Bestselling authors and renowned diversity consultants Fred Miller and Judith Katz bring their long-awaited new book that shows any manager or member of a team how to create safe environments for everyone in their company.
Fred Miller is a pioneer in implementing inclusion-building
processes in organizations, and is a partner in The Kaleel Jamison
Consulting Group since 1979, and has been CEO since 1985. He has
served on the boards of Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., the Institute
for Development Research, the National OD Network, and the American
Society for Training and Development (ASTD). He has worked with
CEOs and senior level executives from such companies as Mobil,
DuPont, Grainger, Toyota, Foxwoods Casino, Eileen Fisher, United
Airlines, the McArthur Foundation, the City of San Diego, and
Apple. He is the coauthor of The Inclusion Breakthrough, Be BIG,
and Opening Doors to Teamwork and Collaboration.
As one of the nation's thought-leaders on diversity and inclusion,
Judith Katz helped pioneer and define anti-racism training. Since
1985, she has partnered with Frederick A. Miller as Executive Vice
President of The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, Inc. She is the
coauthor of The Inclusion Breakthrough, Be BIG, and Opening Doors
to Teamwork and Collaboration. She has consulted to many of the
most progressive organizations in the world, including Merck & Co.,
Eileen Fisher, Cummins Engine Company, Toyota, DuPont, the
MacArthur Foundation, and the Social Venture Network.
“A workplace where people feel safe and valued—where they trust,
care about, and listen to each other—isn’t out of reach for any
organization. Read Safe Enough to Soar and learn how to create a
culture of support and respect that will inspire your people to
perform at their highest level. I guarantee your company’s bottom
line will follow suit.”
—Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The New One Minute Manager and Servant
Leadership in Action
“There is nothing more central to a high performing organization
than trust in the workplace. Fred and Judith have given us a
fantastic hands-on practical process to move any organization, no
matter where it sits, toward that goal. Bravo!”
—Jerry Greenfield, cofounder, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
“Not only is Safe Enough to Soar a practical road map that can
enable any size organization to go from good to great; it is a
blueprint to inspire any individual in your organization to sprout
creative and collaborative wings and soar!”
—Denise Cerreta, founder, One World Everybody Eats, and 2017 James
Beard Humanitarian of the Year
“Through real-life examples grounded in complex concepts, this book
walks us through a path to be intentional about every interaction,
resulting in teams engaging fully and working together for business
breakthroughs. It puts in perspective how our efforts to be truly
inclusive can enrich our relationships, interactions, and
experiences, both personally and professionally.”
—Rohini Anand, Global Chief Diversity Officer and Senior Vice
President,
Corporate Responsibility, Sodexo
“Trust. Inclusion. Collaboration. Beyond buzzwords, Fred and Judith
outline a process by which organizations can tap into employees’
best efforts and thinking. Safe Enough to Soar is an invitation for
everyone to create environments at work that foster real engagement
and contribution.”
—Tony Bingham, President and CEO, Association for Talent
Development
“The true competitive advantage in today’s gig economy and race to
incorporate artificial intelligence into corporate business systems
is to unleash the full potential of all human assets. Safe Enough
to Soar unlocks the key to ineffective team interactions and
presents a compelling concept of interaction safety that is the
accelerant to effective change management and continuous
improvement.”
—Marty Belle, Vice President, Global Talent Acquisition and
Inclusion & Diversity, W. W. Grainger, Inc.
“Written with clarity and generosity of spirit, this book is
urgently needed to help leaders drive organizational success.”
—Katrina S. Rogers, PhD, President, Fielding Graduate
University
“Accept the invitation of Fred and Judith to be safe enough to soar
and learn about the journey to create safe interactions and trust
in life and your organization. Their latest work reveals how to
transform fear to safety and leverage conflict and disagreement
into trust, opportunity, and improved organizational performance.
This is a must-read for those seeking to tap the talent, knowledge,
and commitment of the people in their organizations.”
—James N. Baldwin, JD, EdD, President, Excelsior College
“Through Safe Enough to Soar, we are now provided with direction
and the context within which to apply the 4 Keys. The book offers a
clear pathway through four levels of interaction safety, helping me
visualize a route leading to interaction safety as a way of
life.”
—Andrew Van Breugel, General Manager and Operations Director,
Salisbury Operations, Australia, Mayne Pharma International Pty.
Ltd.
“What a timely time . . . to prod and push us, aspirationally and
pragmatically, to consider and to embrace a new level of connecting
with each other to benefit individuals and organizations! Your
competence and dedication across decades to create safe and
powerful interactions for all is much appreciated.”
—Joseph C. High, former Senior Vice President and Chief People
Officer, W. W. Grainger, Inc.
“In today’s challenging and ever-changing work environments,
interaction safety is crucial for individuals and organizations to
reach their full potential and soar. Fred and Judith provide a
visionary and practical guide for how to achieve it as a way of
life.”
—Mary-Frances Winters, founder and CEO, The Winters Group, Inc.
“Interaction safety levels bring to life the courageous journey
people are on in society today. As businesses move to Level Four,
skyrocketing employee engagement will drive out organizational
waste, and businesses will see tremendous growth.”
—Kathy Clements, former Vice President, Lean Six Sigma, Ecolab
“Safe Enough to Soar seamlessly weaves together complex concepts of
systems thinking, the business case for culture change, and
neuroscience in a simple and engaging yet highly effective
format.”
—Deborah Dagit, President, Deb Dagit Diversity, and former Vice
President and Chief Diversity Officer, Merck
“Judith and Fred provide what participants, students, and my
executive clients all ask for: How do I create enough safety in my
workplace to fully engage people and put the tough issues out
openly on the table?”
—Robert J. Marshak, PhD, author of Covert Processes at Work
“Typically in government, the workforce is the constant and
leadership is viewed by the workforce as temporary. The mentality
of ‘I’ll still be here after they are gone’ is difficult to break
through. Political influence is strong and allies are hard to find.
Fred and Judith’s ability to identify the current state and simply
lay out a plan for change provides leadership with a road map to
promote cultural change in an environment that is somewhat
intolerant of it. Their insight and knowledge gained from a
multitude of organizations and experiences provide workplace
scenarios applicable to every environment.”
—Monica Kurzejeski, Deputy Mayor, City of Troy, New York
“As a woman business founder and owner, I know firsthand what it
means to be able to speak out and speak up. As a business leader, I
recognize that creating an environment that supports all
individuals to be their best self, contribute fully, and learn
openly from others is a model not only for our companies but for
our society as well.”
—Lynne Katzmann, founder and CEO, Juniper Communities
“An important new book about an important new understanding of
safety in the workplace. Safe Enough to Soar is an easy read that
calls out a complex organizational challenge. The author’s
definition of interaction safety is clear, and the four levels of
safety they describe are accessible and understandable. The key to
this book is the value it provides to organizations of all types by
challenging us all to do better by ourselves, our colleagues, and
our workplaces.”
—Steve Humerickhouse, Executive Director, The Forum on Workplace
Inclusion
“Miller and Katz have elevated safety as a key condition in
creating inclusive cultures in their model of interaction safety.
Safety is often in the eyes of the beholder. The four levels of
safety described are critical for people to explore, examine, and
enact to assess not only how safe they feel but also how they
contribute to creating a culture of safety for others. Miller and
Katz offer concrete examples to make cultures that are more than
safe enough to soar!”
—Ilene Wasserman, PhD, President, ICW Consulting Group
“When we rolled out the 4 Keys to collaboration (from the same
authors), we spent a surprising amount of time on the themes that
are captured and addressed in this book. I can therefore recommend
it for stand-alone initiatives aimed at helping employees speak up,
speak out, and be heard, as well as for use before, during, or
after deployment of the 4 Keys.”
—Mike Ali, PhD, former CIO, W. W. Grainger, Inc.
“How do we create a great work environment where people feel safe
to be fully involved and able to do their best work? Fred and
Judith offer a highly engaging, thoughtful, and much-needed way to
establish interaction safety so people can offer both their best
and still-forming ideas.”
—John Vogelsang, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, OD Practitioner,
Organization Development Network, and Director, Michael Harrington
Center, Queens College, City University of New York
“Just finished reading the book and wanted to let you know how
moved I am by the message and your crystal-clear view of what
inclusion can look like when intentionally practiced and
authentically experienced.”
—Plácida V. Gallegos, PhD, President, Solfire Consulting LLC
“For leaders, this book provides a much-needed, practical road map
for creating a work environment where everyone feels safe to speak
up and challenge the status quo. The four levels of interaction
safety, enhanced with checklists and relevant examples, demystify
the steps toward realizing a culture of candidness, trust, and
inclusion.”
—Monica E. Biggs, EdD, independent OD consultant
“If you want to create a work environment that brings out the best
in people and fosters collaboration and respect, Safe Enough to
Soar is the place to start. The concept of interaction safety is a
powerful tool to diagnose and remedy the negative interpersonal
dynamics that typically stifle workplaces. Great ideas come out of
creative conflict; this book is an illuminating and practical guide
to transforming your workplace into an environment where that
creativity can be realized.”
—Christopher Ames, PhD, President, The Sage Colleges
“This book will be an essential part of the toolkit for everyone
who wants to learn how to make inclusion part of our everyday
reality. When all those in organizations take the message of this
book to heart and integrate its lessons into their behavior,
relationships, and work, we will have gone a long way to achieving
the benefits of inclusion.”
—Bernardo M. Ferdman, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus,
California School of Professional Psychology; Principal, Ferdman
Consulting; and editor of Diversity at Work
“Powerful concepts and building blocks for enhancing engagement and
a sense of belonging.”
—Effenus Henderson, Codirector, Institute for Sustainable Diversity
and Inclusion
“The journey from Level One to Level Four, is directly linked to
creating a distinct competitive advantage via the collective
insight of a motivated and fully engaged workforce, . . . which
allows individuals to bring all their ideas and concerns, without
fear of criticism or critique, unleashing the power of the whole
organization.”
—Victor Lusvardi, Market Development Director, The Chemours
Company
“Many have decried the tendency for organizations to encourage
difficult conversations or robust dialogue without due regard for
the lack of interaction safety in those conversations. I have not
come across many books that address this topic with such clarity
like Fred and Judith have done. I am particularly drawn to their
definition that interaction safety includes not only the feelings
of safety to share best ideas but their still-in-formation ideas.
It is only when we feel free to speak that we can share ideas that
are still in formation—where we do not feel judged and have
accepted that everyone can be wrong at times. Interaction safety
leads to rich dialogue and creative solutions to problems.
Excellent addition to the work of creating inclusive workplaces.
Well done!”
—Nene Molefi, author and CEO, Mandate Molefi
“Once again, Fred and Judith bring to light a relevant observation
on what people in organizations do that prevents us from becoming
our best.”
—Randy Wilson, Director, Organizational Development, Pier 1
Imports
“Taking the time to create interactive safety reaps numerous
benefits for organizations and allows energies once dedicated to
protective measures to be translated to generative and productive
outcomes. The four levels of interaction safety are described
through a developmental continuum, illustrated through real-life
scenarios that readers will find familiar regardless of the
professional sector in which one is employed. The definition
provided of interaction safety helps the reader understand the
behaviors and mindsets necessary for creating a work environment
where differences are respected and leveraged and where reasonable
risk taking is rewarded.”
—Mark A. Puente, Director of Diversity and Leadership Programs,
Association of Research Libraries
“Your observation that a lack of personal interaction safety will
lead to self-editing of the very communications that could improve
an organization’s performance is, at once, simple and elegant.”
—Francis Murdock Pitts, FAIA, FACHA, OAA, Principal,
architecture+
“This book takes readers along a journey from a work environment
characterized by judgment, blame, and bullying to one of
collaboration, learning, engagement, and contribution.”
—Charles Pfeffer, CEO Coach and President, Contextus LLC
“To fully leverage diversity we must foster an environment where
people feel safe to show up authentically and give 100% of
themselves. Safe Enough to Soar, skillfully outlined four
levels of Interaction Safety and provides a pragmatic process that
will help move from D&I strategy to activation.”
—Lily C. Prost, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources
Officer, J. M. Huber Corporation
“What sets Judith and Fred apart as authors is their ability to
engage their readers as allies and empower them to make a
difference in their organizations.”
—Khamel Abdulai, Director of Training, Excelsior College
“Safe Enough to Soar is a wonderful extension to Fred and Judith’s
amazing body of work teaching us how to create inclusive
environments where people can bring their full selves to their work
each day.”
—Rob Guenard, PhD, Senior Director, Biogen
“By creating clear guidelines and pathways for creating safe
environments, Fred and Judith have given us a road map for
enhancing trust in our relationships and in our organizations and a
guidebook for engagement and fulfillment in our daily lives!”
—Howard J. Ross, author of Our Search for Belonging
“For the many individuals who do not feel safe at work—whether they
are on the front line or in a leadership role—this book presents a
way to name the behaviors and simple methods to work in their
organization while maximizing their personal sense of self and
interaction safety.”
—Leigh Wilkinson, Program Manager, Project Management Office, State
of Maine
“Working in a foreign country, I was very skeptical as to how the
principles of Safe Enough to Soar would actually work. As I began
to implement the seven steps to creating interaction safety, I was
amazed at how quickly my team adopted the practices, and they have
become the norm. I can see not only how our meetings have changed
but how much faster solutions are agreed upon, pushing the
organization to a higher level. I can say, firsthand, this book
transcends geographic and cultural boundaries.”
—Cindy Szadokierski, Vice President, Airport Operations, IndiGo
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