Jam Cultures

‘Kramer sets out a clear path for better understanding and more inclusive cultures.’ – Financial Times

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.

‘Diversity is about being invited to the party. Inclusion is about being asked to join in and dance.’ Vernā Myers

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.

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.

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.

She is a corporate anthropologist, public speaker, entrepreneur, facilitator, trainer of the year 2013 and 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 and co-author of The Corporate Tribe (Management Book of the Year 2016, published in English, German, Russian, Dutch and Vietnamese) and Building Tribes.