Conscious Inclusion

How to ‘do’ EDI one decision at a time. Because unless you're consciously including people, you're almost certainly unconsciously excluding people.

Discover 99 decisions and 5 simple habits for creating more inclusive organisations, inside and out.

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The ‘how to’ book of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Rather than top-down change initiatives involving huge teams, author Catherine Garrod advocates for combining skill and will to guide people in their everyday thinking.

Then developing reporting to create social accountability and track departmental progress.

When every voice is heard, every person is empowered to take action, the outcomes are extraordinary.

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What’s inside?

Read it cover to cover, or flick to the part that’s most relevant.

The book starts with a history of how we got here, and the traps to avoid.

Then most of the book is dedicated to the all important how. Covering; leadership, culture, policies, hiring, career progression, buildings, technology, business development, customer experience, supply chain and social impact.

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The last chapter helps you decide what you’ll focus on for the next 12 months, and encourages you to find other changemakers to accelerate your progress.

Catherine encourages you to ruin the book, by making notes in the reflection sections, ticking off the things you’ve already done, and highlighting what you want to do next. But, if you can’t bring yourself to do that, you can download the workbook and make notes there.

Inclusion by design

Conscious Inclusion is published in print, eBook and audio to provide for different learning styles and needs. The audiobook is narrated by Catherine Garrod, and all formats area available wherever you get your books.

Conscious Inclusion Book displayed on iPad, iPhone, Kindle, and Audio

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Praise for Conscious Inclusion

"Catherine’s book is completely consistent with her consultancy style; highly enjoyable, thought provoking and hugely practical. I’ve bought a copy for every one of my board, executive team, senior leaders and key influencers to guide our organisation in creating a fairer society. There’s no preaching, or lecturing; just really useful contextual examples and key decisions that bring to life how to continue the equity and inclusion journey that we are all on."

Julie-Ann Haines, CEO at Principality Building Society
"This practical book lays out 99 useful decisions you can make to help EDI take root and flourish in your organization. The 100th is to buy it and start putting them into action."

Michael Bungay Stanier, Author of The Coaching Habit
"Catherine has achieved something really difficult with this book being both comprehensive and highly practical. No stone is left unturned in her assessment and the world would be a better place if organisations did even 20% of what she suggests. Catherine’s guidance also makes it easy to embrace the small changes if you're wondering where to start. This book will make a big difference to your leadership and your business."

Mark Allan, General Manager at Bupa Dental Care
"The real power of this book is its practicality. Catherine’s warmth and experience gives leaders both the clarity and confidence to get started with ED&I or supercharge their existing work for even greater impact. Read from cover to cover, or dipped in and out of, this book will help you build a more diverse, equal and inclusive organisation."

Louise Johnson, Former HR Director at Sky
"Books on EDI often fall into the trap of being a bit academic, preachy or unrelatable. This is the opposite: practical, warm, accessible, and rich in specifically what to do and what not to do. And written for us by someone who’s helped organisations large and small do this and flourish. As Catherine says, ”Everyone should be able to make their own cup of tea” — this step-by-step user guide will show you how."

Haider Imam, Partner at EY
Catherine has done an amazing job to cover a vast subject area so comprehensively and engagingly. It’s full of practical and accessible insights backed up by evidence and illustrated with real life experiences. This is a book I look forward to dipping into whenever I need a dose of Catherine's properly authentic approach to make sure I'm not being complacent.

Jenni Allen, Content Director at Which?
"Catherine’s guidance keeps things simple and focuses on outcomes. This book is packed full of stories and the practical decisions you can make, backed up with evidence for why it works. Reading it will inspire your progress and boost confidence in how to do it."

Ade Rawcliffe, Group Director of Diversity and Inclusion at ITV
"Catherine helps you easily glide from contemplating EDI to actually doing it, in some very quick and simple ways. If you’re leading a team, department, or a whole organisation this book will help you do some genuine good in the world."

Jo Rackham, Director of Reward and Policy at John Lewis Partnership
"Catherine’s written an inclusion masterclass that feels like a great conversation. It’s easy to read, quick to digest and thought-provoking in all the right places. It's also a veritable Smörgåsbord of practical tips, advice and actions brought to life through great stories - the sort of actions that anyone can immediately take into the workplace to make a real, positive difference."

Darren Towers, Group Head of Inclusion, Equity and Wellbeing at Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc
"This book is brilliant! I’ve highlighted many aha moments and written notes all over it. The content is accessible, inclusive, common sense and pragmatic. It is hugely relevant - sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, and often challenging. And most importantly of all it will help change the world of work for the better, for everyone. I can’t wait to pour over it again and I’ve bought copies for lots of other folk."

Sally Jones-Evans, Board Chair, Non-Executive Director and Trustee
"Wherever you are on your EDI journey, this indispensable and highly relatable guide is packed with all the ideas you need to deliver positive outcomes and change. Catherine’s deep EDI cross industry experience combined with her unique ability to take complex ideas and translate them into simple, practical, everyday actions can now benefit a much wider audience."

Anne Sewell, CPO at dentsu international
"Conscious Inclusion is such an important topic to support today’s society. The book positions EDI as the human case rather than the business case and encourages you to operate to the notion of ‘you don’t have to solve the world problems, but you can do something’. Individuals do not have to shoulder the full responsibility, but it’s the sum of the small parts that’s huge."

Phil Sampson, Global Procurement Director at PepsiCo
"Conscious Inclusion is a brilliant book for anyone who is struggling to make their organisation more inclusive. It’s inspiring but also supremely practical - giving a range of decisions to make, that cover all the possible angles. The inclusion agenda can be daunting but this book gives you real-life tools to make changes."

Lucy Adams, CEO at Disruptive HR
"Having worked with Catherine before, I knew I’d love reading her book! It’s really accessible because she shares practical examples of what’s worked, as well as what hasn’t. And provides simple steps to educate and change culture by ensuring inclusion is led by every business area, not just the People team. I’ve experienced this in action, so I know it works. This book is a must read for anyone needing to embed inclusion into their business."

Lorna Kerr, Global HR Director at MediaCom
"Most of us wants to be inclusive, and most of us believe we are. However, both our genes and social upbringings gives us habits and biases that make us unconsciously exclude fellow human beings. In this much needed book, Catherine helps us become aware of our thinking and take action to change our behaviour and organisations from the inside and out. "

Berit Lewis, Author of Ageing Upwards