THE LEADERS YOU NEED

The most effective teams are those with a wide range of faces around the table, says an expert in the field.

Brown is a highly experienced consultant who has advised a wide range of companies about implementing programs for greater diversity, equity, and inclusion at the top. In this pithy book she brings together her lessons and gives useful advice on how to develop leadership teams that include women, people of color, and people from the LBGTQ+ community. She acknowledges that in the past creating such teams often failed to improve the company’s bottom line or do much to change the organizational culture. The central problem, says Brown, is that creating a diverse team is often seen as an end instead of a means. There needs to be a deliberate alignment with a business’s growth objectives, which can mean reaching out to untapped customer groups in marginal parts of society. A diverse team at the top also allows for the building of connections with new stakeholder groups, and custom-designed data systems can be used to track DEI progress and connect it with financial results. One problem with a diverse team is that conflicts can emerge, but it is up to the team leader to ensure that the focus on common objectives prevails. Brown continually emphasizes practical outcomes rather than feel-good gestures, and she accepts that the journey will not be easy. “There is no silver bullet,” she says. Leaders and managers will need to commit to seeing changes through and adapting their approach as the workplace evolves.” The future, she says, is about cultural diversity, and only those companies that embrace it will thrive.

With an eye on what works, Brown provides a map for tying DEI objectives to the bottom line.