SAGE INDIA TITLE ‘THE 99 DIVERSITY CHALLENGE’ HONOURED WITH PRESTIGIOUS ISTD BOOK AWARD 2020-21
New Delhi: SAGE Publications India is proud to announce that Dr Saundarya Rajesh’s The 99 Day Diversity Challenge: Creating an Inclusive Workplace has been awarded First Prize at the ISTD Book Award 2020-21.
Published under SAGE India’s business imprint Response, this is a never-before account of the nascent experiences of implementing the culture of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) at the Indian workplace.
Author of one of India’s most successful and compelling books on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and a strategist for India’s top organizations, Dr. Saundarya is very familiar with the landscape that the present disruptive environment represents. In her 20 years of Diversity & Inclusion consulting, Dr Saundarya has witnessed three global VUCA moments – the Dotcom bust of 2001, the sub-prime crisis of 2008 and the global recession of 2013.
In an engaging style of writing, the award-winning social entrepreneur Dr Saundarya Rajesh demystifies the vast subject of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) for the business leader, the diversity enthusiast, and young professionals over a set of 99 stories, anecdotes and thought blogs. At the core of The 99 Day Diversity Challenge is the belief that the organizational practice of inclusion results in us becoming better human beings. For when we break down differences and create greater connectedness between people, we are building a better world.
“As culture builders, focussed on maintaining productivity, decision-makers, and leaders of organizations we will have to keep employees’ welfare and inclusive culture as central to our business plans to emerge stronger, stable, and resilient. History has evidence organizations that have been able to build credible inclusion roadmaps on the back of crisis by learning about what changed have created robust business models. Through the book 99DDC, I have tried to provide precise explanation on the different strands of Diversity and how each strand can be leveraged to have a measurable impact on both topline and bottomline. The book provides easy-to-use tools for those who are in the initiated stage in their DEI journey and to those who are on their path setting up frameworks for organizational Inclusion goals. The book has been designed to help managers, leaders and individuals invested in DEI to unlock the diverse human potential at workplaces,” said Dr Saundarya Rajesh receiving the award.
The ISTD Book Award was instituted by the Indian Society for Training and Development in 1997-98 to recognise the outstanding contribution of Indian writers made to the understanding of management principles in HRD Training & Development practices in India. The jury of the 2020-21 edition consisted of Dr. Sraban Mukherjee, Chairman of ISTD Award Committee supported by Dr R S Antil, Dr Santosh Dhar, Dr Radha R Sharma, Dr S Appa Rao, Er Prem Solanki and Mr. Alok Ghosal, besides reputed management professionals actively engaged in training and development.