Better Allies: Everyday Actions to Create Inclusive, Engaging Workplaces

by Karen Catlin, Sally McGraw (Editor)

The highly-acclaimed, practical guide for how to be an ally in the workplace, now in its 2nd edition.

Are you looking to build a workplace culture with a certain buzz about it? Where employees are thriving and engagement survey scores are through the roof? Where people from different backgrounds, races, genders, sexual orientations and identities, ages, and abilities are hired and set up for success?


One secret to creating this kind of vibrant and supportive workplace is practicing active allyship. With the Better Allies® approach, it's something anyone can do.


Since originally publishing Better Allies in 2019, Karen Catlin has amassed dozens of new scenarios and insights through her talks, workshops, and community interactions. In this fully revised second edition, you'll learn to spot situations where you can create a more inclusive culture, along with straightforward steps to take and changes to make. Catlin, a highly-sought after expert on allyship, will walk you through:

* Attracting and hiring a diverse workforce
* Cultivating an environment where coworkers feel welcome, respected, and supported
* Amplifying and advocating for others
* Giving effective and equitable performance feedback
* Using more inclusive language
* Running inclusive conferences and events

Read this book to learn the Better Allies® approach, level-up your ally skills, and create a culture where everyone can do their best work and thrive.

Genres: Nonfiction, Leadership, Business, Management, Self Help, Personal Development, Social Justice

288 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 11, 2021

About the author

After spending 25 years building software products and serving as a vice president of engineering at Adobe, Karen Catlin witnessed a sharp decline in the number of women working in tech. Frustrated but galvanized, she knew it was time to switch gears.

Today, Karen is an acclaimed author and speaker on inclusive workplaces. In 2014, Karen started the Twitter handle @betterallies to share simple, actionable steps that anyone could take to make their workplaces more inclusive. That Twitter handle became the inspiration for four books: Better Allies: Everyday Actions to Create Inclusive, Engaging Workplaces, Belonging in Healthcare, The Better Allies Way, and The Better Allies™ Approach to Hiring. She also emails a roundup of “5 Ally Actions” to over 40,000 newsletter subscribers every week.

Karen is a highly sought-after and engaging presenter who has delivered talks at hundreds of events. In addition to speaking herself, Karen is determined to bring more diversity to speaker lineups at tech industry events. To support this goal, she coauthored Present! A Techie’s Guide to Public Speaking with Poornima Vijayashanker.

To learn more about Karen and working with her, please visit karencatlin.com.

Reviews

[Maija Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better Allies gives clear and actionable steps to becoming a better ally and advocate for change in the corporate world. Anyone looking for high-impact actions that will support POC, LGBTQ+, white women, women of color workers (hint: everyone!) should read this and will be able to commit to at least one consistent practice.

That being said, this book is not for someone who does not understand why inclusive, engaging workplaces are important. There is a brief section on privilege (one of the best I have seen in the literature of D&I), but if you have not identified your personal stake in this work it will be very difficult to make the behavioral changes needed to move it forward.

I think this should be required reading for every new leader, refreshed often and the inclusion metrics included should be used for evaluation.

[Wombat Joey · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Unfortunately, diverse and inclusive workplaces are elusive. They are both difficult to find and hard to create.” Better Allies begins with this truthbomb.

The author pulls no punches: your workplace is NOT a meritocracy if the demographics state otherwise.

I’ve long considered myself an ally, advocate and champion, but it isn’t always clear what to DO. And I think every well-intentioned ally has experienced the feeling of trepidation: am I getting this all wrong? Or the moment of doubt when you see an example of bias or discrimination and want to speak up, but aren’t sure what to say.

This book breaks down the different roles an ally can play (sponsor, champion, advocate, amplifier, scholar, upstander, confidant.) It includes loads of scenarios that show how to take all that good intent and channel it into effective, bias-busting action — and guide others to do the same.

It is packed with practical tips, including how to not be a bystander, scripts for confronting microaggressions, tons of examples of inclusive language, and checklists for eliminating bias at every stage in the hiring process.

Buy copies for your team (and leave one on your boss’s desk!!)

[Poornima Vijayashanker]

Diversity and inclusion may be hot buttons to stay clear of, especially with people scrutinizing practices and scoffing at the benefits. But you know they are important. So how can you approach the topics, and set your team and company up to see a change? Through Allyship.

Wondering what it is and how to be a better ally? Karen Catlin covers what it is and how to be a better ally through simple actions you can perform with your team and company daily.

[Jody · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books everyone could benefit from and has real applications, including outside of the workplace in everyday life.

[Dan Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughtful, practical ideas, meticulously researched & considered. It's a good read and a good reference book for anyone who wants to help make a difference and make the world a better place.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping to learn more about systemic changes a company can make, rather than what an individual (in a position of power) can do. The book is also mostly focused on white men being allies to women rather than BIPOC as a whole. I got the most benefit out of the Hiring Practices chapter.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Accessible and practical but definitely (as the author admits) more aimed at white men being allies to other white women in the tech industry. Though the principles apply to other situations, I was looking for something a bit more radical.

[Joyce Schlueter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Tool. I learned so much about some things that I have been doing and feel armed with good alternatives. Thought I was being inclusive by saying "You Guys" and had not thought about the impact for even a single person being uncomfortable.

I have signed up for the newsletter.

Thank you Karen.

[Teji · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very basic introduction allyship in the workplace. The author comes from a tech background, which is evident in the examples she uses, however the exercises and considerations apply in a wide variety of situations.

Quotes

“A 2017 report by the Ascend foundation…showed that race is increasingly more significant impediment than gender to climbing the management ladder…tech companies prioritizing growth over everything else, even when it enabled discrimination…”

“Next Door users are notorious for posting racist ‘crime and safety’ alerts targeting their neighbors of color.”

“We all have perspectives that are shaped by our own experiences. So we can’t possibly imagine or understand all of the other viewpoints that exist in the world. We must learn about them as we encounter them and adjust our mindsets accordingly. So, your first tip for being an ally is to be open to learning, improving, and changing your opinion and recognize that being an ally is a journey. This may seem frustrating at first because it’s tempting to want to earn an ally badge and consider oneself to be a lifetime member of the genuinely good human beings club…Understanding privilege is key to becoming a better ally. At its core, privilege is a set of unearned benefits given to people who fit into a specific social group. Due to our race, class, gender, sexual orientation…all of us have greater or lesser access to resources and social power. People who are marginalized in multiple ways experience amplified marginalization and drastically reduced privilege. This is due to intersectionality, the fact that the combination of someone’s identities creates an intersection of overlapping and compounded oppressions…The term intersectionality was originally coined by Kimberly Crenshaw in her 1989 essay, ‘Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color’ and she explores it further in her excellent TedTalk ‘The Urgency of Intersectionality’. Now, here is where it gets tricky: privilege is often invisible to those who have it. This means that many people get defensive when someone points out their privilege…privilege is a system of advantages granted to all people in a given group…it’s not about who you are as an individual as much as it which groups you belong to and how those groups are viewed and treated by society…Being privileged doesn’t mean you’ve never worked hard and it doesn’t necessarily meant that your life has been easy…” Ch1

“…a few roles that allies can choose to play to support colleagues from underrepresented groups in beneficial ways…The Sponsor…When an ally takes on the role of the Sponsor, they vocally support the work of colleagues from underrepresented groups…specifically in situations that will help boost those colleagues standing and reputations…The Champion…willingly defer to colleagues from underrepresented groups in meetings and in visible industry-wide events and conferences, sending meaningful messages to large audiences…direct questions about specific topics to employees with subject matter expertise instead of answering them yourself…advocate for members of underrepresented groups as keynote speakers and panelists…The Amplifier…The Advocate…The Scholar…The Upstander…when an ally takes on the role of the Upstander, that ally acts as the opposite of a bystander, the Upstander is someone who sees wrongdoing and acts to combat it…the Confidant…creates a safe space for members of underrepresented groups to express their fears, frustrations, and needs…believe others experiences. Don’t assume something couldn’t happen just because you haven’t personally experienced it. Listen and ask questions when someone describes an experience you haven’t had…In this chapter, I shared just a few examples of how people with privilege have acted as allies in specific roles. It’s important to note that, while these people all choose to use their power to support others, they are humans and therefore not perfect. And they don’t need to be…” Ch1

“Think about how you describe the kind of candidates you are looking for. Are you being welcoming to people from diverse backgrounds…I especially appreciate the inclusive way Change.org does this. ‘Your coworkers are high impact, low ego, and have a deep respect for our members. We expect you to be the same. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, physical disability, or length of time spent unemployed.’”

“…now-famous internal Hewlett-Packard study that found that women applied for a promotion only when they believed they met 100 percent of the qualifications listed for the job, while men applied when they thought they could meet 60 percent of the job requirements. Hewlett-Packard’s findings have been validated by other research…the problem isn’t a lack of confidence in women applicants…they didn’t see the hiring process as one where advocacy, relationships, or a creative approach to framing one’s expertise could overcome not having the skills and experiences outlined in the job qualifications. What held them back from applying was not a mistaken perception about themselves but a mistaken perception about the hiring process.” Ch10

“…don’t be a gatekeeper…gatekeeping feedback is common and often slips out unconsciously. If you’re in a position to give someone constructive comments, you may think you are doing so based solely on their performance or role, but your choice of words may betray unconscious bias…” Ch11

[Wiebke Kuhn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has simple suggestions, compelling examples, and clear research references to help you become an ally for women and minoritized groups, especially in the IT world. An ally is someone who works on changing the system, not on saving the day for one individual (those are knights). Being an ally is hard work and potentially very uncomfortable. But it is also the right thing to do. Men in IT, I urge you to read this book.

[bertie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is well equipped to give tangible solutions and tools for overcoming barriers such as bias, discrimination, racism and sexism in the workplace. These solutions are displayed as actions of allyship that should be practiced by those with privilege.

Though the book has its lens focused mostly on examples in the Tech sector and entirely in the United States, the ideas brought forth are explained in a way that should be understood by most and applicable to a broader range of fields, well beyond Silicon Valley start-ups.

Though there are attempts throughout the book to uplift marginalized voices, the spotlight is rather often pointed toward Karen Catlin herself who shares many personal anecdotes both as a person of privilege (learning how to act as an ally) but also as someone facing discrimination in her field as an engineer.

Yes, intersectionality is mentioned in the book briefly at a few points; with this said, the main focus remains on women as a whole for many of the examples. Fair, as a white cis woman Karen Catlin is not in the best position to be interpreting and summarizing issues concerning racism, ableism, etc, but more space should have been allotted to those voices in this book in my opinion. At times, the text seemed to read as a not-so-subtle advertisement for Catlin’s consulting firm. In all fairness, perhaps those reading her book would be ideal clients as they are interested in diverse and inclusive workspaces, or they wish to grow their career but are facing roadblocks relating to bias and discrimination.

One thing I love is that the concepts illustrated in the book are given the opportunity to grow thanks to further resources located after the final chapter, as well as active social media channels turning the topic of allyship in the workplace into an ongoing conversation. Catlin also offers an email newsletter with weekly tips on becoming a better ally, which can help solidify learning into action. After all, what is the point of reading this book if we aren’t ready to do the work afterward?

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was provided an e-book copy for review by the publisher.

This book took a long time for me to start and then for me to read. As a white woman in academic science, I have often been and often am the only woman in the room. This makes me both an ally and someone who can benefit from allyship.

While this book focuses on tech, there are many parallels in fields that also have under-representation of women and minorities. While reading, I thought of several people that I could give copies of this book to encourage thinking about diversity and being better allies in my workplace.

This book should be read cover-to-cover and used as a reference thereafter. However, it isn't a book you can sit down and read cover-to-cover in a single or even multiple long sittings. I recommend reading and absorbing one chapter in a week and working on the principles in the chapter that week, adding techniques every week as you go along.

Catlin makes every effort to use relevant and current examples of both good and poor behavior in allies. Her writing is easy to read and understand. She goes the extra mile to engage people who may be skeptical or who do not quite buy into the need for everybody to take action in creating inclusive workplaces.

Overall, I highly recommend to people who can use their privilege to make the workplace better.

[Rima · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This book is a great resource for those who are trying to be an ally in their workplace. I really liked the actionable steps in the book with items that everyone can do to. It's a much better version of Brotopia which only mentions horror stories in Silicon Valley but never talks about steps on how to go about chnaging it. This book has some personal anecdotes and stories about tech companies but really focuses on steps you can take.

I took .5 of a star off because I do think this book was directed towards white men (and white women to an extent). While the author did include intersectionality in the book and mentions poc, a lot of the personal stories were about white women and a lot of the goals are adding women to the table. There should have been more info for improving poc/lgbt/disability rep as well.

Overall, I do recommend this book!

[Olga Kraineva · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book IS positive in there’s a lot of recap and actionable next steps that make it easy to take the concepts into practice. It’s also really easy to read and the author does a good job in balancing memorable storytime with call to actions.

That being said, at times it felt like a book that tried too hard to be a catch all. The author started on her better allies track to help women in tech have a greater voice/seat at the table. As a former VP at Adobe, she is perfectly adept to discuss this and draw upon her experiences. The book then expands at places to cover other minorities or people with disabilities, which while I understand why she wanted to be inclusive, the way it’s touched upon seems more opportunistic for the author to virtue signal herself than actual discussion of good allyship techniques.

[Andrea Janov · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely skewed towards being an ally to women in the workplace, but it is not a big jump to apply most of the advice to other unrepresented groups. What struck me most were the "small" things that I learned. "Small" in quotes because they are small actions that have huge impact. There are several things that I have to update in our code of conduct or policies, simply because she exposed me to a different interpretation of language and it's repercussions (such as removing "preferred" from the "What are your pronouns" question, as she said, that implies that it is a choice). Awesome eye opening stuff in here, even for those who have read other books, taken courses, or read articles.

[Jeannie Gainsburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s so refreshing to find a book that moves beyond simply understanding our privileges and offers real workplace actions that can create positive change. Making herself vulnerable with examples of her own missteps, Karen Catlin models the truth that we are all learners on a journey of understanding. Current and relevant, with actionable items at the end of each chapter, this book successfully guides us in how we can create more inclusive, equitable, and diverse workplaces.

[Karen Cornwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Powerful Read – there’s a lot packed into Karen Catlin’s "Better Allies." This great book is overflowing with tips and actions to become a stronger ally. Karen draws from many sources to create a powerful set of tools to take you from observing to leading the change we need to see.

- Karen F Cornwell, author of You Can’t Fix What You Can’t See: An Eye-Opening Toolkit to Cultivate Gender Harmony in Business.

[Mary Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this book for book club at work and I’m looking forward to that discussion later today. Lots of practical tips that should be helpful and will help me be mindful of my own actions. Note: I listened to the audiobook and that definitely needs to be re-recorded with better equipment. It was painful to listen to and in at least a couple of places it needs to be edited—two sets of audio played simultaneously.

[Stephen Wing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better World

As a person of color who has also been provided many privileges based on gender, etc., but have also experienced discrimination, being marginalised for my race, this guidebook was extremely enlightening and Eye opening. Thank you Karen for writing this book and for sharing all of the great resources. It will be one of my go to references and something I will most definitely share across my network.

[Anne Janzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the antidote to toxic corporate culture in any industry. Catlin’s practical, empathetic suggestions address systemic problems, unconscious bias, and the general obliviousness that make people feel unwelcome in the workplace.

Whether you want to better understand, support, or advocate for underrepresented groups, this book will help. Read it and share it.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very applicable to the corporate office, and the content is excellent. It explores privilege, opportunities to become a better ally (good title), and provides some simple, actionable steps to take in really applicable circumstances. It made me think and rethink, and will help me take action. I am recommending this book to everyone I work with.

[A.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book for diversity and inclusion task at work. Full of technology-industry scenarios that may not apply to everyday oppressive experiences in the workplace. It could have been written a bit better with more coherent and concrete examples that applies to workplaces in general. It has some guidances and tools that can be used to pave ways towards a diverse and inclusive setting.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly what’s needed

It’s so refreshing to read a book on self improvement of any sort that gives you everything you need—brief but relevant anecdotes, concise but valuable explanations, and actionable steps for every discussed issue. Not overly verbose, not vague, not unclear—just right.

[Jamie Marquis · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic book for those of us seeking to be better allies!! The author provides great anecdotes for teaching and backs up her suggestions for improvement with scientific evidence. Each chapter ends with a short bullet point list of actionable items we can do to become better allies. Everyone should read this!

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Desired more...

I chose this for a diversity reading group, it's not one I would have selected on my own. While the author has good insight on issues related to the tech world, I had difficulty relating to her and some of the examples provided past the first few chapters. This is heavily geared to her own experiences in the tech world and left me desiring a lot more.

[Scott Vandrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This the first book on my journey to more deeply understand my role in the diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and anti-racist movement. Catlin’s straight-forward, actionable guide to the movement was a great place to start. Step-by-step, this book reminds us of simple, everyday actions that can improve the workplace for everyone. Highly recommended.

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as part of a task for a culture/inclusion group at work. I did learn a few things but the way I have approached being an “ally” at work, in a group or really just in life is to always be kind to others in every situation. No matter who they are or where they come from or what they look like or what they believe in.

[Ali G · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very useful information, but not my style of learning. I need more examples of what's wrong and what's right instead of lists after list of things to do and not to do. Examples help with my memory retention. It's nice having a nice story to pair it with and even use it to explain to other people ( it has some, but personally need more)

[Galihmelon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eye opener and full of actions to become a better allies. I especially like the part where she wrote that it's a journey and everyone makes mistakes, but don't let those mistakes hold us back from pushing ourselves to be better allies.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this book to prepare for a D&I job interview. After working at a company with an extensive diversity program, I was familiar with most of the book’s content. However, this book would be great for a company developing Employee Resource Groups and diversity training.