Books

The work, in long form.

Three best-selling books, written across six years. Two on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility at work. One memoir, co-authored in a very different lane. The frameworks behind the consulting and the keynotes, set down in full where you can underline them, hand them to a skeptical executive, or quote them in a board memo.

Why these books exist

Built for shelves, not algorithms.

These are not lead magnets. They are not behind an email gate. They are books. Print, ebook, audio where it exists. They have been read by HR teams, executive committees, library committees, and book clubs across four continents.

Birds of All Feathers is the foundation: the case for diversity and inclusion that holds up under scrutiny. Alphabet Soup is the 2SLGBTQI+ deep dive, from the alphabet to the policies that matter. All About Yvie is the human side, co-authored with the world's oddest drag artist: what it costs, and what it is worth, to bring your whole self to your work.

Three books, one through-line: inclusion that survives contact with reality.

Cover of Birds of All Feathers by Michael Bach: a row of colorful birds perched on a wire above the bold title in orange and red.

01 · 2020

Birds of All Feathers

Doing Diversity and Inclusion Right

Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and Amazon bestseller

The case for diversity and inclusion, written for leaders who have to defend the work in front of finance, legal, and the audit committee. Twenty years of practice, condensed into a framework you can put to work the same week you put the book down.

Birds covers the models, the business case, the right way to attract and retain difference, what gets measured, and what gets in the way. It is fearless and funny where the moment calls for it, plain and tactical everywhere else. The book the C-suite actually reads, and the one library committees keep ordering.

"All organizations, from Fortune 500 companies to non-profits, will glean helpful tips and ideas from this book. It's also a useful guide for individuals who want to better understand and practice D&I."

Booklist, American Library Association

What's inside

  • The business case
  • The right way to do diversity
  • Inclusion over diversity
  • Measurement for success
  • Overcoming diversity fatigue
  • What gets in the way
Cover of Alphabet Soup by Michael Bach: a rainbow-striped soup can with the title in white block letters.

02 · 2022

Alphabet Soup

The Essential Guide to LGBTQ2+ Inclusion at Work

Toronto Star and Amazon bestseller

The 2SLGBTQI+ initialism, demystified, then put to work. Alphabet Soup unpacks the difference between who you are attracted to, who you are, and how you show up, and then turns those distinctions into workplace practice: hiring, retention, safe space, codes of conduct, and the difference between marketing to a community and including it.

Built for leaders, HR teams, and managers of all levels who want to do this work properly. Not a primer on pronouns. A working guide to a workforce that already includes 2SLGBTQI+ people, whether the organization has noticed or not.

"A clear and enlightening road map for understanding why hiring and retaining LGBTQ2+ staff is foundational for building a modern, successful business."

Rich Ross · former chairman, The Walt Disney Studios

What's inside

  • Breaking down the alphabet
  • Sexuality, identity, expression
  • The importance of safe space
  • Attracting and retaining
  • You measure what you treasure
  • Being an active ally
Cover of All About Yvie: Into the Oddity by Yvie Oddly with Michael Bach: pop-art green portrait of drag artist Yvie Oddly.

03 · 2024

All About Yvie

Into the Oddity

USA Today and Amazon bestseller · By Yvie Oddly with Michael Bach

The memoir of Yvie Oddly, winner of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 11 and All Stars: All Winners. Co-authored with Michael, written from inside the room over a year of conversations with Yvie, their family, and the people they came up with. An intimate look at coming of age as a queer artist, building a drag practice on the road, and surviving fame without losing the thread.

The case for inclusion that the corporate books make on paper, this book makes in skin and bone. What it costs a person to be themselves at work, on stage, and in front of millions. What it is worth when the world makes room for them anyway.

"Yvie Oddly's memoir will inspire readers as Yvie candidly shares their evolution into their current identity and learning to balance their private and public personas."

Greenleaf Book Group · publisher

What's inside

  • Childhood in Denver
  • Coming out, coming into drag
  • Drag Race · Season 11
  • All Stars: All Winners
  • The art of the oddity
  • Family, chosen and otherwise

Want the frameworks applied to your organization?

That is what consulting is for. A real conversation, no calendar link, no proposal theatre. By the end of the call we both know whether to keep going.