Business Reader Review
"By learning the strengths and weaknesses of those lenses . . . we can better understand interpersonal relations in diverse groups."


Fast Company
"A tough-minded look at a potentially soft subject."


Denver Post
"The key to understanding why discrimination and prejudice are still widespread . . ."


Richard Pachter, Knight Ridder
"He does a thorough job, seeking to stress the positive and negative inherent in each approach..."


Jack Covert, Inside Business
"Buy it and become a better person."


Atlanta Business Journal
"Williams presents an innovative, research-based method for turning cultural differences into competitive advantage."


Book Description
A helpful tool to help us understand the "lenses" through which we view others, in the workplace and society.  A powerful new resource for leading and unifying culturally diverse organizations and communities  Author Mark Williams is already in high demand as a speaker and presenter of the groundbreaking live multimedia event based on the Lenses concept.  United Nations International Day for Tolerance 2001 (November 16) will feature theme song, "One Song, Many Voices" and dialogues based on book with civic, faith, government, business and education leaders broadcast via satellite.  Includes new Gallup racial-perceptions assessment and national survey on bias and racism in America. Personal assessments available through a code in the book linked to Diversity Channel Web site - an online multimedia educational and training resource for organizations and corporations  Feature on Diversity Week in Review, a new half-hour Web cast program How do you view the world and others you work with, live with, pass on the street? Are you an Assimilationist who believes that everyone should just become a regular American? A Culturalcentrist who believes that a person's race or ethnicity is central to their personal and public identity? A Meritocratist who believes that if you have the abilities and work hard enough, you can make your dreams come true regardless of race or culture? Or are you a Victim/Caretaker who believes that because of prejudice, you will never succeed? Are you Colorblind, believing that we are all the same under our skin? These are just five of the ten "lenses" leading business consultant Mark Williams has developed to profile how people "view" race, culture and ethnicity in their world For corporations, civic institutions, individuals --these ten lenses provide easily accessible and recognizable profiles of people's belief systems that affect how they interact with others in the workplace and in society. One Song, Many Voices introduces the 11th lens. The 11th lens joins the highest expression of each of the 10 lenses in harmony and strives to govern our community and organizational behavior in accordance with this higher framework. Working from the 11th lens, we can practice responsible life actions that make businesses, communities and societies stronger.


About the Author
Mark Williams is the CEO and President of The Diversity Channel, a multimedia company that offers diversity training and consultation to Fortune 1000 clients and the Government, such as Chevron, AT&T, the CIA, the Peace Corps, Harvard Medical School, and Unisys. Mr. Williams is also the Chairman of the One Song, Many Voices Foundation, which promotes tolerance and cultural appreciation around the globe. In 1998, he was honored with the Global Tolerance Award from Friends of the United Nations.

SYNOPSIS

How do you view the world and others you work with, live with, pass on the street? Are youan Assimilationist who believes that everyone should just become a regular American? A Culturalcentrist who believes that a person￯﾿ﾽs race or ethnicity is central to their personal and public identity? A Meritocratist who believes that if you have the abilities and work hard enough, you can make your dreams come true regardless of race or culture? Or are you a Victim/Caretaker who believes that because of prejudice, you will never succeed? Are you Colorblind, believing that we are all the same under our skin? These are just five of the ten "lenses" leading business consultant Mark Williams has developed to profile how people "view" race, culture and ethnicity in their world

For corporations, civic institutions, individuals ￯﾿ﾽ￯﾿ﾽthese ten lenses provide easily accessible and recognizable profiles of people￯﾿ﾽs belief systems that affect how they interact with others in the workplace and in society.

One Song, Many Voices introduces the 11th lens. The 11th lens joins the highest expression of each of the 10 lenses in harmony and strives to govern our community and organizational behavior in accordance with this higher framework. Working from the 11th lens, we can practice responsible life actions that make businesses, communities and societies stronger.

FROM THE CRITICS

Soundview Executive Book Summaries

A Toolkit for Tolerance
Mark Williams is on a mission to change the ways we think about each other and work together. As a successful consultant, trainer and author, he has spent 17 years leading diversity seminars to help others learn more about tolerance and cultural appreciation. The 10 Lenses is the result of his efforts to create a way to understand and communicate how racial, cultural, national and ethnic differences are perceived.

A Sampling of Lenses
The ten lenses of the title represent ten different perspectives - ten different sets of attitudes, views and feelings - from which people see race, ethnicity, nationality and culture. These lenses include: Assimilationist. This is the perspective of people who want individuals to submerge their cultural identities for the sake of nationalistic and patriotic ideals. Colorblind. The colorblind archetype sees people as individuals and ignores cultural factors. He or she thinks ignoring race and color will create equality. Culturalcentrist. This perspective seeks to improve the welfare of a cultural group by accentuating their history and cultural pride while working to create a safe environment where prejudice is not a daily issue. Meritocratist. This person believes that hard work, personal merit and competition will determine whose dreams come true. Victim/Caretaker. This is the perspective of those who see their liberation as a crucial goal and feel they are still suffering from the generational impact of previous oppression.

The remaining lenses are: Elitist, Integrationist, Multiculturalist, Seclusionistand Transcendent.

Perceptions of Others
These lenses have far-reaching influences in our actions and reactions. Everyone who manages people, provides services, works with customers or communicates with community members has a lens or a combination of lenses that filter perceptions into a specific viewpoint at a specific time or place. These lenses can also change and shift. By recognizing them, people are able to see and understand the behavioral patterns they exhibit, and witness the impact of these behaviors on what they do.

Not only do the lenses influence our relationships with family, friends and co-workers, but they can also impact how a manager recognizes and develops strength in employees. They can shape how a leader creates human resources systems for a diverse employee population, and can determine how an organization communicates with and responds to its customers and community. Our perceptions of others guide such crucial parts of business as recruitment, hiring, mentoring, training and compensation. Not only do they affect how we view clients and customers, but they impact how we are viewed by them.

Origins of Our Lenses
After Williams discusses the strengths and weaknesses of our lenses, he focuses on the ways we develop them. His formula for this development is: Legacies + Layers = Lenses. This means our own personal histories, experiences and interpretations shape and reinforce them, while the combined layers of these aspects of our lives merge with several other factors. These layers can be race, color, gender, age, educational level, political affiliation, profession, etc. Combine these with our experiences and histories, and a lens or combination of lenses can become imbedded in our core identities.

After providing a firm foundation for each of the ten lenses, Williams moves on to ways that this understanding can be applied to cultural fit, career advancement, improved communication and competitive advantage. As a way to liberate us from the boundaries of the ten lenses, he offers a hypothetical "Eleventh Lens" that "envisions the earth and its inhabitants as inextricably blended in a chorus of universal harmony that is both diverse and self-sustaining." He writes that this Eleventh Lens is the means by which organizations can maximize diversity, creativity, resiliency and success.