At the heart of diversity, inclusion, equity, belonging, and fitting in

A simple question with, perhaps, a not so simple answer. “Is your heart in this work of helping people to value diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging?”.

The best leaders that I know, and have worked with, are people who are led by their hearts. They are aware that their heart is in the important work that they undertake. When they decided that the important work in front of them was work on fitting in, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, they led with their hearts. They approached people and sought solutions from full heartedness, open-heartedness, strong heartedness, and clear heartedness.

Clear heartedness in their leadership demonstrated to those in their organizations and beyond that there was no doubt within themselves about the importance of this work, no wavering, no excuses.

Strong heartedness in their leadership demonstrated determination, the willingness to keep going until the desired state was reached in their organizations.

Open heartedness in their leadership led them to be open to possible solutions, to the wisdom of their people in how to grow and evolve together into the desired state.

And finally, full heartedness showed up as love. Love is as crucial to the development of people, organizations, and systems as it is to personal life.

Is your heart in it?

Now, back to the question “Is your heart in this work of helping people to value diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging”. If your answer is yes, I encourage you to do some journaling about what you currently know about your heart in this work. If your answer is ‘no’ and this has come as a bit of a shock to you, first acknowledge your courage to be honest with yourself. Do your best to answer for yourself “what would it take to turn my ‘no’ into a ‘yes’?”

Go forward with this important work only when you can say yes to your heart being in it.

Photo by Renee Fisher on Unsplash