Are You Willing to Do the Work?

To be a truly impactful inclusive leader – whether you're in a "leadership" position or not – who creates cultures of belonging, you need to elevate your consciousness.

This involves raising your self-awareness – understanding who you are, what motivates you, what you care about and why, and how you show up in the world.

And, it involves raising your awareness of other peoples, communities, cultures that are different than yours. Reading, listening, learning, immersing, participating, staying curious and informed and involved in the lives of other people.

If you do neither, you are dormant, ineffective, adding little to no value to the belonging conversation.

If you do the personal work but not the communal work, you are disconnected from reality. You are operating in a vacuum. Your self-actualization has no outlet to serve others and positively impact the lives of others.

Conversely, if you're all about raising your awareness of others without being grounded in who you are, you will be seen as overzealous, inauthentic and distrustful – a savior.

But here's the thing. Raising both your personal and communal awareness takes work. It takes dedication, focus, commitment.

So, are you willing to do that work? Are you dedicated, focused, committed?

Why or why not?