Table Of Content“While the world rallies and holds yet another seminar on equity, diver-
sity and inclusion – Crosby offers a real path forward, rooted in truth and
the individual and collective work that needs to be undertaken to create
a more just society. His words carry the intended and unintended pain of
racism, the deadly disease that continues to be spoon fed to generation after
generation. The cure, as Gilmore shares, begins with a simple, time-tested
framework of communication, planning, implementation and assessment.
Let’s do what needs to be done for our children’s sake. Thanks for this stim-
ulating and heartfelt reminder.”
Nnamdi O. Chukwuocha, LMSW
State Representative- Delaware
State of Delaware Poets Laureate
“Diversity Without Dogma, a new book by Gilmore Crosby, has the poten-
tial for redirecting much of our racial angst and anxiety to substantive
racial change and equity. It breaks new ground by challenging people/
organizations to not only think about race and racial inequality but
doing something to change the racial outcomes. It is more than talk, but
action. It is more than idle proscriptions but actual group/organization
therapy. He recognizes that much of the conversation about racism
deals with intangibles such as unconscious biases, behaviors, etc., but
that the focus needs to be on practical ways in which we can challenge
the racial structures and systems. He asserts that the name, blame, and
shame industry that so many in DEI operate in is not only counterpro-
ductive but wrong. Such an approach does not lead to any significant
change, it only adds weight to the system as those targeted become more
entrenched in their beliefs. The frequent failure of such practices only
serves to buttress the racist structures and practices. In the process we
begin to doubt our ability to change, the rationality of such change, and
in frustration give up on any real attempt to change. Crosby asserts that
the path is difficult, and we are concerned with a process not an event.
Dealing with systemic racism can only be brought about by reducing
the confusion and tensions that are part and parcel to unequal struc-
tures. Good intentioned people, unaware of these dynamics, wind up
blaming the people rather than the system. The resulting homeosta-
sis is strengthened. The alternative is engaging groups in identifying
those systemic elements that preserve inequality, routing them out, and
helping people to understand how they can foster real organizational
change. As he demonstrates ‘In other words, trying to change individu-
als without changing the social environment within which they live is
like building one’s house on sand.’ I encourage any who are interested
in true meaningful organizational and social change…look at Crosby’s
Diversity Without Dogma.”
Dr. Rodney Coates
Professor of Global and Intercultural Studies at Miami University (Ohio)
Co-author of The Matrix of Race, 2nd Edition
“Issues of inclusion, diversity, social justice, and equity (DEI) have a long
and important history in social psychology going back to the crucial work
by Kurt Lewin showing how change in this area has to involve group based
norms. Fortunately, the great wisdom that came out of Lewin and his stu-
dents is brought back in this important book because what was learned in
the last seventy years is highly relevant to how to approach these issues in
today’s complex world. This book provides not only the important linkages
to how the DEI issues need to be conceptualized but reviews usefully how
existing theory can help to deal with those issues in today’s more volatile
and complex world.”
Edgar H. Schein
Professor Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management
Author with Peter Schein of Humble Leadership (2018) and
Humble Inquiry, 2d Ed. (2021)
“The first step to improve organizational issues of diversity, equity and
inclusion is to appoint a Senior Vice President of DEI or, perhaps more
broadly, a SVP of Social Justice. WRONG! This kind of action relieves
everyone else in the organization of the responsibility for addressing and
taking steps to improve issues of social justice, especially those represented
by diversity, equity, and inclusion. In other words, ‘I do not need to worry
about these sticky problems. We have a SVP in charge.’ Gilmore Crosby
has it RIGHT! First, social justice is everyone’s concern, especially those
of us who are leaders and managers. And, second, social justice is systemic
and touches all of us. It is buried in the organization’s culture, a matter of
context, and an organization’s history. Gil Crosby is a master interpreter of
Kurt Lewin’s theories. Follow his lead regarding these critical issues that
underlie an organization’s ability to change.”
W. Warner Burke, PhD
Professor Emeritus of Psychology & Education
Teachers College, Columbia University
“It is the practicality that makes Gil’s latest book so moving. In an age
dulled by so many slogans and shiny platitudes, Gil’s well thought out mes-
sage is even more salient. And when you read his book, use a marker...there
are passages you will no doubt want to revisit.”
Allon Shevat
OD Professional, Tel Aviv
“Few people can say that they grew up in the world of OD. Gil Crosby
can. He is the son of Robert P. Crosby, who brushed shoulders with early
Organization Development luminaries from Kurt Lewin’s inner circle. This,
Gil Crosby’s latest writing, highlights Lewin’s post-WWI Polish-German
experiences as a bedrock for Lewin’s theories on ‘minority relations’ and
his action research methods for what to do to truly create ‘a status of equity.’
Diversity Without Dogma belongs on every Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
practitioner’s bookshelf alongside Andrea Pitzer’s One Long Night: A Global
History of Concentration Camps, Mehnaz M. Afridi’s Shoah Through Muslim
Eyes, Harriet A. Washington’s Medical Apartheid, David Roediger’s Working
Toward Whiteness, Matthew Frye Jacobson’s Whiteness of a Different Color:
European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race, Derald Wing Sue’s Race Talk
and the Conspiracy of Silence, and Heather McGhees’ The Sum of Us: What
Racism Costs Everyone, and that is where you will find it in my office.
As part of an academic canon, Diversity Without Dogma sits beside
Washington’s book, giving examples of historic traumas resulting from
systemic biases, including lobotomies on the LGBTQ community and
Caesar Lombroso’s books Criminal Man and The Female Offender. It pairs
well with Pitzer and Afridi’s books in that it adds to the existing literature
on antisemitism and the Jewish diaspora from the rise of Hitler. And it can
be partnered with Roediger’s and Frye Jacobson’s work for teaching the
emergence of eugenics, racial constructs, and the creation of ‘Whiteness.’
Whether you read Diversity Without Dogma as a stand-alone text or paired
with canonical Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) or Justice, Equity,
Diversity, & Inclusion (JEDI) books, you will find it a valuable addition to
your OD and DEI library.”
Renée A. Freeman
CDO and Principal, Freeman Consulting & Associates, LLC
T-Group Facilitator at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, CA
Academic researcher of Faith, Culture, Texture, and
Color: Inclusivity Above the Neckline
“Gil Crosby’s Diversity Without Dogma is a beautiful and powerful intro-
duction to one of the taproots of the DEI ‘family tree.’ I am referring to
the work of Kurt Lewin, The Grandfather of Applied Behavioral Science.
Not everyone knows that his 1946 action research project in Connecticut
was ‘aimed’ at racial issues in school systems and communities. But Gil
Crosby knows! Thank you for this contribution to the fast-expanding DEI
world, Gil. You make it very clear that these issues will not be resolved
with training programs but only as mind-and heart-altering experiences
embedded in culture-change (OD) initiatives.”
Dr. John J. Scherer
Founding Partner, Scherer Leadership Center
Author of Facing the Tiger: Five Questions that Change Everything
“Gilmore Crosby’s new book, Diversity Without Dogma, is a much-needed
guide to both implementing organizational change to increase equity; and
also to understand what actually leads to increasing equity. Spoiler alert:
simply having a training where people may learn some of the history of
codified inequality or engage in personal introspection is insufficient.
I recall a time when a congenial and generally justice-minded colleague
declared a voluntary DEI training to be a success. The smiling pause in the
conversation implied it was my turn to heartily agree and move on to other
topics. Dismay registered on their face when I disagreed and dissolved into
further discomfort when they could not just brush me off as ‘not being
the target audience.’ Without an attempt to recognize the systemic nature
of racism, ableism, and sexism coupled by concrete action to rectify the
same, DEI trainings often end up assuaging the inquietude of those who
are worried about being blamed for -isms, wounding those who are nega-
tively impacted by these -isms and doing nothing to improve an organiza-
tion. Diversity Without Dogma provides the needed context for equitable
organizational transformation and the blueprint to initiate and evaluate
the action plans and trainings that are the key components to organiza-
tional change. Diversity Without Dogma is not just a book you read; it is
a book you do.”
Julie Pierce Onos, MBA
Professor of Business Administration at Fitchburg State University
Author of the forthcoming Business Eco-Systems and Identity, 1st Edition
“The interpersonal space is a myriad theater. It takes arduous, methodical,
and caring focus to decipher from observation, then internalize integra-
tive experiences, and finally socialize for impact. It takes a communicative
intent as Gilmore here has epitomized to tie origins of applied behav-
ioral science fundamentals to contemporary dynamics. This work again
reminds us that in the social media barrage of cascade and dissentions, it is
easy to forget basics while the epidemic of bias, prejudice, and even baseless
hate rage on. Another inimitable essential reading for facilitators of human
agency and goodwill. A masterful embodiment of Lewinian thought for
times to come.”
Joseph George Anjilvelil
Founder, Workplace Catalysts LLP, Bangalore, India
Author of BEING PEOPLE: Life- histories of Six HRD Professionals of India
“Diversity Without Dogma is a fascinating read! Crosby offers a thorough
perspective of the road we have traveled to the current commitments to
diversity equity and inclusion in organizations and in contemporary culture.
He does so from a theoretical, historical, and practical/praxis perspective.
I read Crosby’s book with several lenses: As a consultant working with clients
committed to creating more inclusive work cultures and enhancing diver-
sity, equity and belonging in their organizations and their communities, as a
board member of The Lewin Center, and as a fellow author who has explored
how we make sense of and create our social worlds in our relationships with
each other. In this book, Crosby has covered a lot of ground. Building on
his prior scholarly work, he has done an excellent job weaving the gifts of
Lewin’s many theories and frameworks throughout in addressing the com-
plexity of DEI initiatives. Specifically, force field analysis, action learning,
how we create our social worlds, and engaging in healthy conflict. Lewin’s
work is timeless and Crosby’s integration and synthesis of Lewin’s work with
considerations of how we recognize the gift of our differences is timeless and
ever more critical to reference as we navigate today’s discursive forces.”
Ilene C. Wasserman, Ph.D.
President, The Lewin Center
Senior Leadership Fellow, Lead Executive Coach and Learning Director –
McNulty Leadership Program and Executive
Education at the Wharton School
“Gil Crosby has written a unique and valuable perspective on how we need
to work with DEI in today’s society. As a Lewin scholar, he weaves Lewin’s
social science throughout what is needed in approaching diversity, differ-
ences, conflicts, and dialogues. This book provides many reasons why so
many approaches have produced limited results and new thinking on how
to apply proven methods to improve communications among people with
differences and systems with ‘isms!’”
David W. Jamieson, Ph.D
President, NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science
“Gilmore Crosby is a wonderful writer, just as he is a wonderful human
being. We write what we are. He and I can talk about anything and every-
thing. It is funny, I was afraid to read his writing, but not to talk to him.
I’m self-conscious about my lack of a formal education. However, the way
Gilmore writes covers that completely. He writes for all people. One para-
graph caused me to flash back to the supper table when I was 7 in North
Carolina. My Dad and his brothers were talking and every other word
was the ‘N’ word. Finally, I said Why do you guys TALK LIKE THAT.
Mr Chesson (helper on the farm) is a very nice man and he would never talk
like the way you guys are. My dad, feeling uncomfortable with his BROS,
as they had gotten very quiet and were just staring at LITTLE ME, said,
‘ROY, I DON’T KNOW WHY WE TALK LIKE THAT, IT IS THE WAY
WE WERE RAISED, IT IS WHAT WE DO!’ I looked at these guys and
said ‘WELL YOU ARE NOT GOING TO RAISE ME THAT WAY, I WILL
NEVER TALK LIKE YOU DO, and I LOVE MR. CHESSON!’ I jumped
up and ran to the woods, but not before I heard one uncle say to my dad,
‘BRO, YOU GOT YOUR HANDS FULL WITH THIS ONE!’ And so he did.
Also, in reading Gilmore’s thoughts about LBGTQ, we are far more critical
and rude to each other in our community than society could ever be. My
Partner and I were so free that Gay people were afraid of us and ridiculed us
constantly in the 70’s. Mr. Crosby’s intelligent yet understandable approach
and his fearless belief that ‘any prejudice begets more prejudice’ is a breath
of fresh air this country and world sorely needs.”
Roi Barnard
Author of Mister, Are You a Lady?
“I was impressed with the analysis, at the outset, with reference to the real-
ity and impact of race and class in Jamaica. Mr. Crosby’s full and dynamic
treatment of the subject of race and class are consistent with the exten-
sive discussion by the late Professor Rex Nettleford (1970), especially in
his book Mirror Mirror. In his book, Identity, Race and Protest in Jamaica,
Nettleford (1970) highlights the intractable challenge of race and identity
in Jamaica, and the reality of classism in this post slavery society. It is this
challenge that Crosby takes on directly with his approach to diversity,
equity, and inclusion, an approach which is referred to in other spheres as
communication for development. A development agenda which takes the
interest, welfare, and wellbeing of people seriously means putting people
at the center of progress and taking into account what Nettleford (1970)
refers to as the dynamic and diverse aspects of the Jamaican people. It
is this dynamism which Robert Nester ‘Bob’ Marley sings about as ‘One
love, one heart, let’s get together and be alright.’ This bringing or coming
together of diverse aspects of Jamaican or American society include lessons
for the global families of peoples. Though the book is largely related to the
American context, it is vital that we learn from, support, and implement
this vision of diversity over dogma in the global community.”
Rt Reverend Garth Minott
Bishop of Kingston
Episcopal/Anglican Church of Jamaica
“Gilmore Crosby has provided more than the technical and practical
understanding one needs to appreciate and apply my grandfather’s ideas
in this book. Crosby has also captured the heart, the values, and the high
respect for the individual that drove all of Kurt Lewin’s work. I am glad he
is continuing to share and pass along this valuable insight about Lewin’s
legacy, which is needed as much now as anytime since his death.”
Michael Papanek
Leadership and OD Consultant, Grandson of Kurt Lewin
“Many people skip reading the introduction of a book. Please don’t skip
this one! Gil has started this book with a bang. Great insights and truths
that in themselves change the conversation and actions related to race and
diversity.”
Frederick A. Miller
CEO, The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, Inc.
Co-author, with Judith Katz, of The Inclusion Breakthrough
(2002) and the forthcoming Creating Inclusive Cultures with
Change Champions: A Dialogic Approach with
Judith Katz and Monica Biggs
Diversity Without Dogma
Social Scientist Kurt Lewin said, “No research without action, and no action with-
out research.” Too much of the current DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) ap-
proach is insight-based instead of action-based. Even though institutional racism
is identified as the root problem, the change effort is focused on looking inward
for bias instead of taking action to eliminate institutional racism and other isms. A
Lewinian approach, in contrast, is balanced. What people think is important, but
no more important than what people do. If you bring people together to change
things, this will change what people think! We don’t need therapy nearly as much
as we need action based on dialogue! Instead of spending your energy soul-search-
ing for evidence in your thoughts and behaviors that you have unconscious biases,
this book helps put your energy into doing something practical about racism.
To get there, this book uses Lewin’s social science to build a framework for sorting
through the many approaches to and positions held on race, racism, diversity, and
related topics. While the framework is and must be applicable to any prejudice,
systemic or individual, the bulk of this exploration is focused on racism, which to
a large degree has become the primary social justice focus of our times. Painfully
aware that conversations about race can easily deteriorate into polarization, the
author lays a path toward finding common ground.
