Going beyond DEI. How to 'Lead Bigger' by leveraging inclusion

In the raging battle of over DEI – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – in corporate America, Anne Chow, former CEO of AT&T Business, believes the very starting point is wrong. That is, the acronym itself.

“That's a terrible acronym that simplifies three very important points and concepts,” said Chow in an interview with InvestmentNews. “Diversity, which is, quite frankly, a reality of the modern world. Equity is about fairness. And inclusion is about a set of actions that really work to widen your perspective and involve everyone so that you can have greater performance and greater impact.”

Added Chow: “The misunderstanding is that it's simply about representation of gender and race simply for representation sake, which is fundamentally incorrect.”

Chow focuses on the inclusion part in her new book Lead Bigger. In the book, Chow, who was the first woman of color to hold the position of CEO of AT&T Business in the firm’s 150 year history, reframes inclusion as "the required leadership competency of expanding employee perspectives for greater performance in the office."

Put differently, in today’s interconnected and overly politicized workplace, Chow believes executives need a new approach to inclusive leadership that goes beyond DEI, harnessing its power for innovation and growth.

“The reason why ‘leading bigger’ is better is that everything in the world around us is changing due to technology,” said Chow. “And leadership needs to evolve with the times.”

Reflecting on her own career arc at AT&T, Chow says she started as a network engineer and then proceeded to have 17 different jobs under 26 different bosses during her time there. And she admits there was plenty of adversity along the way. Adversity caused by market pressures, technology and the transformation of the business.

In response, she learned to lean on others – and build.

“I learned how to build connections, relationships with my clients, investors, my people, and as a result we built a culture that would cultivate growth no matter any circumstance,” said Chow. 

She also pushed for greater inclusivity along the way.

“It wasn't that the organization was resistant,” said Chow. “It was more about differences and really learning that differences and diversity actually improve our results and help trigger innovation. And they helped trigger the ability to enter new markets and other things. And so as the world becomes more diverse, leadership must evolve with it.” 

Trying to boost inclusivity can cause friction in an organization. And that’s where leadership comes in, according to Chow.

In her view, every organization and every leader need to start with the purpose of their team’s work. Then they need to establish clarity about their values. And then ultimately, she believes leaders need to be super clear about their stakeholders and understanding the measures of performance to reward those stakeholders.

“Business is all about trade offs,” said Chow. “And leadership is really about gathering people, rallying people, aligning people to go execute something against the common goal. So it's really quite as simple as that.” 

Finally, one can’t be a leader without followers. And from the employee perspective, Chow says they are no looking for “gravitas” from their bosses. In her view, workers are now looking for “authenticity,” “vulnerability” and “relatability.”

“They are looking for confidence, but in a much more humble way,” said Chow. “And they are looking to connect with their leaders in a way that wasn't the case when I started in the workforce back in 1990, in the dark ages. Our people and the future workforce expect so much more, as do customers and investors as well.”