Come On, People, On the Path from Victims to Victors, the new book by Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint, is causing quite a stir, raising many eyebrows, evoking strong reactions, and, mirabile dictu (wonderful to relate), causing readers to think and act. Many believe that it was written for the black community. No way. It was written for all of us who exist in a world coming apart by terrorism, genocide, and war. It was written for people living in America, a country threatened by crises of all ilks, disintegrating family values, disparity of healthcare services, communities shattered by racism, inequality, joblessness and lack of hope. The time for talking about all this is long gone; now is the time for action.

Cosby and Poussaint present in their courageous, tell it like it is style, the problems facing the black community not only with staggering statistics but with magnificent life experiences of community people. But Come On, People is much more than that. It is a book on how to live, on hope, parenting, building community, children, education, reinforcing Standard English, protecting our kids, the perils of TV, respect, cooling violence, accepting responsibility for your actions, healthy hearts and minds, family values, the high price of violence and how to go from poverty to prosperity.

“In Come On, People, Bill Cosby and Alvin F. Poussaint tell an inspiring story about human beings fighting hardships and succeeding. It is a story about strong, resilient people who have overcome poverty and mistreatment. Do not be surprised if you find yourself identifying personally with the stories because you see the same struggle in either yourself or in an acquaintance or a relative. It is a stirring call for us all to complete the daunting transition from victims to victors. Come On, People will encourage you to set aside excuses and make a better life today – for you, for your children, for your community, and for your future.”

Cosby and Poussaint spent over three years going around the country listening to people discuss their problems and how they took responsibility for them and solved them. The authors called these meetings “community call outs.” and They present their findings in each chapter under riveting and unforgettable Call Outs. These incredible stories “are accounts of personal setbacks and rebuilding one’s life in the face of adversity.”

Come On, People lays it on the line in unequivocal terms. “It is time to have courage to believe that you can do better by asking for help and not being afraid to move forward. No matter your economic status, no matter your age, no matter your race, not matter your gender, and no matter your religion, we are all allies in changing our future for the better.”

In Boston in 1965 African Americans took responsibility for their children’s education. Since the all-white school board refused to desegregate the city’s schools, black parents, led by Ellen Swepson Jackson, started “Operation Exodus.” Beginning in September 1965, the Exodus Bus transported 400 black student to the Faneuil School in the Back Bay section of the city. School busing would become a highly charged issue in Boston during the seventies.

THE DIFFERENCE

HOW THE POWER OF DIVERSITY CREATES BETTER GROUPS,

FIRMS, SCHOOLS, AND SOCIETIES

Diversity provides benefits is the central theme of The Difference, published by Princeton Press and written by Scott Page, a Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science and Economics at the University of Michigan. What attracted me to buy and read this book was Page’s claim that diverse groups of problem solvers – groups of people with diverse tools – consistently outperformed groups of the best and the brightest. People in Massachusetts who witnessed and participated in the DEC ‘miracle’ (Digital Equipment Corporation) would agree with this and attest to the truth that diversity produces benefits.

Page affirms that “the power of diversity is not a new idea - the idea that our individual differences, the differences in how we think, in the cognitive tools we possess, in our perspectives – was far outside the mainstream in a society that prizes individual talent and achievement. It shouldn’t be. Progress depends as much on our collective differences as it does on our individual I.Q. score.”

The book jacket sets the tone: “In this landmark book, Scott Page redefines the way we understand ourselves in relation to each other. The Difference is about how we think in groups, about how our collective wisdom exceeds the sum of its parts. Why can teams of people find better solutions than brilliant individuals working alone? And why are the best group decisions and predictions those that draw upon the very qualities that make each of us unique? The answers lie in diversity – not what we look like outside, but what we look like within, our distinct tools and abilities.”

A few quotations from the Prologue will help you decide whether or not you want to read/buy The Difference:

• The claim that diversity should get equal billing with ability is a strong and controversial one.


• I show with modest rigor how diverse perspectives, heuristics, interpretations, and mental models improve our collective ability to solve problems and make accurate predictions.


• Some people dismiss claims that diversity is beneficial as empty rhetoric. And people have good reason to be dubious. This book provides a foundation for those claims. Identity diversity does produce benefits – not every time, not in every context – but there is a there there.


• Diversity trumps ability. Ability matters. But – here’s the catch – so does diversity.


• We’re comparing an apple to a fruit basket. Ability is a property of an individual – a nice shiny apple. Neither a person nor an apple can be diverse. Diversity is a property of a collection of people – a basket with many kinds of fruit. Diversity and ability complement one another: the better the individual fruits, the better the fruit basket, and the better the other fruit, the better the apple.


• rather than being on the defensive about diversity, we should go on the offensive. We should look at difference as something that can improve performance, not as something that we have to be concerned about so that we don’t get sued.

getAbstract (www.getAbstract.com) posits the following recommendation about The Difference:

“Are two heads better than one? Or do too many cooks spoil the broth? For a large class of problems, argues mathematician and social scientist Scott E. Page, two heads are better. That is the benefit of diversity particularly cognitive diversity. Skeptical? You won’t be after you follow Page’s methodical, quirky, and often funny analysis of diversity’s logic. getAbstract

recommends this book to readers who want a truly rigorous, formal description of how diversity brings benefits to organizations?

Be prepared, however, to encounter much math-speak. The author also notes that some of the models showing the impact of diversity that he cites in the book have been tested via computer simulation only, and not in practical settings. Still Page’s results are innovative and beautiful; he maps out inviting avenues for further exploration, and brings welcome clarity to the important and contentious issues raised by human diversity.”