As I’ve said, leading ain’t easy. You don’t have to have a formal title to be a leader. You can lead from wherever you sit in your company. This is what it looks like.
You are in a committee or team meeting. Everyone around the table is white. “Hey, we need to mix this up. We are missing the boat if we don’t have any people of color involved in this.”
You are hiring for a vacant position and HR only serves up white candidates. “This slate is unacceptable. I will only interview a diverse group of people.”
Your peer moans that the company will only hire black people now to make themselves feel better and look politically correct.
“Are you telling me that trying to achieve an ounce more inclusion will be a bad thing?”
You are a senior leader who is deeply upset about the violence against black people and are learning more about the extent of institutional racism. Educate yourself, read, listen and determine one or two actions you can take that will have the biggest impact. Stop only offering prayers and sympathy and show you understand by taking new and bolder actions.
The moral of the story: Having a moral compass and doing the right thing just isn’t that hard.
