The Inclusive Leadership Flywheel: Solve the world's most challenging problems. Build diverse leaders while you're at it.

This is the second blog in my diversity in innovation series. I'll discuss how to create future leaders from complex problem-solving with a diverse team.

Diversity and inclusion efforts are a slow burn. It takes time to build trust between teammates. Especially teammates with different life experiences. Is your task easy peasy? Then select a team that looks, thinks, and lives like you. Complexity requires nuance, my friends.

So how do we solve the world's complexities with diversity?

1. Seek Worthy Problems. 

Why? Because if your problem is not worthy enough to be solved fully and properly, there is no need to lean into diversity. Just go find folks who look like you, think like you, and live like you. Because diversity and inclusion takes curiosity about the world around us, time to make your stakeholders feel a sense of belonging, and effort to overcome the friction that inevitably ensues when different cultures and personalities interact, and all of these are in short supply! 

2. Build Diverse Teams. 

It is vital to create teams that care about the problem they are solving, and then foster a sense of belonging in them. Consider those who are most affected by your worthy problem, as they can likely frame it in ways you can’t, and have access to others who care more deeply and will work with you to enable a better solution. But even if you have access to diverse networks to source your problems and teams from, doing this is quite hard. As Visa Founder and CEO Dee W. Hock famously wrote: “Never hire or promote in your own image. It is foolish to replicate your strength and idiotic to replicate your weakness. It is essential to employ, trust, and reward those whose perspective, ability, and judgment are radically different from yours. It is also rare, for it requires uncommon humility, tolerance, and wisdom.” 

3. Grow Courageous Leaders. I have been attending leadership seminars, reading books, and viewing YouTube videos for a long time, but nothing beats real-world experience. And if you get that experience working on things you care about, you’ll give it your 100% every single day. I believe that the best leaders are forged in the pressure cooker of the journey toward solving the world's most complex issues. And when they are seasoned, they inevitably give back, and invest their time and energy to frame the next set of worthy problems, build diverse teams, and in turn create the next set of courageous leaders. 

Finally, I would like to stress the importance of Self-Care, which rightfully belongs in the center of the flywheel. Because Self-Care is the fulcrum upon which the flywheel spins. It gives the leader and team energy to keep going through good times and bad. Self-care is simple, but not easy. It involves eating right, getting regular exercise, sleeping for 7-9 hours daily, and meditating in order to keep our minds calm and stress-free. 

Here is a link describing my self-care journey, when I lost 80 lbs., and was thrilled when Men’s Health profiled me in February 2020! 

This, my friends, is the Inclusive Leadership Flywheel in action. Inclusive leadership begets inclusive leaders; thus, the flywheel keeps moving along! When diverse individuals find success together, they make sure to keep the torch lit.

Have you been a part of a diverse team of problem solvers? I'd love to hear about your experiences. Please share them in the comment, or connect with me.

Let's build the next generation of inclusive leadership together.