Life is About Differentiation

If you ever thought you could do more to respect the different lived experiences that make up your team, I hope this story serves as a great reminder. But first, some context.

As leaders, we’re constantly in a position where we’re charged with getting the most out of our talented people, but what we constantly have to remind ourselves is that it’s not about us; it’s about the team.

Are we giving each team member what they need to succeed? Do we recognize that their gifts are embedded in different worldviews and personal burdens and that they have a “why” for working that doesn’t look at all like the why of the person sitting next to them? Their complexities are often what make them stronger. In contrast, a team of like-minded people brimming with sameness doesn’t make your outcomes better. It makes them blander.

When you start to look at your employees with this human lens and respond to them in ways that reflect a deeper connection, then your shared values flourish and a positive culture emerges. My story unfolds in an interview with one of my board colleagues, Herman Bulls.

Herman grew up in a small Alabama town, or what he fondly calls a suburb of a suburb of a suburb. Herman never met his father, William, because he died when his wife Lucy was pregnant with Herman. William was a laborer but managed to save and buy two plots of farmland with his brother, and while driving the tractor from one parcel to the next, which was separated by the highway, William was struck by a tractor-trailer truck.

Herman recalls that his mother was courageous and a hard worker, but her best trait was her stubbornness. Determined to keep her six children together in spite of her limited education and resources, she turned down her relatives’ offers to each take on one of the siblings.

Instead, Lucy started cleaning homes, collecting payments for an insurance company, and earning her GED. She later attended night school to get her nursing degree and brought Herman along to play in the gym while she attended class.

Herman’s formative years were marked by memories of the Deep South in the sixties. He recalls regular occurrences that are still hard to believe today, such as being stopped on the highway by firefighters who were collecting donations with their boots held out and, alongside them, the KKK in their hoods and regalia doing the same. Herman also remembers separate bathrooms and drinking fountains for people of color and being limited to side entrances for balcony-only seating in the movies and restricted to using a restaurant’s back door to order food—no seated dining allowed.

Lucy always told her kids that you have to live as if there are no boundaries. People may put up guardrails, but you have to work at getting over them. The six Bulls children lived up to her advice and encouragement. There are eleven college degrees among the six of them. Two of them belong to Herman; a West Point degree was his first, and a Harvard MBA was his second.

Today, Herman is the international director and vice chairman at JLL, a global financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate operations and investment management. Herman serves on several boards, most notably the U.S. Department of Defense and USAA, a Fortune 100 financial services firm serving military members and their families.

While Herman was working at leaping over guardrails, he also focused on connecting with coaches, mentors, colleagues, and team members along the way. He intuitively knew that those deeper connections would make the guardrails lower. It’s something he and his wife Iris passed on to their boys and a practice he’s convinced that set him apart from other leaders and provided him with opportunities.

How you differentiate yourself as a leader matters. How you celebrate the variety of talents and lived experiences on your team matters even more. Lean in to their honed skills that surface from having jumped a few guardrails—they’re often what make your people especially adept at what they do and further add to your competitive edge.

? More from this Episode

• Click here to read the transcript
• Learn more about Herman's background from this extended bio

? About Off the Rak

Walt Rakowich's passion to help shape a generation of leaders who lead with honesty, humility and heart inspired him to launch Off the Rak: Conversations on Transformative Leadership. Featuring rich and raw conversations with notable leaders across different industries, Off the Rak inspires curious leaders to embrace challenges, seize opportunities and become positive influences in their world.

Learn more about Off the Rak and watch past episodes here .

Follow @waltrakowich on Linkedin | Instagram | Facebook | X | YouTube