Advantage
Increasing Earned Advantage - for All
If you find discussions of inequality to be painful, aggravating, exhausting, or even scary, it’s time to explore the elephant.
Bloomberg’s 2022 List - The 52 New Books That Top Business Leaders Are Recommending—and Why
The Business Book Awards - Smart Thinking Category Finalist 2023
Who Growing the Elephant is for…
Leaders - in business, community, or family seeking to increase opportunities wherever they lead
Teachers, Trainers, Facilitators - guiding others in increasing opportunities for themselves and others
Individuals - seeking to increase opportunities for themselves and those around them
SHRM-approved for Recertification Credits
The elephant of advantage.
Privilege? Social injustice? Equal opportunity? What does 'equal opportunity' mean when the opportunities to earn it are impacted by who you are or where you’re from? Who has these advantages? Why are they so hard to talk about? What can anyone do about it?
Explore the Elephant.
Growing the Elephant: Increasing earned advantage for all is the story of Advantage - Earned and Unearned. Earned Advantage is the part of the Elephant we know. Work hard – get rewarded; form relationships - get opportunities. But while anyone can earn Advantage, some have more opportunity than others. That's the story of Unearned Advantage.
Unearned Advantage is the part of the Elephant we avoid. It is so hard to talk or even think about that those with it ignore or deny it while those without it are exhausted or incensed by it. Unearned Advantage is about more than race or color – it includes gender, identity, age, upbringing, origin, disability, even physical appearance and personality. It’s all of who you are and where you’re from - whoever you are and wherever you’re from.
In Growing the Elephant, readers meet a team working together and striving to recognize, work with, and expand Earned Advantage for themselves and each other. Applying contemplative practices of intention, reflection, and compassion, readers follow Robert, Yvonne, Maria, and Alvin to learn to recognize and work with Advantage. With practice, they begin Growing the Elephant by expanding opportunities for earned Advantage - for everyone.
Growing the Elephant is for anyone in business, academia, and community who is working to increase innovation, performance, and inclusion. Unlike most diversity approaches, it aims to build skills, practices, and mindset to meet and stay with what’s difficult. It is for leaders and followers at any level and those who help them in building and sustaining inclusion, diversity, and equity.
What People Are Saying
“This book is the “now what”… the wisdom and compassion of this methodology will be used widely for the benefit of many”
— Diana Winston, Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center and author of The Little Book of Being
“deepen your understanding of privilege and how to use it — and possibly transform it — for good.”
Rhonda Magee, M.A., J.D., Author, The Inner Work of Racial Justice
“opens the mind and the heart, whoever you are and wherever you’re from”
— Jeff Kindler, CEO Centrexion Therapeutics, Global Chair GLG Institute
“a thought-provoking prescription for advancing DE&I”
— Michael Goettler, former CEO Viatris, Inc.
“the journey that we can take together to better understand each other”
- Gail J. McGovern, President & CEO, American Red Cross
“a crucial opportunity to reflect on one of society’s most challenging problems”
-David Glasgow, Executive Director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at NYU School of Law and coauthor of Say the Right Thing: How to Talk about Identity, Diversity, and Justice
“dramatically advances how people in any setting grow and relate to each other. Amazing book: Clever, insightful, relevant, and actionable”
— Dave Ulrich, Rensis Likert Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Partner, The RBL Group
“meets people wherever they are … to grow earned advantage for everyone”
Shelly Tygielski, Author, Sit Down to Rise Up: How Radical Self-Care Can Change the World and Founder, Pandemic of Love
“your time will be well spent reading and reflecting on the rich insights you’ll find here"
- Anna Maria Chavez, Chief Impact Officer; President, Encantos Foundation | Founder, Fearless Global Girl Initiative | Former National CEO, Girl Scouts of America
“a major alternative focusing on preventing inequality through positive approaches and solutions”
- Kent D. Lollis, Esq., DEI and Educational Consultant, Law School Admission Council DEI Vice President Emeritus
“Deeply insightful and most relevant to today’s DEI challenges and opportunities”
- Bettina Deynes, SHRM-SCP, SVP & CHRO, Carnival Cruise Line
“It all begins with self-recognition and acceptance of our own individual unearned advantages. From there we are unstoppable, individually and collectively.”
- From the Forward to Growing the Elephant, contributed by Vicky Spruill, President and CEO, New England Aquarium, Former President and CEO Council on Foundations