Make It Last - by Sandra Upton (Hardcover)

About the Book

With Make It Last by Sandra Upton, you can turn feelings of failure and frustration when it comes to DEI into realities of success.

Book Synopsis

Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant, and to face the challenge of change.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

How do we turn our good intentions and high hopes toward DEI into real and lasting change?

Many of today's organizations lack mature and effective DEI efforts. In recent studies, several were found to be only "going through the motions" with much being promised but little delivered.

Despite these dismal reports and external resistance, backlash, and polarization that sometimes exist toward DEI work, we've made some progress. We're doing better at teaching what DEI is and why this work matters. Where we've fallen short is the how.

At its core, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work is about change management-changing individual behaviors and systems. Yet, most major change efforts fail. So, what do the few that do succeed have that we can learn from?

Using her DEI Propel(TM) Framework, an evidence-based change management process, Sandra Upton uncovers the secrets to successfully implementing DEI initiatives and creating a lasting diverse and inclusive workplace culture where everyone thrives, regardless of their background. This step-by-step process includes a DEI roadmap, practical strategies, and effective tools that push your diversity, equity, and inclusion effort beyond lip service into an operational part of your organization's DNA.

Whether you are a chief diversity officer, a member of a DEI council, the leader of an employee resource group, a human resource professional, a middle manager, or a department head, but lack the support, skills, cultural intelligence, or confidence to help lead and implement the real work, the map has been drawn. With Make It Last, you can turn feelings of failure and frustration when it comes to DEI into realities of success.

Review Quotes

This book is robust with fresh, hands-on, practical actions that will give anyone serious about having impact for DEI efforts and investment ready-to-implement, productive strategies and tactics to effectively address evidence-based behaviors in workplace organizations that will have sustaining power.

-Barbara Nobles Crawford, PhD, CEO of Nobles Crawford & Partners and former organization behavior and development consultant at Harvard University

In a time of judicial and corporate confusion over diversity, equity, and inclusion, Sandra Upton brings clear guidance based on decades of experience in the field. Following her lead, any well-intended organization can achieve worthy goals. Over the many years I've known Upton, she's always been a solid scholar, an unsurpassed consultant, and an author of prudence, charity, and grace. In Make It Last, she breathes new life into DEI-exactly the gift we need at exactly the time it's needed.

-A. James Heynen, senior managing partner of RTM LTD.

Many organizations are saying they are committed to DEI, but few have a real strategy. Not only does this book help organizations develop a roadmap for the work, but it also teaches them how to operationalize it.

-Deepa Purushothamn, best-selling author of The First, the Few, The Only

Reading through the details of Make It Last: A Roadmap and Practical Strategies for How to Do DEI Work by Sandra Upton, I can't help but feel a surge of excitement. As someone deeply engaged in the DEI space, the author's dedication to equipping leaders with actionable strategies truly resonated with me. The blend of John Kotter's change management framework and Sandra Upton's twenty-five-plus years of DEI expertise seems like a recipe for success, promising to guide us toward creating lasting and impactful change. The inclusion of seasoned professionals adds a genuine touch, making this book a potential companion for anyone committed to driving real transformation in the realm of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

-Lori Spicer-Robertson, chief diversity officer of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and founder of The DEI Collective

Make It Last is a comprehensive and practical guide about how DEI initiatives can succeed and be sustainable. Dr. Sandra Upton has combined her extensive experience and best practices in the field to create a powerful and compelling roadmap for implementing DEI efforts. It should be a must read for CEOs and corporations alike committed to DEI but not satisfied with previous results.

-David A. Thomas, PhD, president of Morehouse College and professor emeritus at Harvard Business School

Very few leaders bring academic validity, experience, and storytelling together in such a compelling way as Dr. Sandra Upton does. She is passionately committed to the hard and uncomfortable work required to see through the change that workplaces so desperately need. She shares her knowledge, learning, and experiences in an extremely succinct way through her book, along with some very practical ways organizations can truly propel their DEI work to make it meaningful, lasting, and impactful.

-Ritika Wadhwa, CEO and founder, Prabhaav Global