This is the first KFair Mentoring Tip in a series of monthly insights to provide guidance and encouragement for mentors and entrepreneurs. To keep with October’s theme of women entrepreneurs, this month’s mentoring tip is about diverse leadership.
To keep it short, WE NEED IT!
According to Tracy Williams from Unsectored:
“It is important for the leadership of organizations to appropriately reflect the demographics of the population it seeks to serve…and understands the culture, unique pressures and obstacles…”
As you may know, I spent the last week at an Opportunity Collaboration workshop in Ixtapa, Mexico. The goal of this workshop? To introduce global leaders in social change to one another! The diverse group of people present at this workshop not only led to valuable connections, but also new perspectives, talents, and thought processes we can all learn from.
Again, Williams talks about a similar goal with her call for diversity in thought leadership:
“When combating complex interconnected social problems…leaders are needed from various backgrounds to attack the problem innovatively.”
Her three steps for increasing diversity in leadership roles:
- Invest in Talent
- Build a Leadership Pipeline
- Build Networks across the Sectors–not only across public, private, and non-profit sectors, but sectors of individual identity as well!
Young, African-American girls need to see older, professional women who look like them succeeding in leadership roles! That has been the continuous message this month. By seeing black women as leaders, they will start to see themselves as developing leaders and act as such. You can help support our youth by taking on leadership roles yourselves, or by electing others for leadership positions.
Let’s change the system!