding, relatedness, and change can be constructed.
As the CEO of Inclusion Wins, Johnson evolves companies’ culture with the support of his global team of expert partners.
‘Culture Created from the Hearts of Individuals’ is an idea that encapsulates Johnson’s unique approach. When people make sense of their respective needs together, they commit to implementing what they helped to create. The bonds formed in such moments truly transcend even the most entrenched individual and organisational biases.
Grab a copy of Reconstructing Inclusion
Reviews
HOWARD J. ROSS
Author of Everyday Bias and Our Search for Belonging
“Amri Johnson has gifted us with a worthy exploration of the current state of DEI work, and more importantly has challenged our thinking with this substantive and thoughtful work. At a time when tribalism is splintering societies around the world, and when divisiveness exists even within political and social ideologies, Johnson brings a mindset of “both/and” to a field that is mired in “either/or” thinking.
As a native-born American with significant experiences in Europe and South America, he broadens our understanding of what is needed to bring people into alignment on a global scale. He recognizes the need for individual awareness, collective action, and structural change, and as an accomplished professional who has worked both inside and outside of organizations, he shows us tangible ways to get there. This book is a powerful resource for anybody who is looking at forging pathways to inclusion and belonging.”
SUKHVINDER S. OBHI, PhD
Professor of Social Neuroscience, McMaster University, Canada
“Reconstructing Inclusion is an invaluable input for leaders who want to go beyond normative approaches to DEI and people issues in organizations, and create substantive and sustainable change. Particularly on-point is Johnson’s warning about giving primacy to single dimensions of identity. In a polarized society ridden with a focus on human sub-groups and the divisions between them, this book centres humanity as a whole without losing sight of the need to address racial and other forms of social injustice.
If DEI is to really enable progress, this balanced approach seems like the only viable way.
There has perhaps never been a more important time for a book such as this, and I highly recommend it. Readers (and their organizations) will benefit from the wisdom it contains.”
DAVID LIVERMORE
Author and leading authority on cultural intelligence
“It’s hard to keep up with the abundance of books being published on DEI. But don’t miss this one. Amri Johnson writes as a friendly critic inside the DEI movement. He beautifully weaves together his story as a Black man with his experience inside a massive pharmaceutical company and shares rich insights about what needs to change in DEI. This groundbreaking book brings cultural intelligence to life.”
SUSAN MACKENTY BRADY
Deloitte Ellen Gabriel Chair for Women and Leadership and Founding CEO, Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership
“Any leader who is committed to fostering a culture of inclusion needs to read this insightful and paradigm-shifting book. As strategic as he is pragmatic, Amri Johnson takes us on a critical journey that will leave any leader rethinking how to sustainably make manifest true inclusion at work.”
CARLA CARTEN, PhD, MSOD
Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, Mass General Brigham
“Amri Johnson offers a call for practitioners to break the cycle of waxing and waning and not advancing DEI in the ways we desire. This means being in community to co-create our DEI vision, and being dedicated to changing our methods and patterns of behavior. This book offers the opportunity to think differently, to scrutinize methods and be open to “unlearn” what has been steeped into our practices and relearn, as a continuous process, concepts such as, “othering, meritocracy, intersectionality, and exclusion”. I highly recommend this book especially for DEI practitioners who want to be included and inclusive in affecting accessible, actionable, and sustainable organizations through diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
PETRA BATTERSBY, FCIPD
Chief People Officer, Envision Pharma Group
“Reconstructing Inclusion took me on a journey of exploration and learning. It allowed me to be curious about my personal views about DEI whilst allowing other views to be listened to and explored. The non-binary approach taken brings layers of the subject into view and allows one to peel them away one by one and then put them back together again.
Whist the book is not a tool kit, it has reminded me how intent, actions and systemic inclusion are paramount. Creating inclusion as a state of being is not the responsibility of “Them.” We are all guardians of inclusion.”
MICHAEL HYTER
President and CEO, The Executive Leadership Council (ELC)
“Reconstructing Inclusion is a strong message for global organizations who are interested in truly advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in a meaningful way. Amri Johnson’s assertion is that deconstructing inclusion allows for expanding structures beyond reducing terms as simply effective vs. ineffective. Instead, addressing the complexity organizations should face to really move the needle. His book clearly amplifies what needs to be done to ensure measurable outcomes and success.”
