Skip to main content

How Leaders Can Meaningfully Promote Inclusion And Diversity

Inclusion On Purpose: An Intersectional Approach To Creating A Culture Of Belonging At Work, by Ruchika Tulshyan, provides the missing piece in the ongoing conversation around equity and inclusion at work by focusing on the experiences of women of color, providing the playbook for how companies can be more inclusive on purpose – and why it’s imperative companies start now. 

“Inclusion takes awareness, intention, and regular practice,” explains Tulshyan. “Women of color representation is rapidly growing in Western workplaces and will be the majority of working women in the United States by 2050 accordingly to Catalyst (February 1, 2021).” 

“I use ‘women of color’ broadly, acknowledging that it is a flawed an incomplete term. I am referring to Black, Asian, Latinx, or Native or Indigenous women,” she adds. 

In her book, Tulshyan includes an entire chapter on the topic of how to develop empathy as an inclusive leader – including definitions and explanations of: 

  • Affective empathy (how easily can you feel another person’s emotions).
  • Cognitive empathy (can you understand and empathize with perspectives that may not be like yours).
  • Empathic Concern (how easily do you get concerned about another person’s challenges) .

“Inclusive leaders must cultivate cognitive empathy, which demands that we don’t automatically assume that others experience the workplace in the same way we do. Instead. They believe that there is nuance to how peers are experiencing the workplace—especially based on their identity and how they are perceived, frequently dependent on the stereotypes associated with those identities,” shares Tulshyan. 

Another critical chapter in the book is the one devoted to a leader’s role in creating inclusive hiring practices. This chapter includes helpful guidelines for interviewing and how to reduce bias while interviewing.

 Ruchika Tulshyan

Today, Tulshyan shares these additional insights with us: 

Question: You write about the gap between intention and action when it comes to inclusion. Why do you think this still exists, and how can we be better about addressing it? 

Tulshyan: Research shows that many of us haven't grown up with diversity in our lives and the first time many Americans meaningfully interact with a person from a different racial background is in the workplace. We need to see this as an opportunity to grow, not retreat into creating more homogenous teams because that’s what we’re familiar with.  

Question: How can leaders develop an inclusion mindset and what actions can they take to elevate women of color in the workplace? 

Tulshyan: An inclusion mindset draws from the seminal work of Dr. Carol Dweck, that with a growth mindset, we can all learn and grow. Applying that growth mindset to inclusion, we must know that even if we were taught that practicing inclusion and reducing bias wasn’t that important, we must and can grow to make change. When we have an inclusion mindset, we know that we will make mistakes and we don’t know everything there is to know about DE&I but we do not let that limit us in our quest to be more inclusive leaders.  

There are a number of actions that leaders can take to elevate women of color, but the most important is to spend time learning where women of color experience challenges in the workplace; that spans from experiencing hiring biases to barriers to equal pay, promotion and progress to leadership opportunities. Once you identify and understand how and why these barriers exist, that’s when you can take action. Without this awareness first, the actions won’t be meaningful or sustainable. 

Question: What other books would you recommend reading to further develop an inclusion mindset? 

Tulshyan: In my book, I recommend, So You Want To Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo; Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson and, How To Be An Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi as required reading in tandem with my book, to better understand the history of anti-Black racism in America. Depending on where you are in the world, I recommend seeking local/regional versions that contextualize inequity and justice in that region. 

Building empathy is a key part of developing an inclusion mindset. So, I recommend reading fiction by authors from underrepresented and underestimated communities, writing about experiences we don’t see covered in the mainstream enough, to help leaders cultivate empathy. Some recent favorites include, Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi, Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata and Ginny Tapley Takemori (translator), Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and, Border Less, by Namrata Poddar.

Question: What are the couple takeaways from your book for how a leader can take action tomorrow to be a more inclusive leader and to develop empathy? 

Tulshyan: Audit your social and professional network; do the people closest to you share the same identities as you; race, gender, education, socioeconomic status etc? If yes, how can you meaningfully diversify and expand your network? 

Audit what type of media and literature you typically consume. Is it mostly by and for people who are in the dominant-group majority in your society? How can you meaningfully diversify and expand to include community media and media and literature that centers underrepresented voices?

Take time and care to pronounce names correctly, take note of your employees’ pronouns and other seemingly small details that would meaningfully impact how valued and welcome another would feel.  

Hire for “culture add,” not “culture fit.” When we default to hiring for culture fit, we usually hire for sameness of who is already represented, especially by race and gender. Seek to understand which perspectives are missing today and how you can include them to expand and add to your organization or team’s culture. 

Practice active listening. Listen to hear, not to respond. This means that if someone offers you feedback (in a constructive manner, of course) that makes you feel uncomfortable or defensive, actively push through the discomfort and sit with it. Focus less on the intention you had and make space for the impact it had. 

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How To Find The Job You Love

In 2024, I named Be The Unicorn: Data-driven Habits That Separate The Best Leaders From The Rest , by William Vanderbloemen , as the best new leadership book of that year.   The book is timely, incredibly practical, and immediately usable for any leader wherever they are on their leadership journey.   Through extensive research of more than 30,000 top leaders and proprietary data, Vanderbloemen identified in the book the twelve habits that the best of the best leaders have in common. These superstar leaders are the unicorns – highly desirable but that are difficult to find or obtain.   And now, Vanderbloemen followed up that gem of a book with another terrific book called, Work How You Are Wired: 12 Data-Driven Steps To Finding A Job You Love . It’s a great companion book to Be The Unicorn .   Those 12 steps align with these 12 personality traits/interpersonal habits: Fast Authentic Agile Solver Anticipator Prepared Self-aware Curious Connected Likeable Producti...

How To Lead Bigger

Anne Chow ’s book,  Lead Bigger , is about “where it all comes together.” By that, she means: Being driven by a compelling purpose and values, which are not platitudes, but rather lived. The goals are better decisions, improved performance, and ultimately a greater impact. Impact means you have the power to make real and enduring change for the better. Widening your perspective to have a greater performance and impact. Advancing work that matters. Developing a vital, innovative workforce that is both trusted and agile. Championing flexibility by embracing trust and empowerment for individuals, teams, and leaders alike.   Drawing from over three decades of experience, former CEO of AT&T Business Chow shares that leading bigger also means:   Embracing the whole of your team beyond the workplace : Seeing the value and potential of each individual—in the context of not only their work, but also their life.   Engaging in self-reflection : Demonstrating self-awareness ...

How To Align Sales And Marketing To Drive Company Success

Nearly 90 percent of startups will fail without ever reaching a point of positive return on investment. Founders and entrepreneurs are facing unprecedented challenges in pursuit of becoming one of the coveted 10 percent.   Who better to turn to for advice than the duo behind the most successful software IPO in history?   That is where Denise Persson and Chris Degnan come in, authors of the new book, Make It Snow .   During the nearly nine years they worked together at Snowflake, they built  one of the longest-running and most effective sales-marketing partnerships from the ground up, unifying  two historically divided groups in corporate America. Together, they took Snowflake from struggling startup to a tech powerhouse on par with Google and Amazon. Over the years, Snowflake surged to more than 9,000 employes and $3 billion in annual sales.   “Sales and marketing are often neglected in startups, with focus squarely placed on the engineerin...

How To Master The Cycles Of Leadership: The Four Seasons

Whether you’re an aspiring leader, a newly appointed CEO, or a board member wanting to better steward your company’s performance, A CEO For All Seasons: Mastering The Cycles Of Leadership is the hands-on playbook you need – packed with practical, proven tips to help you navigate the four distinct phases of leadership.  “The journey of a CEO has a beginning, middle, and end, and the challenges leaders face early on are often far different than those midway through and near retirement, explain the authors of the book – Carolyn Dewar , Scott Keller , Vikram Malhotra, and Kurt Strovink .   “For us, the most apt analogy to describe these cycles is the four seasons of the year,” they add.  Spring : Stepping up - Preparing for the role. Summer : Transitioning into the role. Starting strong. Leading with impact. Fall : Navigating the middle years. Staying ahead. Sustaining momentum. Enhancing your learning. Future-proofing the organization. Winter : Transitioning out of the rol...

How To Embrace And Learn From Failing

When you read the book,  Right Kind of Wrong: The Science Of Failing Well , you’ll gain a greater appreciation for the benefits that comes from failure, and how to embrace failure as part of your journey to achieving greater success.   Author  Amy Edmondson ’s book and revolutionary guide will undoubtedly transform your relationship with failure.   She defines  failure  as an outcome that deviates from desired results. Failure is a lack of success. Failure is different, explains Edmondson, from  errors  and  violations . “Errors (synonymous with mistakes) are unintended deviations from prespecified standards, such as procedures, rules, or policies. Violations occur when an individual intentionally deviates from the rules,” adds Edmondson.   After decades of award-winning research, Edmondson provides the framework to think, discuss, and practice failure wisely. Outlining the three archetypes of failure— basic ,  complex , and  i...

Debbie Laskey On Branding And Leadership

Image Credit: Freepik . For years, branding, marketing and leadership expert, Debbie, Laskey , has offered her insights, observations and tips to my blog readers. Today, Debbie joins us again to answer questions about branding and leadership. Debbie Laskey has nearly three decades of marketing experience and an MBA Degree. She developed her marketing expertise while working in the high-tech industry, the Consumer Marketing Department at Disneyland Paris in France, the nonprofit arena, and financial services and insurance sectors. Her expertise includes brand marketing, leadership development, and customer experience marketing. She is a regular contributor to several national blogs that provide insights about marketing and leadership, and she's been recognized as one of the "Top 50 Branding Experts" to follow on Twitter/X at @DebbieLaskeyMBA. Visit her website at www.BrandingAndMore.net and her blog at www.DebbieLaskeysBlog.com.   QUESTION: NBC has launched a new unscri...

Effective Listening: Do's And Don'ts

Here are some great tips from Michelle Tillis Lederman's book, The 11 Laws of Likability .  They are all about: what to do and what not to do to be a leader who's an effective listener : Do : Maintain eye contact Limit your talking Focus on the speaker Ask questions Manage your emotions Listen with your eyes and ears Listen for ideas and opportunities Remain open to the conversation Confirm understanding, paraphrase Give nonverbal messages that you are listening (nod, smile) Ignore distractions Don't : Interrupt Show signs of impatience Judge or argue mentally Multitask during a conversation Project your ideas Think about what to say next Have expectations or preconceived ideas Become defensive or assume you are being attacked Use condescending, aggressive, or closed body language Listen with biases or closed to new ideas Jump to conclusions or finish someone's sentences

Six Mindsets That Distinguish The Best Leaders

The key takeaway from the book,   CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish The Best Leaders From The Rest , is the best CEOs think and act differently than the rest across each of   six key CEO responsibilities , including:  Setting the direction  (vision, strategy, resource allocation) Aligning the organization  (culture, organization design, talent) Mobilizing through leaders  (composition, teamwork, operating rhythm) Engaging the board  (relationships, capabilities, meetings) Connecting with stakeholders  (social purpose, interaction, moments of truth) Managing personal effectiveness  (time and energy, leadership model, perspective)  Starting with a pool of more than 2,400 corporate leaders, McKinsey & Company senior partners and authors  Carolyn Dewar ,  Scott Keller , and  Vik Malhotra  extensively screened the group to identify the elite core, then sat down with 67 of them for multiple hours to talk...

How To Build An Extreme Team

Extreme Teams  is a fascinating book by  Robert Bruce Shaw , where he takes you inside top companies and examines not just great teams (your more “conventional” teams), but extreme teams. According to Shaw,  extreme teams : View work as a calling —even an obsession. Value members’ cultural fit and ability  to collectively produce results. Pursue a limited set of vital priorities —less is more. Strive to create a culture that is at once both hard and soft  – simultaneously tough in driving for measurable results on a few highly visible targets and supportive of individuals to create an environment of collaboration, trust, and loyalty. Value conflict among team members —recognizing the benefit of being uncomfortable. Companies with extreme teams will go to great lengths to ensure that their extreme teams are well equipped to address not only the challenges of today, but also the challenges of the future.  The central questions to ask , therefore, are: What is...

How To Be Time Smart

“Four out of five adults report feeling that they have too much to do and not enough time to do it,” reports  Ashley Whillans , author of the book,  Time Smart: How to Reclaim Your Time and Live a Happier Life . “These time-poor people experience less joy each day. They laugh less. They are less healthy and less productive.” And, in one study, time stress produced a stronger negative effect on happiness than unemployment.   Drawing on the latest science, Whillans teaches us how to escape the time traps that make us feel this way and keep us from living our best lives.   She explains that the  six most common time traps  are: Constant connection to technology. Obsession with work and making money. Limited value placed on time. Busyness as a status symbol. Aversion to idleness. The Yes…and then regret it effect.   Her playbook shows you how to :   take back the time you lose to mindless tasks and unfulfilling chores. improve your "time affluence.” f...