Jennifer Brown - How to Be an Inclusive Leader, Second Edition

HOW TO BE AN
INCLUSIVE
LEADER

SECOND EDITION

Your Role in Creating Cultures of Belonging Where Everyone Can Thrive

JENNIFER BROWN

How to Be an Inclusive Leader, Second Edition

Copyright 2019, 2022 by Jennifer Brown

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Second Edition

Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-5230-0200-9

PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-0201-6

IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-0202-3

Digital audio ISBN 978-1-5230-0203-0

2022-1

Book producer and text designer: Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Cover designer: Dan Tesser, Studio Carnelian

Several generations of very special women have served as my pilot lights.

To Deb Ziegler, who lifted me out of despair and showed me another way to make my voice matter.

To Mimi Brown with whom Ive conspired for years on deep matters of the soul.

And most importantly, to my partner Michelle whose activist spirit and companionship I take respite in, every day of our lives together.

When I chose the title for the first edition of this book, How to Be an Inclusive Leader, including the word how was intentional. One of the questions Im most often asked by leaders looking for guidance and direction is How do I start? Interestingly enough, for many leaders, its figuring out the how thats holding them back.

What we expect of leaders has been upended, leaving many leaders unmoored and navigating through new, uncharted territory. In the past, we looked to our leaders for certainty and decisiveness. We expected them to lead with authority, to have all the answers. Now we expect our leaders to show humility, empathy, and vulnerability. We want them to willingly admit what they dont know. We ask them to be resilient in the face of criticism, to embrace and talk about their discomfort and mistakes.

The very essence of how leaders have understood their role and their responsibility to othersand to societyis being questioned and challenged. To add to it all, leaders are having to pivot through this uncertainty in the public eye. I wrote this book to equip those leaders who have ever felt uncertain about their next steps with a path forward.

In the first edition of the book, I introduced the Inclusive Leader Continuum to guide individuals through the very personal and emotional learning journey they undertake to become inclusive leadersno matter where they are starting from. The four stages of the ContinuumUnaware, Aware, Active, and Advocateformed the underpinnings of the first edition, and they do again in this new second edition. The first edition of the book proved to be a success, and I have had many opportunities to use the teachings in it as a construct in my consulting work, speaking engagements, and executive coaching. Through that work, I have been continually collecting new insights, listening to new stories, and discovering new tools. This is really what has led me to write the second edition of the book. There is that much more I want to share.

What started as minor revisions to the first edition kept growing in scope. I added a new chapter that delves deep into what holds many leaders back and the role identity and privilege play. I like to think of the chapter as a call-in to those leaders who are still on the sidelines. As leaders, we can bring so much to the change effort and we are already equipped to do this. I also developed Discussion Guides for each chapter to make the learning more actionable, and I added new stories that demonstrate so well what inclusive leadership actually looks like in practice.

Ive had the good fortune to work with leaders who grasp the extent to which the playing field isnt level and understand they have a role in fixing that. They lead with purpose and get to work changing systems. But the reality is, many other leaders havent yet awakened to the realities around them, and others might have awakened to those realities yet are still reluctant to get involved in the change effort. I hope this second edition will help leaders at any of these stages to get involved and step into their roles as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) champions, advocates, and allies.

I am proud that the Inclusive Leader Continuum has enabled so many to ground themselves in their learning journey, to become true instruments of change. Solving for inequities and achieving meaningful change has elevated the importance of DEI and requires the personal commitment and involvement of all, especially those who have great access and influence. The need for inclusive leadership has never been more urgent. If we want a more just world, we need to grasp the urgency of our own role and responsibility because our role is necessary in the change equation.

No matter your title, or how advanced you already consider yourself to be as an inclusive leader, I believe this book will help you evolve and motivate you to take action. Its time to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Its time to activate your power and influence. Its time to roll up your sleeves and get off the sidelines. We need all hands on deck to make change happen.