Donna Rae Sheffert

In the quest for increasing cultural competence for workplace effectiveness, it is rare to find a skillful, articulate coach like Sara Taylor. Through powerful content and memorable stories, her book Filter Shift was compelling enough that my first reading intended for only a few minutes turned into over an hour as I experienced Aha after Aha.

As a leadership and management consultant I will recommend this book to my clients.

Taylor illuminates the pathway to effective cultural interactions in a meaningful way. I imagined the pathway somewhat like the “Bad News Bears” team with naïve, yet sincere awkward beginners who are able to transform into a “Winning Team” (Stage 4). Which team would you rather play on?

Taylor says, “In Stage 4, I point out differences without judging and can start to see complexity-that’s when I’m ready to start becoming more effective.”

This book is not a quick fix. Like other influential coaches, Sara Taylor can show the way yet each of us need to put in the work/practice to become more effective.

With additional resources for self-exploration available through hyperlinks, a limitation of this format may be that the reader skips over the developmental practices.

I really like this book and feel it has a long shelf-life as I intend to read again and again as I encounter different situations over time.