Hughes Puts Focus on Diversity Intelligence in Latest Book

University Relations

Claretha Hughes

University of Arkansas professor Claretha Hughes continues to combine her expertise in teaching organizational leaders how to value people in the workplace, developing human resources, and building leadership strategy and competency in a new book, Diversity Intelligence, published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Hughes, an associate professor of human resource and workforce development in the College of Education and Health Professions, is the author of six other books in the past five years. The subtitle of her latest book is Integrating Diversity Intelligence Alongside Intellectual, Emotional, and Cultural Intelligence for Leadership and Career Development.

Diversity intelligence is the concept of valuing the differences in employees without attempting to make everyone alike. It gives leaders the chance to reflect on their actions and behaviors toward all employees and to effectively implement new strategies.

Hughes wrote an article last June about diversity intelligence for TD Magazine, the publication of the Association for Talent Development, an organization with 37,000 members. The book expands on this emerging new concept and offers tools and knowledge for organizational leaders to better understand and capitalize on their employees' strong points.

Organizational leaders need diversity intelligence to better interact with the changing demographics in America and the global economy, by embracing differences as strengths rather than weaknesses, according to a description of the book.

Hughes has more than 25 years of diverse management, supervisory and administrative experience in organizational and workforce development. Her book Valuing People and Technology in the Workplace: A Competitive Advantage Framework won the R. Wayne Pace Book of the Year award in 2012. She has a doctorate from Virginia Tech and a Master of Business Administration from the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the U of A.