The Most Powerful Tool a Leader Can Have

Imagine that you just accepted a new job. It’s a position that comes with a lot of influence and prestige, and, in many ways, it’s the role of your dreams. But then, on your very first day, you find out that your boss supports a policy that goes against your deepest values.

What would you do?

This is the situation that David Moinina Sengeh faced in 2019. A brilliant scientist, advocate, and leader, he has spent most of his career focused on equity and inclusion, from the work he did addressing discriminatory algorithms in artificial intelligence to coming up with a way to make prosthetic limbs more comfortable.

David was honored when the president of his home country of Sierra Leone appointed him minister of education. But on his first day on the job, David learned that the president supported a ban on pregnant girls going to school. David immediately thought of his own young daughters and the potential threat this policy posed to their futures. Instead of resigning, David made a courageous choice: He would do everything he could to overturn the ban and secure all girls’ place in the classroom.

Amazingly, he succeeded. And the story of how makes for great reading.

Radical Inclusion: Seven Steps to Help You Create a More Just Workplace, Home, and World by David Moinina Sengeh hits shelves today. It’s the first book from Moment of Lift Books, and I’m so excited to spread the word about this moving and important story.

When I first read Radical Inclusion, I was struck by how timely it feels. Countless organizations have expressed a genuine desire to foster more equity and inclusion in the workplace—but without a tangible framework or path forward, it can be hard to follow through on those commitments. Not only does Radical Inclusion provide that framework, but it offers thoughtful lessons on leadership, especially when it comes to engaging with people on the other side of an issue you care about.

For example, when David appeared on popular talk shows with hosts who supported the ban, they often asked him leading questions designed to put him on the defensive. Instead of responding in frustration, he chose to be grateful for these moments. “They gave me an opportunity to counter people’s fears and myths using data and evidence,” he writes. “The only way to change someone’s mind is by allowing them to express their fears and ideas, and then engaging with them with empathy and honesty.”

Empathy comes up a lot in Radical Inclusion. There’s actually something quite remarkable about the fact that, despite David’s incredibly distinguished resume—his impressive degrees, technical expertise, and broad global perspective—the tool he found most important in his work is one that every single one of us can use if we choose to.

?“Empathy breaks barriers, and quickly,” David writes. “It is the most powerful tool a leader can have.” ?

That is just one of many takeaways from Radical Inclusion that readers can begin putting into practice immediately. I learned a lot from this book, and I think you will, too.?