“The racial wealth gap for Black Americans remains significant, with a direct impact on social and economic growth in the United States” is the backdrop of Minding the Wealth Gap: Our Playbook to Close It Together. Author Cliff Goins IV shares how data from articles and reports supports “the median wealth for Black households is roughly $20,000, compared to about $180,000 for white households.” These statistics shape the collective narrative of the book’s other set of players, nine Black entrepreneurs and executives such as Kedra Newsom Reeves, Selena Cuffe, and Tony Wilkins, whom Goins considers “gap closers.” Together, they tell the story of history, self-discovery, and what challenges propelled them forward.

What I found interesting about Minding the Wealth Gap is the level of information gathered. With quotes from as far back as Frederick Douglass, James Forten, and Albert Einstein to as recent as Warren Buffett and Spike Lee, Goins points out that “Rich white people are much richer than rich Black people, and poor white people are also richer than poor Black people.” This leaves many questions unanswered that Goins and fellow team players in the game of closing the wealth gap assume the responsibility for remedying. Questions put forth include:

• Why does the racial wealth gap exist?
• Why do those systems and policies exist?
• Why should we the people do something about the cumulative effect of these systems and policies?

These leave much to be imagined and even more to be resolved. Still, this author takes his time breaking down ten specific myths about closing the wealth gap that can be found within the first ten pages. This format helps readers to see themselves preparing for something much larger than the daily nuances of life, guiding them to the “Gap Closers Resource List” at the back of the book and thought-provoking, game-changing ideas that call them to be accountable for the age-old “what’s in your hand” perception.

In what Goins considers to be “The Huddle,” each player (gap closer) comes together to share his or her specific concern and offers their own personal moments of “aha” that brought them to the field with solutions. Yes, they all recognized that the struggle is real. However, they chose to look within themselves to resolve whatever aspects they could on their own merit. In doing so, each “play” is then called by various gap closers who bring years of wisdom and life experience onto the field, using their own storyline to drive home individual points.

If you like statistics, then Minding the Wealth Gap is your ideal read. Although the book includes relatable stories, rich in family history, the transparency—coupled with good, solid information—creates a balance that readers will hopefully use to see themselves on the pages. Stories like Goins and his wife losing money to poor real estate investments before finally breaking even and the dichotomy of contributor Shundrawn Thomas using his “Wall Street pedigree and Fortune 500 executive prowess” to create access to capital shed light on opposite ends of the gap closing spectrum, particularly when considering positive and negative compounding.

I appreciated that the author took his time to explain the “secret” of compounding, adding or augmenting, as it relates to building wealth. While I love English and particularly hate mathematics, compounding is not included in that equation. Money makes sense, and in the chapter “Team Huddle 3: Compounding Interest(s)” Goins wastes no time helping readers to understand the “wealth that matters most” is compounding.

While I do believe there is plenty of great information, I did wish there were action steps along the way. Questions and comments left at the end of each chapter help to introduce ideas; however, one or two action steps would definitely help readers do more than make another to-do list. Most people have good intentions of “one day” things to do. However, small steps prove to be something to consider when we don’t know where to start or what to do next. This component would have been helpful in considering where to navigate next, as each gap closer is operating in his or her own gift, and there is no one-size-fits-all answer. For instance, business owner Lee Henderson asked, “What do you do when you actually have a seat at the table? How do you leverage your network?”

While those are excellent questions, individual answers will vary because not everyone at the table wants the same thing. We’re not all hungry or thirsty at the same time, and we’re not all hungry or thirsty for what each other wants. But I love the collective take on this: Who has what you need and what do you have that others need? Goins later adds, “What resources are sitting at your disposal? What ears listen to you? Where could you use your positioning and influence to shift wealth gap outcomes?”

Cliff Goins IV is an investor in the private sector, who also cofounded Scaleup—a startup that began at Amazon and helps to grow diverse-owned and other small and medium-sized businesses into large enterprises. If you’re an established entrepreneur, corporate executive, or otherwise highly influential wealthy individual, Minding the Wealth Gap challenges you to step up and fill the abundance of needs around you. However, if you are in the “robbing Peter to pay Paul” category, this book will very likely educate you but might also frustrate you. It seems to speak of positioning, and if you’ve not yet arrived at the table (or have not yet been invited), then consider making your own or positioning yourself to show up in your three-to-five-year plan.

I actually enjoyed this book because I understood what the author was attempting to do. The transparency of the historical relevance to each gap closer’s lineage was a wonderful attribute. It humanized them and will likely help readers to see themselves in either chapter. Each story was real—and relevant. Knowing who they are helped each of them to embrace parts of a broken past, readily available to help heal a broken world, drifting farther apart than financially growing together. Those experiences are now every reader’s experience, and they teach us to pause and reflect on whose shoulders we stand or from whence we’ve come. What we do with the knowledge of who we are gives way to us taking our own necessary steps to heal our home and our communities. If we use Minding the Wealth Gap to close the gaps we see, then we can expect to close the gaps we may never see—one generation at a time.