Reunion: Leadership and the Longing to Belong

This confused business manual from executive coach Colonna (Reboot) presents inadequate advice on how to be an inclusive leader. “The link between extractive capitalism maintaining systems of injustice and systemic Othering is shockingly clear,” Colonna contends, arguing that business leaders have a moral obligation to resist discrimination and promote belonging. Unfortunately, Colonna’s vague program provides few specifics on what that involves. His “process of reunion” recommends readers recognize historic injustices, reflect on how their ancestry influences their life, and confront prejudice. There’s little meaningful elaboration on what these steps look like in practice, however, as Colonna instead zooms from dubiously relevant anecdotes (Colonna’s account of encouraging the head of a firm to recognize how unprocessed grief over his mother’s death had compromised his leadership has little to do with inclusivity) to bromide-filled sermonizing: “In organizations where systemic Othering is the norm, it’s usually unsafe to tell the truth.... Without trust, there is no safety. Without safety, there is no Belonging.” Though Colonna returns throughout to the “extractive, exploitive aspects of capitalism” and “systemic racism and Othering,” his milquetoast guidance inexplicably focuses on promoting interpersonal bonhomie instead of how leaders can implement organizational policies to address material inequalities. This bites off more than it can chew. (Nov.)