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Jitske Kramer - Jam Cultures
Inclusion: having a seat at the table, a voice and a vote
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To solve complex problems, we need multiple angles and perspectives. And the courage to challenge our status quo by working with people who think differently. Inclusion is about co-creation. About the courage to invite people from various backgrounds to the table and to listen to all views. It requires us to deal with opposing forces to reach the highest goals.
Inclusion is a hot topic. It is about who gets to decide on what we think is good or bad. It is about who can join and especially about who cannot. These are topics we don’t discuss lightly. We need an energetic language to describe our mutual pains without insulting one another. This book presents that language.
‘Diversity is about being invited to the party. Inclusion is about being asked to join in and dance.’ – Vernā Myers
In Jam Cultures, cooperation is seen as a jam session, a process in which people feel safe to express themselves and dare to harmonize with each other to create a better sound. Inclusion means working independently together. Dealing with diversity and power dynamics in a constructive way is one of the greatest challenges of today. It takes leadership with power and love. It is what makes good leaders great.
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Published in October 2020 | Paperback | With illustrations | 304 pages | ca. 94,000 words
Over 5,000 copies sold 
Full English translation available
Shortlisted for Management Book of the Year
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Jitske Kramer travels all over the world to learn from traditional healers, leaders, surprising innovators and random strangers. She views the world and individual organizations through the eyes of an anthropologist. Her discipline, cultural anthropology, questions what it means to be a human being amidst other humans in organizational settings and beyond.
In 2012, she introduced Deep Democracy in the Netherlands, where she and her Human Dimensions team provide training. Kramer is always looking for new ways to build strong tribes and reinforce mutual ties. She shares her knowledge with people in the world of organizational consultancy, collaboration and leadership by means of top-notch lectures and master classes. Her goal is to improve individual and group effectiveness and results (while also making the world a vastly more pleasant place to be). She trains people, so that we will never again have to hold meetings, but have lively and honest conversations instead. She captivates you with stories that create space for new ways of seeing and behaving. As her stories progress, what seemed normal to you becomes strange, and what was strange becomes familiar.
Jitske Kramer (1973). Corporate anthropologist. Public speaker. Entrepreneur. Facilitator. Founder of Human Dimensions. Trainer of the year 2013. Author of Managing Cultural Dynamics, Deep Democracy – The wisdom of the minority, Wow! What a Difference!, Voodoo – A Journey to Find Yourself Through Ancient Rituals, Work Has Left the Building and co-author of The Corporate Tribe (Management Book of the Year 2016, published in English, German, Russian, Dutch and Vietnamese) and Building Tribes. Kramer works in Dutch and English.
'We don't often review management and leadership books that are not originally written in English, the dominant language of business -- which makes Jam Cultures, translated from Dutch, an interesting and inclusive prospect in itself. The "jam cultures" of the title are the author's way of comparing active efforts to create diverse and inclusive workplaces (and beyond) with musical jam sessions: "Where we are all trying to find our own voice, summoning the courage to make it heard, and tuning in to each other to create a better sound".
The book has lots of inspirational asides from the author and there is a lot that is valuable -- and very different -- to take in here. The non-Anglocentric focus of this book allows readers a glimpse into a different range of academics. Kramer is an anthropologist -- it's useful and non-stigmatizing to see the evidence of how hard inclusion can be to enact properly, by respecting people's individuality rather than asking them to assimilate or change. Kramer sets out a clear path for any group or organization that really wants to have difficult conversations and listen to everyone's contribution. Her chapters are clearly laid out, with exercises and advice -- but this is no quick-fix guide. We are still in the very early days of working out how to talk about diversity and inclusion, and Kramer uses her experiences as a blueprint to guide us towards better understanding -- and more inclusive cultures.'
Introduction
1 DIFFERENCE
2 POWER
3 TRUTH
4 TRUST
5 COURAGE
Appendices
I Jam Cultures Questionnaire: Inclusion in Attitude and Behavior
II Jam Cultures Canvas: Talking Points, Strategy and Action Planner
III Inclusion Principles
About Jitske Kramer