Summer is known for picking up books that are great “beach reads,” a book that will keep you engaged and not serious enough to interrup your vacation mood. However, summer is also a time when the workload lightens a bit which gives us time to pick up a book that inspires and challenges us to turn us and them into we. Here are four books that will feed the thalamus with new ways of knowing while keeping you motivated and energized to make positive change.

The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How WE Can Do It Again by Robert D. Putnam

I am a fan of Harvard Public Policy Professor Putman’s work on social capital and loved his book Bowling Alone. This book captures themes across time that contribute to the I-WE-I cycle that America finds itself in. In other words, the past is the prologue. The book characterizes the Gilded Age and shows its similarities to current times. It’s a great analysis but don’t expect a formula for how to make culture change happen but a map for how cultural change has occured in the past. His insights point us to the kind of initiatives that have a proven track record of turning us and them into we. The two chapters on race and gender made me happy as they reinforce that Getting To We’s initiatives for strenghtening gender solidarity to achieve racial equity are on the right track.

Currency of Empathy: The Secret to Thriving in Business & Life by Jacqueline Acho, PhD

This is my go-to book for examining how empathy fosters building social trust. Empathy is the lynchpin for creating inclusive organizations, peaceful communities and a healthy democratic society. I have read many books on empathy for my writing and research, and this book by far not only offers fresh insights but is wonderfully inspiring. It's an easy read because of the writing style of the author. Jackie offers a great deal of substantive research and neatly explains the difference between affective and cognitive empathy. This book is a must read for leaders, educators, civic and community advocates of getting to we. We lost Jackie in December 2022 after a battle with ovarian cancer. She will be remembered not only for her contribution to the scholarship on empathy but for her rich relationships born out of empathy and her magnificent, inspiring life journey chronicled in her blog on cancer, death and dying.

Inclusion on Purpose by Ruchika Tulshyan

We often think about inclusion as a feeling that we have towards others, but as this book illustrates inclusion is a action and a choice that requires work and know how. The work of fostering inclusion and belonging can’t be done in identity compartments but is expressed through our multiple and intersecting identities. Tulshyan offers user-friendly frameworks for how we can actually bring our full and authentic selves to the workplace.

Harvard Business Review Racial Justice

After the murder of George Floyd in 2020 businesses joined the nation in calling for racial justice by deepening DEIB efforts in the workplace. Yet, over the past two years these efforts have waned and some have even been disbanded as a result of political blowback and fear mongering. This compendium of articles reminds us why companies must step up and continue working towards racial equity and how we can all make a difference in small and big ways.