Guidebook: Diversity Now
About this book
Diversity is already boosting businesses, organisations and regions which have embraced it and it is still one of the largely untapped resources in the world. At the same time, the disrespect for human and cultural diversity is responsible for social injustice and damaging people and communities. 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.
Guidebook for trainers and managers
This guidebook is not only a book for HR managers, social workers, teachers, activists, NGO’s, sports managers, marketeers, multinational business, public servants, politicians, diversity trainers and consultants in Finland, but is also hoping to give input to the international approach towards diversity in building our common future on this planet. The book also serves as a course book for trainers and consultants who participate in Nordic Diversity Trainers certification programs.
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.
Reading “Diversity Now”, you will learn both, how to teach and change behaviour in your environment and organisation, as well as about the content what to teach and to communicate it. 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 ago. Modern 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).
“The book demonstrates well why managing diversity is important from the human rights and legal perspective, but also for building and running a successful business or organization. It offers valuable best practices for everyone dealing with these matters. I recommend everyone managing any type of an organization to read this book.”
Dr. Kari Jääskelainen, President, HELBUS Helsinki School of Business
“This book gives an in-depth understanding of diversity from a unique perspective. The highlight of this book is that it brings out nuances of diversity in a broad angle that includes individual, business, music, sports, and social perspectives. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the topic of diversity.”
Dr. Narashima Boopathi Sivasubramanian, CEO, Cultural Analysis International
About the author:
Christian Thibault, born in Bonn, Germany and migrated to Finland in 1984. Started his own business in 1985, which became one of the three biggest in garden retail and landscaping in Finland during the 1990s. Also engaged to sports and social work, as football/soccer coach and manager and as CEO and founder in several NGOs, amongst them the German representation of sexual abuse survivors “Eckiger Tisch e.V.”, the Finnish national network against Racism, “Rasmus” and the migrant representation in sports “Sports For All, Liikkukaa ry”.
Speaker, advisor, workshop facilitator, project & event planner, author and co-author of several published books. Languages: English, German, Finnish, Swedish, Latin.
An experienced CEO in business, sports and NGOs since more than 30 years. He has worked with government, municipalities and in European projects and was awarded in 2008 with the Finnish National Cross of Honour for his work in promoting social cohesion and the Global Family Award in 2016. Christian graduated in business from the Helsinki School of Business and the University of Northampton with Academic Excellence.
