What kind of leader do you want?
I had a whole different blog post planned for today… and then the news broke. In fact, my 12 year old broke the news to us in the car as we driving home because his friends were texting him.
The 12 year olds are watching.
And yes it’s messy, and no America hasn’t been ready to elect a woman, let alone a woman of color…
But we’d better get ready.
I believe it’s far from a foregone conclusion but also not impossible.
And I’d rather try, than see the pattern of a Black/Asian woman getting passed over for promotion by far less competent white men replicated at the highest levels in this country, although sadly it would also not be a surprise.
Yes, the right will say (and apparently already have) that Harris would be a “DEI President”, that is, elected only because of her race and gender, and not because of her qualifications or abilities.
I would say the opposite. It is white men who have benefitted from a centuries old default affirmative action plan in this country. It is white men who are most often hired because of their race and gender, and not because of their qualifications or abilities.
It’s not that I think women of color, especially, are inherently more talented than white men, just as I don’t think they are inherently less talented.
But I can tell you from our experiencing working closely with organizations, including coaching staff of all backgrounds, identities, roles and levels of leadership is that for women of color, especially Black women, and for Black folks in general to make it anywhere near the workplace, they have to be twice, three times, five times, ten times as good.
I know of white folks in sometimes considerable positions of power who I’m certain would be unemployed, on the streets, incarcerated or dead if they had been born poor and Black (yes possibly including the orange guy).
Black women in the workplace, especially in positions of leadership, have had to develop the kinds of skills that we can only dream of more white leaders having - to the benefit of all.
What are these skills, you might ask?
Here are some of the inclusive leadership skills we work with leaders on:
Foster brave safe space for truth telling and acknowledgement
Put restorative justice principles into practice to respond to unresolved harms, create repair at the individual, interpersonal as well as organizational level and practice needs-based management - includes addressing underlying interpersonal tensions that deepen barriers to authentic brave safe space
Model supportive and transparent communication
Create psychological safety in order to facilitate collaboration, innovation and a growth mindset to practice modeling the connection between the theoretical and practical application of DEI values
Mitigate defensiveness, fragility and reactiveness by understanding our own background, history, socialization and potential trauma/trigger points
Bring a power analysis to any given situation and hold space for the multiple truths of different perspectives in order to identify equitable and inclusive path forward - includes development of common language, framework and tools for operationalizing anti-racism and anti-oppression throughout the organization, as well as being able to interrupt racist abuse and microaggressions
Seek out and accept feedback, knowing that getting input from those impacted by decisions will make for better decisions
Think strategically in order to drive change, build culture, and cultivate talent
Funnily enough, the white folks who are better practiced at these skills, or more open to and able to learn, are not always in the highest level of leadership, and are often women, LGBTQIA+, neuro-expansive or of other marginalized identities, so their life experiences have better prepared them to develop these skills.
It’s almost as if, to have succeeded as a white male leader up until recently, you had to have the opposite of these skills.
Certainly white men are held far less accountable which also means they are far less supported or socialized to prioritize or value these skills.
Of course, these are generalizations… but these are patterns that we have data on.
And I think the question is: what kind of world do you want to live in? What kind of workplace do you want to be part of? What are the skills needed to co-create such environments? And who best embodies and practices those skills?
Finally, keep in mind what Ally Henny said today:
“Black women are expected to be saviors while also being treated as mules. We have to prove ourselves over and over again when we are more than qualified. We experience hatred and vitriol simply for existing.”
This too absolutely tracks with what we see in the workplace for Black women leaders.
For those of you who have been diligently doing your DEI work, especially liberal progressive white women, now is your chance to show us if you’ve learned anything from 2016 and the time since.
Let’s go.
Banner photo by Ales Krivec for Unsplash+
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