A diverse mix of voices leads to better discussions, decisions, and outcomes for everyone.

—Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google

The protests of 2020 ripped apart any illusion that America had made peace with its history of racial injustice. Everyone who watched the video of George Floyd's murder witnessed a disturbing, vivid view of police brutality. Our nation erupted—not just because of this incident, but because of so many similar tragedies. As one Black friend told me, “I'm just done.”

From my home in Minneapolis, I could hear helicopters overhead and smell acrid smoke from the riots that damaged more than 1,300 buildings across our city. I prayed, sought out dialogue, and joined the Sunday protests. In the aftermath of the civil unrest, people were angry and impatient. They wanted palpable change quickly, and leaders faced unprecedented demands to share their organizations' plans for racial equity.

Reflection is not enough. We must act intentionally to promote inclusion of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), women, immigrants, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people. As leaders, it is our responsibility to participate in building a more just society, ensuring opportunity is widely distributed, and bending the arch of history toward justice with our action.

Having diversity in our organizations is necessary but not sufficient. We need to create inclusive organizations where everyone feels a sense of belonging. That is the only way everyone can feel fulfilled and perform to the best of their ability. Those who have experienced the wounds of noninclusive organizations firsthand want to be accepted for who they are, not what they are (Figure 11.1).

Ursula Burns: Where You Are Is Not Who You Are

Former Xerox chief executive officer (CEO) Ursula Burns grew up in a one‐bedroom tenement apartment in New York, raised with her two siblings by a single, Panamanian immigrant mother. She says, “My personality was formed by my mother, my siblings, and my community. New York is a tough place. You have to speak up and be gritty, or you will be run over. I had no aspiration to run a major company, but I had clear direction from my mother to be successful.”

Ursula's mother was the most powerful force in her life, working at two minimum wage jobs to support her family, living off food stamps, and wearing clothes from thrift shops. When her children left the house, she watched them with opera glasses to ensure their safety.

Ursula never let being a Black woman or growing up in poverty hold her back. She calls her notoriety as the first Black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company “a ridiculous way to make history.”

Why was it so amazing for a Black woman to lead a multibillion‐dollar company? I'd gone to two good schools, earned my master's in engineering, spent 28 years at Xerox and did most of the major jobs, so this shouldn't be shocking. The only differences between me and other CEOs were my gender and my race. I earned the position: I wasn't plucked from a circus sideshow.

An outspoken advocate for diversity and inclusion in all organizations, Ursula isn't one to withhold her opinions, saying, “I have always been blunt.”

It stimulates discussion and saves time. We all need to be brusquer and risk disagreeing with each other, so we get through problems fast without having to mince words. Being overly polite is such a waste of time. Xerox once suffered from terminal niceness, and we failed to say what we meant, and people sometimes supported each other's mediocrity.

Earlier in her career, Ursula's outspokenness got her in trouble. When a White male asked Xerox's vice chair why the company was so focused on diversity, Ursula chided the executive publicly for displaying a lack of passion and principles, leading to an unfriendly exchange. When he asked her to meet in his office, Ursula thought she would be fired, but instead he merely reprimanded her for being so outspoken and intemperate.

That interaction led to a strong mentoring relationship and an offer to be his assistant. At first, Ursula was incredulous at moving into a position she thought was beneath her, but she now describes it as the most important she's ever held because it enabled her to understand the company's inner workings. Ursula eventually became vice president of global manufacturing, where she teamed with CEO Anne Mulcahy to turn the company around in the face of impending bankruptcy.

Anne and Ursula cut $2 billion in costs and reduced the workforce by 38,000 people. As the turnaround took hold, they formed a powerful team with Anne focusing on customers as “Ms. Outside” and Ursula on internal operations as “Ms. Inside.” When Anne announced her retirement in 2009, Ursula was the obvious choice to become CEO.

Throughout her leadership journey, Ursula has prioritized diversity and inclusion as foundational to a company's success, saying, “You can have a little less money, but you can't have a little less diversity or less ethics and be a successful, future‐ready company.” In 2020, she launched the Board Diversity Action Alliance, whose mission is to increase diverse representation on corporate boards and promote accountability measures on corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion. Ursula believes that companies can improve board diversity by rethinking board member criteria which has been a barrier to minorities, such as the requirement that a board member has had CEO experience.

In corporate America, the playing field and rules are defined by White men. They say, “We have nobody who fits this game I specifically designed for me except for people who look like me.” Well, surprise, surprise.

Ursula is also encouraging companies to set specific goals and track progress on their efforts to increase diversity, noting that she could not have attended college without the affirmative action programs of the 1970s.

Numbers really do help. If you are one or two of 50, you're a freak show. That can also be advantageous. For 10 years at Xerox, I was the only Black woman in the room. If I raised my hand, I was always called on, because you couldn't miss me. We must get to where that's not an anomaly.

Ursula says she has achieved the American dream, believing it's very much alive, despite the challenges the country faces. While she's disappointed by the lack of diversity in business's top ranks, she is hopeful that the police murder of George Floyd and COVID‐19 pandemic are bringing about fundamental shifts on racial and gender equality, encouraging people to have open conversations with people from different perspectives. “We are all learning how to have conversations that are not divisive,” she says.

CEOs like Ursula Burns do not want to be defined by diversity; they just want the opportunity to lead their organizations. To ensure an inclusive culture, organizations must have diversity of all types at all levels in their ranks, starting with the board of directors and senior executives.

George Floyd's Murder Ripped the Bandage Off

In the days following George Floyd's murder and subsequent protests, I called a dozen of my Black friends to check in on how they were feeling, and I was shocked at their stories of discrimination—things that I had never experienced as a White man. These conversations were a wake‐up call that systemic discrimination is still very much alive in America and many White people are blind to the injustices happening every day. George Floyd's killing ripped off the bandage of America's idealistic façade that had been masking the depth of racism and the plight of Black people and other minorities.

U.S. Bank vice chair Tim Welsh, who lives just a few miles from where George Floyd was killed, was also deeply shaken by the tragedy. “After George Floyd's murder, I felt like a failure,” says Tim.

I've invested 25 years in this community trying to create a more equitable, just society, but I was ignorant about how much racism exists. On my weekly town hall, I shared my feelings about what happened and completely broke down on the phone with 1,000 leaders who manage 26,000 people.

In response, U.S. Bank created the Alliance of Alliances with corporations and community leaders, especially Black leaders. Tim notes, “Instead of White leaders proposing solutions to the Black community, we flipped it to provide financial and human support for solutions originating in the Black community.” Leaders are recognizing that they must promote change from the inside rather than impose it from the outside for it to be effective.

Diversity Is Necessary but Not Sufficient

Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf came under fire recently when he said diverse candidates just weren't available. What nonsense! If you cannot find diverse candidates, recruit more broadly or look deeper in your organization. Make stretch promotions of younger diverse leaders and support them with coaching and development. Your organization will perform better when the senior team has diverse perspectives.

Since George Floyd's murder, many companies are intensifying their focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) through ambitious diversity programs to improve their numbers. The numbers show some improvement—in 2020, women held 27 percent of Fortune 500 corporate board seats compared with 20 percent in 2016. The share of Black directors rose from 4.5 percent in 2019 to 7.4 percent 2 years later, but there is still a long way to go.

To increase diversity, some companies have mandated that at least one diverse candidate be included in a hiring pool. University of Colorado's research demonstrates the likelihood of hiring a diverse candidate increases dramatically when you have more than one on the slate. “With at least two women or minorities in the finalist pool, the odds of hiring a woman are 79 times greater, and 194 times greater for minorities,” the research shows.

Many organizations have learned diversity is necessary but insufficient because people from diverse backgrounds move on if they do not feel fully included. Herschel Herndon, chief diversity officer for Thrivent Financial, says:

To create a sustainable impact, people must feel fully included, valued, and appreciated. We must be very clear about our destination—our True North—and get everyone aligned. We must create a fully inclusive environment where everyone can perform their best. To achieve that, every individual must feel they have a stake in the outcome.

For 17 years I served on Goldman Sachs' board, working with three CEOs who were committed to diversity. Each year, human resources presented statistics on diversity, but no women or BIPOC leaders ever made it near the top in line roles. While lots of talented diverse leaders were hired, many left because they didn't feel fully included in the culture. When he became CEO, David Solomon promoted two dozen highly talented female and Black leaders in his first year. For example, Stephanie Cohen as global co‐head of consumer and wealth management, one of Goldman's four sectors. Rather than talking about diversity, David took bold action and made an immediate impact.

All too often organizations delegate DEI to their human resource organizations rather than CEOs taking the lead. There is no easy answer to building inclusive organizations, but we recommend five things: create a culture of acceptance, provide opportunities, foster belonging, build diverse community, and rigorously track results.

Create a Culture of Acceptance

The media often features Land O'Lakes' Beth Ford as the first openly gay female CEO of a Fortune 500 company, but that's not how she sees herself. “When I represent our business, I show up as CEO, not the gay CEO, not the female CEO. If that causes anyone discomfort, that's not my issue,” she says.

Beth is from a working‐class Catholic family in Sioux Falls, Iowa. Her father was a truck driver and used car salesman, and her mother was a nurse whose resilience and optimism had a profound influence on her life. Beth notes, “Although we were financially challenged, my mother talked about our responsibility to give back, help our community, and feel blessed for what we have.” Her first jobs included detasseling corn and working as a night cashier and toilet cleaner.

Beth's strong work ethic led her to be selected by a board of 28 men as the best person for the CEO role. She explains, “Whether I am a female or gay wasn't part of the discussion. I'm not here to make a statement but to fulfill my responsibilities as CEO. My journey has taken me to this moment as CEO to do the most meaningful work of my career.”

Beth believes that knowing who you are and being authentic leads people to do their best work and deliver superior results. She explains, “Everyone benefits when we bring our authentic selves to all aspects of our lives, including work.”

You do your best work when you show up as your authentic self and you feel you're in a safe environment. In times when I didn't feel I fit in, like meeting with the president in the Oval Office, I follow my mother's advice to “stand up straight, walk in, be the best version of myself I can be, and get comfortable being uncomfortable.”

Beth explains that thousands of people have connected with her to talk about leading an authentic life, including parents of gay children. Beth's role takes her to rural areas that are deeply conservative. On one of those trips, she introduced herself to a big man standing near her, who started crying and said, “My son is gay. I'm just so proud of you, so grateful for your courage.” She says, “I held him and told him his son was fortunate to have such a caring father.”

She concludes, “It's not enough to say we have a diverse management team. It is essential that everyone feel included, accepted, and listened to. When you care about enabling someone else's success, it isn't just virtuous, you'll feel better about your own career.”

All of us have hidden differences that we are reluctant, even ashamed, to reveal to those closest to us. What closet are you hiding in? Wouldn't you feel better if you could reveal your secrets to others? Opening your hidden areas is essential to accepting ourselves and finding acceptance from others.

Provide Opportunities

There are so many talented people from diverse backgrounds that sometimes we just need to open the door and let them walk through. Hmong refugee MayKao Hang is a leader who was given such opportunities. Now she is using her platform to help underprivileged people reach their full potential as well.

MayKao's family escaped Communist soldiers during the Southeast Asian war and lived amid a colony of quarantined lepers. “My life was saved by the lepers who sheltered and protected us,” she says. Years later, two churchwomen resettled the Hang family to Milwaukee and then they moved to St. Paul. There, MayKao grew up in poverty. Speaking only Hmong, she learned English and became her family's translator.

MayKao reflects on her intense childhood: “I faced displacement, war, poverty, mental health and trauma, and learning how to navigate across cultures.” Yet from this extreme adversity she learned three lessons—never look down on anyone; there's something to learn from everyone; and don't let circumstances define who you can become.

Brown University awarded MayKao a full scholarship, although she still had to work two jobs to pay for room and board. At 24, she began community organizing to help battered women and children at the Wilder Foundation. One disturbing case haunted her—the Public Housing Authority ignored 17 calls from a woman who then killed her children and tried to kill herself. MayKao says, “She thought it was better for all of them to die than to keep living. Nobody should ever get to that point in our society. At that point I found my life's purpose.”

MayKao continued her service even while raising four children and earning a doctorate. When Wilder's president retired, he nominated her for the job. She initially turned him down because she didn't feel qualified. Then, she says, “I asked myself, ‘Why can't I say yes to these things? I can't let someone else write my story.'” MayKao put her imprint on the organization by evolving it from programs to emphasizing connection and community:

We had to be more relevant by focusing on the most vulnerable and disenfranchised in the community. I call this “no handouts without a hand up.” To be the go‐to place where everybody was coming for research, knowledge and leadership required complete transformation. We developed holistic mental health services and whole family aging and also assisted with doubling the number of certified community behavioral health clinics in both rural and urban areas.

When St. Thomas president Julie Sullivan asked MayKao to become founding dean of its College of Health, in her typically modest way, she laughed and said, “I've never been in academia. I don't even know what deans do.” She seized the opportunity and is integrating programs in social work, counseling psychology, and an array of other health and exercise majors across the college while launching a new nursing school to focus on whole person health—mind, body, spirit, and community. “All my life I've heard calls for help and go where I am needed,” she says.

Build Inclusive Communities

To understand diverse people, we need to live and work together, yet most of our communities are highly segregated. Marnita Schroedl shows how to change that. She has created communities that foster empathy and understanding, inspired by her early life experiences with exclusion, rejection, racism, sexual abuse, and constant discrimination.

As she explains poignantly, “I never belonged anywhere.”

My biological family thought I was White until my melanin came in at seven months. Because of the stigma in 1962 of having a Black child in a White family, my biological grandmother insisted I be placed in foster care. I was in three homes before I was two and a half. I grew up as the only Black person in a little all White town in the Pacific Northwest with a conservative German/Irish Catholic family. The town had the largest population of KKK West of the Mississippi.

From the day I came to that town until the day I left, my foster family and I were terrorized or shunned. Isolation, rejection, and violence were constant presences, reverberating throughout my primary school years. I was not encouraged, valued, or invested in. When I asked my high school counselor about applying to colleges, she said, “Nobody will want you, you're a n*****.” I was in the top 1 percent of the U.S. on my SAT with 3.75 GPA but no college would want me because of my skin color. I believed her. I dropped out of high school and attempted suicide instead.

Marnita turned these crucibles of rejection and blatant discrimination into her calling. She says, “Nobody should feel alone or unwelcome. Nobody.” Following the Rodney King trials, she used her gift of cooking to host dining table conversations in Los Angeles as opportunities for healing and reconciliation because “my White friends wouldn't talk to my Black friends.”

That experience inspired Marnita's Table, which brings together diverse people to share meals while they talk candidly about the unique challenges their communities are facing. Marnita's Table uses “Intentional Social Interaction,” a replicable model that is being adopted all over the world, to exemplify American poet Edwin Markham's quatrain:

He drew a circle that shut me out‐

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.

But love and I had the wit to win:

We drew a circle and took him In!

Marnita says, “To address the lack of access and opportunity, we provide seats at the table for everyone. Sharing power and valuing differences requires practice. Eventually, this becomes a community practice.” Marnita's Table has five foundational principles: research and reflection, authentic welcome, element of choice, sharing power, and fun. How might you incorporate these principles into your interactions with others?

Marnita believes sharing food is central as a universally shared experience, explaining, “Humans are like gardens: we are building communities that must be cultivated.”

Emerging Leader Profile: Murisiku Raifu

For hundreds of years, America has been a land of hopes and dreams for people seeking better futures. As a boy, Murisiku (“Muri”) Raifu wanted to become a physician to help solve problems with medical care in Ghana. Now he is using his education and skills to transform health care in Africa.

Muri grew up in Ghana with immigrants from all over Africa, and his polyglot neighborhood helped him become fluent in many languages. Muri was the first in his family to attend school. Wanting to continue his studies in America, he chose schools from Peterson's Guide and handwrote 30 letters to leading North American secondary schools seeking a scholarship.

When he won it, his trip to America was anything but easy. Muri's mother sold her jewelry to buy him a one‐way ticket to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. “I arrived in America as a 15‐year‐old with $173 in my pocket, a small clothes bag, and a whole lot of dreams,” he says. Not knowing where to go, he eventually got in a taxi and told the driver to take him to the Bronx, where he had someone's name.

With the benefit of scholarships, Muri went to Amherst College and University of Minnesota Medical School, followed by 7 years at the University of California–Los Angeles's (UCLA) neurosurgery residency. To practice neurosurgery, he chose New York–Presbyterian Hospital in Queens, New York, but faced a crucible when he was told, “You should see only Black patients.” He explains,

These people tried to take away my agency—which is understanding your True North and why you do what you do. Of course, I want to help Black patients and give them respect and dignity, but I am here to help any patient. My guiding principle is to heal you with the dignity and treatment you deserve, whether you're the richest person in the world or the poorest. I didn't come this far to be limited in manifesting my full potential by accepting these restrictions.

As a result, Muri took a sabbatical and went to Harvard Kennedy School to get his master's degree in public administration. Upon graduation, he returned to California to restart his practice and launch a tech company called Talamus Health. He explains, “I see myself as a pluripotential who can do much more than surgery and create something beautiful. Our end goal is to change people's lives.”

Currently operating in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, Talamus is creating a marketplace to give people better access to health care. Using mobile phones, people can book clinic appointments, get lab results, read doctors, notes, order drugs, pay medical bills, and access their medical records. Muri sees an opportunity to transform the entire African system, making it more democratized, enabling everyone to get the care they need when they need it.

Murisiku's story is an example of what highly motivated people can do when given the opportunity while overcoming barriers of immigration and discrimination to fulfill their dreams.

Bill's Take: Time to Act against Discrimination

Interviewing leaders from diverse backgrounds for this chapter was humbling. I was struck by the incredible hardships these leaders overcame to achieve great things and by their passion to provide similar opportunities for others. While their parents had little material wealth, they had enormous impact on their values and purpose. They were deeply committed to give their children opportunities and insistent they use those opportunities to help others.

All these leaders overcame prejudice based on their race, gender, sexual identity, or national origin, but they moved past bias to achieve their goals. Their life stories give them the drive to accomplish great things because they overcame significant challenges. They also give them compassion and desire to ensure others aren't limited by prejudice.

I have never faced discrimination like these leaders have, but I get angry whenever others discriminate against people. As a naive 18‐year‐old, I was shocked by the discrimination I encountered in the South and then proud when Georgia Tech became the first public school in the South to integrate peacefully. Atlanta and Georgia Tech have made amazing progress since then in becoming more inclusive.

In the corporate world, I have advocated for opening the doors for talented women, BIPOC, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ leaders, and confronted discrimination whenever I encountered it. When White males grouse about the lack of diverse talent, and question whether organizations “are willing to reduce performance,” I say, “Nonsense!”

To reach their full potential, diverse leaders need allies to remove barriers, eliminate discrimination, advocate for them, and mentor and guide them, just as older leaders opened doors for me. White males can create opportunities for people who have historically been discriminated against, overtly or subconsciously, and build inclusive organizations where everyone is accepted for who they are, not what they are.

To sustain success, as leaders we not only need diverse voices at the decision‐making table, but we must also build cultures of inclusion and belonging for everyone.

Idea in Brief: Inclusive Leadership

Recap of the Main Idea

• Diversity and inclusion are essential characteristics for every organization, but diversity alone is not sufficient. Leaders need to ensure everyone feels fully included so they can perform their best.
• To create an inclusive culture, leaders must foster cultures built around a sense of belonging, where everyone feels accepted for who they are, regardless of their gender, race, religion, national origin, or sexual identity.
• The key to inclusive organizations is ensuring everyone is accepted for who they are, not what they are.

Questions to Ask

1. Do you have unconscious bias? In what ways are you inclined to make assumptions about others based on cultural stereotypes?
2. How are you interacting with team members in ways that makes them comfortable through inclusive language and open, honest dialogue?
3. What are your goals for creating an inclusive workplace? How can you track these goals and measure progress over time?

Practical Suggestions for Your Development

• Hold town hall–style meetings or facilitate small‐group discussions where everyone has an opportunity to speak up and be heard.
• Enroll in diversity and inclusion training and sponsor attendance for your team; share educational content on diversity initiatives.
• Proactively recruit people from diverse backgrounds through outreach, as well as partnering with organizations representing diverse groups.
• Model inclusive language by avoiding sociallycharged or gendered terms.
• Hold yourself and your team accountable for change; set transparent goals and track progress against them over time to ensure you're moving the needle.
• Create space among leaders to discuss inclusive leadership and your strategies to achieve it.