And the winner is…

Having been fortunate to win the Accenture UK Greater Than Awards (GTA) 2020 Most Inspirational Leader Award, I took a moment to pause, contemplate, and write this blog following a questions and answers format.

What does the award mean to you?

Winning the GTA for Most Inspirational Leader was amazing, but not for the immediately obvious reasons. When I reflect on the four nominations that I had received from my peers, I remain humbled at the heartfelt words that were shared. It wasn’t the award per se, but what the award represents; the voice of my peers sharing their feedback and it been upvoted by the wider population as a shared perception.

Discovering that I was a finalist, and then later being announced a winner was a little overwhelming. I remember finding out after getting a ping from a friend who congratulated me on being a two-time winner (I had won an Accenture UK Oscar back in 2013 for the Exceptional People Talent Category). During that moment of reflection, I was overcome with a variety of emotions. Why so many emotions? In many respects, I was reflective on the journey that has brought me here. Being different has sometimes felt very lonely, but allowing my passion for people to remain one of my authentic focuses has allowed me the fortune to experience positively affecting people, environments and cultures by investing my talents and time in my fellow colleagues; just as they have done for me.

Any words of advice for those looking to become a leader?

I truly consider leadership to be a personal ‘thing’. For most of my life, I’ve read books, presentations and content that gave me structured discourse on what a leader does and is. However, little space was left for the human, nor the unpredictability of life that requires malleable empathy. When I consider the human leaders that inspire me the most, one of the key traits is their ability to create a space where humans can be vulnerable enough to be different, yet have the confidence and opportunity to soar. This allows the building of resonance with one as a person and not just a data point or resource.

Over my 13+ years at Accenture, I’ve grown to learn the power of using my talents to help amplify the strengths of others. This has allowed me to enjoy working in so many diverse teams and observe numerous people discover abilities that they didn’t know they had; and realise where they had the opportunity to develop.

With this in mind, I would propose the following five areas worth exploring as one discovers and owns what leadership means to them:

1. Get to know yourself: To lead others, one requires a sense of self-awareness, not least because leading often means building or being the bridge between where people are now and where you are trying to nurture them to. To achieve this, one needs to be aware of the talents they have at their disposal to positively influence change; which in many aspects is a large part of what leadership is.
2. Get to know people: Be curious about people. There are a beautiful spectrum of stories, journeys, and rich character that can be discovered when we invest the time in each other. We learn how best to support people, And to think, it can all start with just a simple “hello, what’s your name? My name is…would you like to grab a coffee during break time?”. Taking this very approach, I’ve nurtured some of my most memorable and productive teams; and they have taught me the most about how best to lead through service. Finally, the great thing about connecting with others is that they naturally cause you to burst the bubbles that have conditioned your perceptions about yourself and wider society. Sometimes the most powerful thing a leader can do is listen to the honest feedback of the very people they seek to support. In this, one can empower a team that collectively has more capacity to drive change than any individual.
3. Invest your talents: I have observed a great dynamic that occurs in teams where the leader exemplifies using their talents to empower the team and carve out space for the team to power through. Not only does this dynamic encourage those being led to replicate this behaviour of using their talents, but it also demonstrates the communal power of ecosystems of ‘partners’ achieving unified objectives. Furthermore, the more one exercises a muscle (talent) the more one is propelled into being a leading practitioner in said space.
4. Find a cause and commit: I intentionally orient this point as first ‘finding a cause’ rather than ‘creating a cause’. The paradox that I’ve observed is that most leaders are merely following a vision fuelled by a human need that resonates with others. However, once one has found what is a worthy cause, it is important to discuss and act on where one can contribute; especially where one’s talents add a high amount value.
5. Be prepared for opposition: As with most things in life, when leading, opposition will arrive in many forms. As this happens, it is useful to consider the content and not the emotion of delivery, so that one doesn’t miss valuable input that can be used to cause positive progress. However, and almost in equal measure, there is a need to reflect on when you will compromise vs. power through. This is arguably one of the most difficult aspects of leadership and is a great question to ask leaders that inspire.

“…we do not need a melting pot, where people are normalised to be similar, we need a fruit salad, an environment that celebrates the individual beauty of each fruit, and collective unity of the diverse fruits in the salad…”

Paraphrased from Jane Elliott speaking on Oprah Show, 1992

What has influenced your leadership style?

Without a doubt, becoming myself has allowed the grounding of my leadership style. I am what one might consider a deep thinker; my curious mind has always and often asked the question why? And not just when I do not understand. When I was younger, I was cognizant that I stood out; and in many situations, society reaffirmed and made that all too clear to me – not least, as a result of the colour of my skin but also due to some atypical thinking. The thing is, we all see partially, and our ‘perceived wisdom’ is based on what we have assumed yet asserted in our bubbles as ‘fact’ – conditional mindsets based on systems of thought. Yet, as a result of those that led before me, I’ve grown to look at life through what might seem an unorthodox perspective; making me different in certain ways. The systems and mindsets of those that led me, shaped my outlook and influenced my vision of our society, who I am, and what I could become. However, if I never took the time to think and deconstruct these influences, I might not have been able to break or unlearn the stereotypical moulds of society, help break new ground or lead people in a new way.

If we consider that influence can be built through trusted thoughts, could it be possible that our perceptions have removed our actual identity from whom we think we are? It is so easy to suppress who we are (including our talents) because we are different than what is supposedly the social norm. Further still, worldly influence seeks to force us all to conform to previous orthodoxies that no longer hold fast for a multicultural society.

Imagine that your mindset is a structure comprised of thoughts; and that those thoughts are constructed from influential words and experiences from meaningful and trust-centred relationships (this includes fear). Would it be beneficial to reflect on these? Could you be unknowingly harbouring thoughts that are causing you to suppress who you are?

Why is this important? Well, in a sea of autonomous, repetitive, conditioned behaviour of others, differentiation required to truly lead can be found in those that do not conform.

Please do not get me wrong, I’m not advocating for rebels without a cause. However, I’ve observed people suppress their legitimately valuable, unique, and relevant skills to ‘fit in’. And so, to drive impact as a leader, I would strongly encourage one to seek to accentuate their talents to make them uniquely relevant, transparently human, and authentic.

But doesn’t that just drive individualism? The battle to be yourself isn’t about individualism – it’s about learning how you can make your best contribution & impact in teams, community or society; whilst intentionally leaving space to help others amplify their light on the journey of change.

It’s worth noting that the complexities of life mean that certain mindsets are temporally relevant to get through a phase – such as family and friends preparing me for the reality of being a black, African, Christian with a hard to pronounce name in a western society that saw me first as black, and ‘not from here’. However, as one arrives ‘in the room’ those propelling words of advice can create a sense of feeling like an imposter and needing constantly to prove why you are ‘in the room’. I needed to confront this head-on and filter insecurities borne through having to work considerably hard to get into the room and be taken seriously, from legitimate bias and microaggressions that should be called out for what it is.

It’s about becoming the leader you were created to be. Different. Authentic. Relevant. Inspirational. This is what makes leaders impactful. We all have different stories; it’s important to share yours.

What are your sources of inspiration?

I find inspiration in many things. For example, watching the intricacy of nature whilst I’m gardening, or the reminder to value every breath of life as I cried ‘joyful-heart-tears’ when I saw our 28-week old son breathing in an incubator for the first time. However, undoubtedly my greatest inspiration is Jesus Christ. It is through his example that I note the importance and power of humbly using one’s position of power and influence to help lead people through serving them. I openly confess that I find more joy in supporting the collective success of my colleagues and teams than in my own achievements.

There is nothing quite like the feeling of helping others. As an example, I’ve been very fortunate to represent and support the AACN over the years, from panels to events, recruitment drives, conferences, training coach, content articles, ambassador and advocate, etc. Amongst other activities, I am currently the Recruitment lead working with various colleagues across Accenture UKI to help improve the AACN experience of recruitment. Additionally, I founded an initiative called Accentuate which, though in it’s infancy, seeks to help people see the value of being different as a way to unlock relevant future opportunities for learning, growth and experience. Imagine you could hone your authentic mix of transferable talent as a means of uniquely differentiating yourself?

Thinking more broadly, a few other sources of inspiration that I note when reflecting are the following:

1. Battle for the liberty to be me…human: This is a daily beautiful struggle that comes with remembering that we are human by design and therefore perfectly imperfect. This awareness of self and others provides a source of authentic empathy.
2. We are uniquely, beautifully and wonderfully made, yet, equally human: Despite the seeming paradox, I dare to continue to dream of creating environments of belonging where no-one is made to feel less human as a result of being different.
3. My inabilities: I love the reality check and confidence I get when I discover or see my inabilities. Why? It reminds me that I wasn’t made to be an island – I can’t do everything myself, but more importantly, it helps me celebrate the talents in others and encourages me to be vulnerable to create space for others.
4. Yes, Technology enables, but we are first disruptively and meaningfully human: I’m passionate about helping people, not just customers but colleagues also. I love being able to contribute as a dreamer and a maker – being held accountable to ensure that I coach and deliver on releasing valuable change. It’s not about speed, it’s about flow and the timely business agility to respond in a relationship with relevant meaningful interactions.

What’s your legacy and what kind of impact would you like to leave?

I once watched a film called ‘Love, Wedding, Repeat’ and remembered the following poignant statement which I will paraphrase – “if one tiny thing in history changed, you might not be here”. I realised that within this statement lay the essence of cause and effect. Do you notice the paradox of leadership? Leaders in every age are reliant on those that led before them; so leaders both lead and have been led.

If we double-tap further, we notice that to lead one must have first experienced what it means to follow. Why? Because no leader is an island – each has been influenced and ignited to lead change, by first being led in change by another. In that journey of being led by another, we begin to learn the type of leader we want to be.

To that end, thankful for the steps taken by leaders before me, and clear that my perspective is only partial, I look to leave a legacy on the sobriety of equality in humanity. Wherein, people celebrate being different, each other’s differences, and encourage communities where we consider first the liberty in treating others in the way that we would like to be treated despite our differences. I seek to create a diverse cohort of forerunners – people attuned to the ethos of ‘Humble. Excellent. Service’.

I will leave you with one thought, imagine if we are all but a footnote on the pages of time, will anyone cite our contributions during our transient moment in time?

#thinkbiggerthanself #thereismoretothisstory