Juneteenth ‘21: Inclusive Leadership Is An Act of Humility

I am suffering from Imposter Syndrome.

Inclusion and equity require humility from people who are more likely to believe their own?press, like CEOs. “Achievement bias” is a classic human attributional error. It fools us into self-affirming?narratives?that help?us to believe in?myths?about?our?own successes. We tell ourselves stories that justify honours that we haven't fully earned.

As a 2021 Catalyst Honours Champion, I am being celebrated for doing the right thing — and for the hard work of my former colleagues at CMHC. In my (humble) opinion, this work on equity is an essential component of leadership. It is non-negotiable, so being honoured for it is a bit disorienting.

Sure, I’ve worked hard, taken my lumps, failed and recovered – all of which are parts of my?story. However, my influence, my achievements, my awards and honours like this all rest?mostly on five factors that were handed to me at birth: I was born white, male, Canadian,?able-bodied?and in full possession of my mental?faculties. I?could only?screw?that up.

Truthfully, I have benefited from a leg-up that goes well beyond overt racism. I have had?mentors and role models whom I resemble and with whom identify. I have always felt like a I?had a place at any table and a seat in any room. I’ve never felt “othered,” like my skin colour?is a Scarlet Letter that causes people to cross the road when approaching me and makes me?fear racial profiling. I have never worried that my neck line was too low, my skirt too short or?too dowdy. I have never had my attendance at a meeting justified on the grounds of “better decision?making” or?“good?business sense”.

Instead, I carry what Peggy McIntosh calls an “invisible knapsack” of privilege that is stuffed?with tools and all sorts of advantages that I neither earned nor deserve. To me, my good fortune is?therefore?something I am ethically required to share. If not, I am reinforcing conservative systemic forces?that?afford?me?these?advantages that I haven’t fully earned.

Maya Angelou and Bill Moyers famously discussed belonging and freedom at a dinner party?in 1973. The white male legendary interviewer and the black female poet and activist grew?up only 100 miles apart in the South — “two strangers from the same but different place,” and?had?very?different paths to?success.

Angelou, a magician with words, defined freedom in a way that still only applies fully to?white men. She captured the liberating sense of belonging when she said,

“You are only free?when you realize you belong no place — you belong?every?place — no place at all.”

Unlike Moyers, Angelou lived a life fully conscious of her femininity, her Blackness,?her otherness ... This is the abiding, insidious legacy of misogyny and racism that we are still?far?from rejecting?as a country?and as a society.

Allyship rests on the acknowledgement that we white male leaders woke up on third, never having seen a pitch. This humble truth helps us to see that promoting diversity, inclusion, equity and anti-racism is the leadership imperative of our unfair advantage.

Also in the name of humility, leadership is a team sport. No company’s achievements rest solely on the CEO’s shoulders. Indeed, the progress we made on equity at CMHC was a communal achievement of hundreds of people.

CMHC is a better place to work and far more innovative simply because more people feel they belong, not just white guys. From promoting a psychologically safe workplace to focusing our support on the people who find themselves most excluded from our society, equity and inclusion are now core, strategic concerns for CMHC.?

Every people leader plays a part in this achievement, particularly brave women who overcame self-doubts manufactured by a society that still views leadership, wrongly, as male. And in recognition of this Juneteenth I share it with Black and Indigenous leaders who stepped out of the shadows to help us to see racism’s persistence more clearly. Their courage, generosity and grace have been most inspiring to me.

Using only a gender lens, 60% of CMHC’s 1,900 employees were women in 2014 and that was good enough to merit a “Top Diversity Employer” award. Overlooked was the fact that female representation declined with increasing levels of seniority. Conventional diversity and inclusion efforts fail to confront the reactionary lie that is “meritocracy.” So-called “merit” cannot overcome our implicit biases and has undeniably failed us.

Equity requires us to look past just gender. It took George Floyd’s murder to expose racism’s insidiousness. CMHC’s public statements on anti-racism in June and September 2020 were bold, direct and contained aspirational promises on which the company is delivering. Along with others, CMHC has since prioritized anti-racism and equity as strategic.

It’s also very personal.

I believe that promoting equity is the essential work of leadership. If you're a leader and you are not making space for new voices and trusting in the integrity of their leadership, then you are working with incomplete data and you’re perpetuating systemic barriers.

A colleague shared an African proverb that teaches that:

“Those who descend the hill should not laugh at the toothless.”

The lesson is that those with power must share their good fortune with humility. While white men do not need to vacate our roles, we?must?expand our tables. Equity is not a special initiative and it’s not merely HR stuff. If we are to deliver on the promise of Canada, a multicultural country where we want all to feel welcome, we leaders have a moral imperative to share our power and influence so that everyone can feel they belong.?