Dr. Shirley Davis brings a unique background as a seasoned HR, DEI, and global workforce expert, a senior business executive for several Fortune 100 companies, a certified leadership coach, and a popular LinkedIn Learning author. She is CEO of SDS Global Enterprises, a strategic development solutions firm that specializes in leadership and culture transformation and works with major organizations around the world.

Introduction 1

About This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Started with Inclusive Leadership 7

Chapter 1: Establishing the Basics of Leadership and Inclusion 9

Knowing Why Inclusive Leadership is Important 10

Summarizing Key Workforce Shifts 13

Understanding Inclusive Terminology 15

Belonging 15

BIPOC 15

Diversity 16

Equity and Equality 17

Implicit bias 18

Inclusion 18

Intersectionality 18

Microaggressions 19

Neurodiversity 19

Phobias and -isms 19

Looking at Leadership Models and Frameworks 20

Chapter 2: Revealing What the New Generation of Talent Needs at Work 25

Understanding the Workforce Demographics of the Future 26

Addressing the Needs of the Changing Workforce 29

Honing the Competencies and Key Traits of an Inclusive Leader 33

Tackling the Challenges of Leading a More Diverse Workforce 35

Unconscious bias 35

Communication barriers 36

Cultural differences impeding teamwork 36

Retaining diverse talent 37

Developing inclusive leaders from within 37

Recognizing the Benefits that Top Talent of the Future Brings 38

Chapter 3: Making the Business Case for More Inclusive Leaders 41

Accessing a Larger Talent Pool 42

Enhancing Financial Performance and Company Reputation 44

Boosting Employee Engagement, Productivity, and Retention 45

Driving Innovation and Creativity 47

Growing Customer Loyalty and Expanding New Markets 49

Digging into Examples of Inclusive Leadership in Action 50

Biases and lack of visible diversity 50

Microaggressions and a hostile work environment 51

Chapter 4: How Inclusive Are You? Assessing Your Effectiveness as a Leader 53

Understanding Why Assessing Yourself is Important 54

Identifying Your Passion and Ability to be an Inclusive Leader 57

Assessing Your Unique Leadership Skills and Talents 58

Identifying Your Leadership Style 59

Selfless leadership style 59

Transformational leadership style 60

Transactional leadership style 60

"Laissez Faire" leadership style 61

Democratic leadership style 61

Situational leadership style 62

Building Your Personal Brand and Reputation 62

Why building a strong personal brand matters 63

Why your reputation as a leader matters 63

Strengthening your personal leadership brand 64

Diagnosing Your Level of Inclusiveness 66

Part 2: Developing the Skills to Lead Yourself 67

Chapter 5: Getting Clear on Your Purpose, Vision, and Values 69

Knowing the Importance of Your Purpose 70

Asking the Right Questions to Uncover Your "Why" 71

Getting Grounded on Your Personal Vision Statement 74

Establishing and Living Your Personal Values 75

Chapter 6: Minimizing Your Own Biases and Microaggressions 79

Defining Unconscious Bias 80

Figuring Out Microaggressions 82

Understanding Intent versus Impact 84

Identifying the Effects of Bias in the Workplace 86

Sourcing and selecting new talent 87

Onboarding and orienting new talent 88

Developing, promoting, and engaging talent 89

Communicating with talent 90

Retaining top talent 90

Interrupting Biased Behaviors 91

Step 1: Recognize when a bias has occurred 92

Step 2: Validate or invalidate your bias 93

Step 3: Chart your path forward 94

Chapter 7: Leading with Authenticity and Transparency 97

Defining Authenticity and Transparency and Seeing How They Relate 98

Authenticity 98

Transparency 99

Understanding Why Some Leaders Shy Away from Authenticity and Transparency 100

Analyzing Your Effectiveness as an Authentic and Transparent Leader 100

Mastering Authentic and Transparent Leadership 105

Chapter 8: Demonstrating Empathy and Emotional Intelligence 109

Understanding Empathy and its Role in Leadership 110

Digging into the Three Types of Workplace Empathy 112

Cognitive empathy 112

Emotional empathy 113

Compassionate empathy 114

Being an empathetic leader 114

Figuring Out the Four Domains of Emotional Intelligence 115

Self-awareness 116

Self-control 117

Social awareness 118

Relationship management 119

Discovering Your Level of Empathy and Emotional Intelligence 120

Realizing the Need for Greater Empathy and Emotional Intelligence 124

Applying Empathy and Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace 127

Chapter 9: Developing Cross-Cultural Competence and Cultural Intelligence 129

Defining Culture 130

Knowing the Difference between Cultural Competence and Cultural Intelligence 132

Discovering Why these Competencies Matter to Leaders 135

Mapping the Two Mindsets of Intercultural Competence 136

Monocultural mindset 136

Intercultural mindset 136

Exploring the Five Orientations of Cultural Competence 137

Denial 138

Polarization 139

Minimization 140

Acceptance 141

Adaptation 142

Becoming a Culturally Competent and Culturally Intelligent Leader 143

Part 3: Leading Others 145

Chapter 10: Assembling and Leading Diverse and Hybrid Teams 147

Sourcing Diverse Talent 148

Acclimating New Hires to the Team 150

Leading Your Team Through Five Stages of Development 151

Forming 151

Storming 152

Norming 153

Performing 154

Adjourning 155

Figuring out what stage your team is at 156

Maximizing the Benefits of a Diverse Team 157

Creativity and problem solving 158

Collaboration 158

Increased business performance 158

Engagement and retention 159

Fostering an Environment of Trust and Belonging 159

Leading Across Differences and Distances 160

Avoiding Common Pitfalls when Leading a Diverse Team 164

Chapter 11: Establishing Trust and Psychological Safety 167

Defining Trust and Psychological Safety 168

Outlining the Four Stages of Psychological Safety 169

Inclusion Safety 170

Learner Safety 171

Contributor Safety 172

Challenger Safety 173

Realizing the Benefits of a Trusting and Psychologically Safe Workplace 175

Identifying the Factors that Drive and Undermine Psychological Safety 176

Factors that undermine trust and psychological safety 176

Factors that cultivate trust and psychological safety 178

Creating Psychological Safety 179

Increasing Inclusion Safety 179

Increasing Learner Safety 180

Increasing Contributor Safety 180

Increasing Challenger Safety 180

Measuring Psychological Safety 181

Recognizing Best Practice Companies 182

Pixar: "Fail Early and Often" 182

Eileen Fisher: "Leadership is About Listening" 183

Barry-Wehmiller: "What We Do Matters" 183

X Development Llc: "shoot for the Moon" 184

Chapter 12: Coaching and Giving Feedback 185

Acknowledging the Impact of Not Providing Coaching and Feedback 186

Understanding the Difference between Coaching and Feedback 187

Customizing Your Coaching Approach using Situational Leadership 189

Telling 190

Selling 190

Participating 191

Delegating 191

Avoiding Common Feedback Pitfalls 191

Being unprepared 192

Failing to establish trust 192

Ignoring cultural context 192

Treating everyone the same way 193

Avoiding reciprocal feedback 193

Giving Great Feedback 194

Before the conversation 194

During the conversation 194

After the conversation 196

Chapter 13: Communicating Inclusively 199

Recognizing the Benefits of Inclusive Communication 200

Understanding the Impact of Non-Inclusive Language 200

Working With Human Resources to Promote Inclusive Language 204

Practicing Inclusive Communication 205

Chapter 14: Dealing with Conflict 207

Addressing the Reasons We Avoid Conflict 207

Normalizing Conflict as a Tool for Higher Performance 208

Identifying the Topics We Tend to Avoid 209

Seeing the Benefits of Engaging in Uncomfortable Conversations 212

Interpreting Two Models for Managing Conflict 213

Thomas-Kilman conflict modes 213

Intercultural Conflict Styles 216

Applying Best Practices to Real-World Scenarios 219

Do you need to engage? 220

What is the source of the conflict? Where do you stand? 220

How will you engage? 220

What is the preferred outcome? 221

What barriers currently exist? 221

What are the implications globally or among multiple stakeholders? 222

Part 4: Cultivating a Culture of Inclusion and High Performance 223

Chapter 15: Assessing the Employee Experience 225

Defining the Employee Experience 226

Evaluating the Current State of Your Company Culture 228

Checking Out the Culture Spectrum 230

Exploring the Red Zone 230

Stepping into the Green Zone 233

Applying Strategies to Address Gaps in the Employee Experience 235

Demonstrating Accountability as a Leader 236

Consistency matters 238

Taking ownership matters 238

Sound decision making matters 239

Providing feedback matters 240

Communicating effectively matters 241

Chapter 16: Tracking and Measuring Inclusion Initiatives...