The Loudest Duck: Moving Beyond Diversity while Embracing Differences to Achieve Success at WorkISBN: 978-0-470-48584-2
Hardcover
192 pages
November 2009
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"Laura Liswood has both great theoretical and practical
understanding of diversity—why it is important in
organizations and why attempts to create it often fail to deliver.
The Loudest Duck is essential reading for anyone who wants
to maximize the effectiveness of organizations or just wants to
understand why things are the way they are."
—Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell, Canada's 19th and first female
Prime Minister
"Diversity is a popular buzzword, but too many organizations
treat it as window dressing. Laura Liswood explains how successful
leaders learn to value diversity for the advantages it brings. This
book is clearly written, savvy, and wise."
—Joseph S. Nye Jr., University Distinguished Service
Professor at Harvard University; Author of The Powers to
Lead
"The Loudest Duck is a must read for managers and leaders
of multinational corporations and international organizations. It
provides an insightful look and fresh approach to cultural and
gender differences that must be better understood for a more
effective workplace."
—Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director, UNICEF
"Laura Liswood brilliantly shows us how to get to Diversity 2.0
and beyond. A workplace of people from different backgrounds can
lead to tensions, but this book shows, with great insights and
examples, how it can lead to real creativity instead. It’s an
indispensable guide for managers and leaders—and also for
anyone who wants to succeed in any aspect of life."
—Walter Isaacson, President and Chief Executive
Officer, The Aspen Institute
"Laura's timing is perfect and her message is spot on. Embracing
diversity creates competitive advantage. Her book should be
mandatory reading for everyone in business today. In the most
engaging, fun, and real way, Laura gets to the heart of the
opportunity—enabling Noah's diverse floating Ark to fly to
the moon and beyond."
—Beth Brooke, Global Vice Chair of Public Policy,
Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement, Ernst & Young
"Globalized businesses are increasingly aware that diversity
belongs in the boardroom, not the public relations department, so
The Loudest Duck is beautifully timed. Liswood is thoughtful
and thought-provoking. Best of all, she's practical, helping
ambitious employees from nondominant groups to prove their worth,
and advising leaders how to transform diversity from rhetoric into
an engine for innovation and growth."
—Kevin Kelley, Chief Executive Officer, Heidrick &
Struggles
"Iconoclastic and savvy, Laura Liswood's The Loudest Duck
reminds us that not all diversities in the Ark are equal: Some in
the Ark are louder and they get heard most. Combining an impressive
breadth of research with colorful stories from corporate life, this
book is essential reading for anyone who is serious about reaping
the promise of diversity at work."
—Herminia Ibarra, Professor of Organizational
Behavior; The Cora Chaired Professor of Leadership and Learning
Director, INSEAD Leadership Initiative
"Brilliant! Liswood offers unique insight and fresh tools for a
Diversity 2.0 world. Drawing on thinkers from Thucydides to Malcolm
Gladwell, and on more than three decades of executive experience,
she offers leaders ideas for building a meritocracy that will
ensure corporate success."
—Robin Gerber, Author of Leadership the Eleanor
Roosevelt Way and Barbie and Ruth
"The Loudest Duck is one of the clearest and most
profoundly informative analyses of why, despite decades of effort
and investment, most diversity initiatives fail to produce the
promised benefits to organizations or their employees. This book
goes beyond analysis and provides a new language of metaphor that
captures the unexamined dynamics of dominance, unearned privilege,
and unconscious bias that undermine our attempts to create truly
diverse and inclusive workplaces. In her introduction Laura Liswood
makes clear her goal to move us beyond Diversity 1.0. She is
successful. The Loudest Duck has the potential to usher in
Diversity 2.0, a new conversation and approach to changing our
organizations and ourselves. It is a must reading for leaders who
are serious about diversity and inclusion in their
organizations."
—David A. Thomas, H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of
Business Administration, Harvard Business School; Author of
Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in
Corporate America