All the Difference – Susan MacKenty Brady (2026)

This leadership playbook shows how to use differences within a team to strengthen connection, performance and results. Teams bring together people with different communication styles, perspectives, cultural norms and capabilities, and these differences can appear in everything from a casual gesture during a meeting to an opinion on a current event or an intense working style. They may create friction and conflict, but they can also become the foundation of success. Susan MacKenty Brady, Stuart D. Kliman and Leslie C. Smith argue that difference is not merely noise to tolerate, but raw material for creating value. When it is not understood or acknowledged, it leads to disconnection and drains performance and potential. Drawing on frontline leaders, current research and their own experience, the authors present a framework of six “target actions” for uncovering and using the productive power of difference. These include knowing yourself and helping others do the same, seeing the full story and honouring multiple perspectives, and committing to action by demonstrating and creating accountability. The book offers a practical guide to transforming complex teams and building a thriving organisation in a world full of difference.