Leadership
2020 has challenged and qualified many of the systems through which we understand leadership. Whether in our personal or professional lives, we have faced many, and at times what has felt like, every possible challenge to what we think leaders ought to do in times of crisis. We all have opinions about who they must be to assuage the anxieties of the collective, and how much of themselves they’re allowed to preserve, when the boundaries of the personal and professional are blurred more clearly than ever before — it’s difficult to articulate those boundaries. The temptation might be to assume that unprecedented times necessitate the mustering of Herculean levels of energy and action by leaders to quell the unprecedented levels of uncertainty that will, with no doubt follow. I don’t believe this is the case, and if you’ll allow me a few minutes of your time, I’m going to explore what I think of leadership now as 2020 draws to its end.
It’s no coincidence that I was first introduced to Dame Vivian Hunt’s talk ‘Why Diversity matters’ earlier this year, what struck me from McKinsey’s research is that higher levels of diversity in companies results in better performance and better quality decisions by leaders being made. Intuitively I’ve known that to be true, I’m sure you have as well — but practically I exist in the body of a black immigrant woman, which challenges what the status quo of a professional leader in the western world looks like. So it follows that I’ve second guessed the value I bring to academic and professional settings because I didn’t quite look like I belonged there. Thus it still stands out to me to hear Ms Hunt say that the conclusions drawn by diverse leadership are likely to be of a higher quality, even if the consensus is the same. I suppose hearing that did two things for me, i) it reduced the anxiety that every decision I’ll ever make has to be the right one because I’ve internalised the need to represent all of black womanhood ii) that my voice, cultural fluency and global mindset are absolutely needed in the boardroom.
As I said before, 2020 has challenged what leadership means to us, and I’ve learned through a few examples this year that excellent leadership is first and foremost instinctive in prioritising the humanity of those it comes into contact with. I’ve seen that it is always accountable and it remains teachable. Leadership is not in fact about charging ahead purporting to have figured it all out, but rather it is consciously making space for others to share their experiences in order to enrich your overall direction. Leadership is consistent in honouring what and who could be considered the negligible just as fervently as it does the notable. Leadership, good leadership, listens to learn.
One such example of great leadership took place in the days after this picture was taken. Last week I was racially profiled in my local Boots by the security guard. To cut a long story short, and to respect the privacy of the members of staff involved, I won’t go into many of the details, but I will say that I was wrongfully and publicly accused of shoplifting.
When I got ready that morning and put on my grey jogging bottoms, black hoodie which reads “Black girls are magic” (a gift from one of my friends) and black trainers I honestly didn’t expect that particular outfit to be a detail I’d think about so often since. I can’t help but wonder how much my attire at the time of the incident influenced the experience that I had, I certainly did not look traditionally ‘intelligent’ or ‘classy’ at the time, which should not be of consequence but unfortunately, it was. It’s interesting to me how our presentation paints a picture of who we are to others, which then apparently validates how they believe that they can treat us. The reality of the power of presentation is quite scary when you’re a young black woman or man. It’s also rather exhausting because you are constantly self-policing, and need to qualify even the simplest day-to-day decisions (like what to wear to run errands) to ensure that others don’t feel threatened, uncomfortable or suspicious of you.
This unfortunate experience was a very intimate reminder to me that just as the places I go to shop have served as the habitual background of some of my experiences, how I’ve presented myself in those spaces has validated or challenged other people’s perspectives of who I may be as a young black woman, whether I belong there and what my motivations are. Boots has been a part of many of my stories but I’ll never forget this particular day because my authority to be in charge of my own experience was objected to and that’s quite unconscionable.
I include this here because there may be some of you reading this who may have seldom considered that the impact of the silent decisions you make about other people will be significant. I implore you to think again.
One thing about me, is that the quality of leadership that made me who I am today prepared me to know that my voice always matters, and more importantly to know when to wield it and when to yield it. I’m reminded of Michaela Coel in a recent interview when she said “I was told very early on that there is power in the word no[…]we will never really know for sure whether we’ve said no at the right time or yes at the right time, but we just have to pay attention to how we feel”. When I walked away from Boots that day, upset and humiliated, the primary dichotomy I faced was whether to do anything about what had just happened. I was conflicted because I didn’t want there to be negative repercussions for the security guard who is a black key worker, particularly if those repercussions would do nothing to productively educate him on the impropriety of his behaviour. I decided that I had to wield my ‘no’, I had to do something to rewrite the social narrative that tried to placate me by saying “these things happen, just let it go”, because they really shouldn’t.
When I reached out to the Boots UK President and Managing Director Sebastian James I honestly didn’t expect that I’d receive a reply at all, let alone one the next morning. I didn’t think that within 24 hours of submitting my complaint that I’d have received a call from Julie Murphy the Head of Customer Experience at Boots UK thanking me for reaching out, apologising for my experience and assuring me that she’d work diligently to investigate it. She went on to say that it’s important that they are informed of incidents such as this, and in that moment I knew that I had done the right thing to say no and to pay attention to how I felt. I’ve learned that we all have a responsibility to engage with those who lead in order to afford them the opportunity to respond appropriately and considerately. During the first and subsequent conversations with Ms Murphy I have truly been listened to, have been treated with respect and felt seen not only as a customer but as the multifaceted individual that I am.
What was also interesting to me on that afternoon is that individuals including members of staff and customers suggested that I walk away and pick my battles as the outcome I wanted was unattainable — as though they could assume the fullness of my expectations. Comparing these responses to those by senior management made me realise that such a disconnect between the people on the frontline and those in senior leadership (which I’ve seen in many different settings), presents a valuable opportunity for that gap in stakeholder engagement to be bridged and for a sense of ownership of the brand values to be reinforced.
Remember that these are the companies that are in the stitching of so many of our stories, they’re there for our milestones and also for the mundane. In instances such as this where trust is damaged I’ve learned that leadership, true leadership, can and will humbly acknowledge fault, follow the due processes and acknowledge that the onus of cultivating opportunities to improve the experience of all parties is on them.
This was not at all what I expected when I walked into the store that day, but I can say that due to the openness of members of the senior leadership team who I’ve been in contact with, the result has been far more productive than what I could have imagined. I’m comforted to be able to have learned how to become a better leader through my interactions with Ms Murphy and Mr James and will strive for my career to be one which ensures that my voice is used to prioritise the humanity of others, uplift them and encourage them to do the same.
I could have walked away and been angry, with time I’m sure that anger would have morphed into silent decisions about other people, without giving them the grace that they deserve. The danger with doing that is that I could have projected that anger towards other security guards and other people in positions of authority. Thinking back to where we started and that diversity of thought brings about better conclusions, choosing anger would’ve limited the quality of my decisions as a future leader about myself and others, and that’s just not good enough.
If I can leave you with anything, I’ll leave you with this; to those of you aspiring to be leaders I encourage you to avail yourself to understanding and honouring the weight of managing not only employees and colleagues but lives and experiences. To those who are leaders already, please remain teachable and note that though very little at your helm may seem clear cut, there is a huge wealth of knowledge in your colleagues of all levels.
