Christian Georg Thibault

Diversity Now Christian Georg Thibault

Diversity is already boosting businesses, organisations and regions and it is one of the great untapped resource of the world. This book is thus not only a book for HR managers, social workers, teachers, NGO's, sports managers, marketeers, multinational business, public servants, politicians, diversity trainers and consultants in Finland and also is hoping to give input to the international approach towards diversity in building our common future on this planet. You will find valuable information and inspiration in every chapter. Whatever your position and situation is, by the end of the book you will be able to be a true actor and promoter for diversity and you will know why this is one of the most important and fulfilling missions we can have in our lives. This book is written from a Finnish perspective, providing case studies from Finnish municipalities, business and academia as well as international examples. Finland has traditionally and historically been an extremely diverse country, being part of important trade routes, located between various cultural and political worlds and is also home to Europe's only indigenous people, the Sami. Also African, Romani, Jewish, Muslim, Swedish, Russian and European people have been citizens of Finland since before its Independence more than a hundred years agoModern migration in considerable numbers has begun rather recent though, as late as the 1980s and thus the country provides the grounds for a great case study in itself, while at the same time being engaged in active learning about diversity today. Finnish people and society are great learners though, after all, they top the ranks at all European education comparisons (Anderson, 2019). Fun fact: They also top the "Happiness Index" (Coffey, 2020). As most academics and all researchers know, learning about one thing always leads to the next, so it was important to frame the content of this book to what is valuable and essential to diversity trainers and diversity managers. In order to deliver real value to clients, diversity consultants cannot shy away from problematic areas and from promoting and supporting change, namely racism in its various forms, specifically between individuals, in structures and culture, thus advocating a sustainable future. Additional to best practices for diversity training and consultancy, this book also contains extensive chapters about the origins and impact of racism. The book contains research reports with hundreds of links and sources provided, recent blog writings and concrete steps to take.