Where do values in leadership intersect?

Welcome to Lead With Inclusion! This weekly newsletter is a resource for EVERY professional. Whether you’re a manager ready to be a more inclusive leader, or an employee ready to be a DEI champion in your workplace, inclusive actions lead to inclusive outcomes. Leading with inclusion simply means starting with inclusive actions in everything you do. It means identifying the areas where bias is at work, and shifting mindsets to make change. 

If you’re not sure where to begin, start here.

If you've been reading what I have been writing about over the past few months, you will notice I have been focusing on the actions of leaders. Obviously, this publication is literally titled Lead With Inclusion, but with the decisions that have been made by recent ‘leaders’ who are leaders in title, but not action, I thought I should explain my reasoning a little further.

Some of the examples I have highlighted have been those of Unilever and their removal of Ben and Jerry's CEO, Columbia University and the loss of $400 million in federal funding, which still resulted in the University President having to step down, as well as the various actions of the politicians in Washington D.C. which I’m not even going to attempt to unpack right now. And what you don't know, is I have been in dialogue with the CEO of SHRM about values-aligned leadership because we seem to have a difference of opinion. So, I'm coming to you to ask you for yours.

In July 2024, SHRM announced they were dropping the acronym of “IE&D” and instead moving to an acronym of “I&D”. Ironically, their stated goal was to “lead with inclusion, because we need a world where inclusion is front and center.”

It makes me wonder if the leaders at SHRM have been reading this newsletter – but I realized they could not have possibly ever read a word, because if any of them had, they would know that changing acronyms is performative and pointless. What does matter, is action.

Speaking of action. SHRM purchased CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion in October 2024 from PwC and when speaking of the purchase, the CEO of SHRM stated, “This is more than a business transaction—it’s a defining moment in leadership transformation.” Hmmm . . . it seems to me they removed the “E” from DEI at SHRM to make it easier to integrate CEO Action without having to worry about a pesky thing called ‘equity.’

So, let’s get into equity and values and where that belongs in leadership and HR.

Lead With Inclusion

Equity is a principle that everyone needs to understand. Something may be difficult, but that doesn’t make it impossible, and when it’s important, you definitely don’t stop attempting to accomplish it. SHRM is quoted as stating that the difference between equity and equality was too difficult a concept for people to grasp, so rather than do the right thing (in my opinion, and that of thousands of other professionals), they did the easy thing.

In an interview with HR Brew, Mr. Taylor is quoted as saying “many leaders within SHRM had different opinions on what the “E” stands for: equitable opportunity or outcomes”. I maintain that if the largest HR organization in the world can’t be visionary enough to define equity for the 340,000+ HR professionals around the world who look to them for guidance, it’s no wonder we find ourselves in the predicament that we do today.

This was an opportunity for SHRM to provide guidance, definitions, and set a road map for progress. Instead, they gave us regression, excuses and continued pandering to the performative behaviors of leaders around the world.

Be An Inclusive Leader

To be an inclusive HR leader, you have to have courage of conviction and that usually means you first have to have values that you are courageously working to uphold. To divorce values and leadership is to create a group of people with the title of ‘leader’ who blindly follow orders.

And to focus down to HR for a moment, it is the job of HR to create policies that are equitable. If you have HR leaders in your organization who don’t know what equity looks like and can’t define it, I repeat that this is indeed a problem, but it’s one you solve, not one you ignore.

You can be the tactical HR person who simply follows policy, but only when you are part of a team headed up by an HR leader who has ensured said policy(ies) are equitable and fair. HR leaders are supposed to be change agents working to ensure the organization operates within the boundaries of the law and that the culture of the organization is inclusive. You cannot divorce equity from inclusion because you cannot achieve inclusion without equity. Therefore, any policy that claims to focus on inclusion to the exclusion or detriment of equity, will always be performative.

And where do values fit in this evaluation? I expect the values of a leader to be on the side of equity. A good leader works to improve equity across the organization. This doesn’t mean everyone will love the outcome and it doesn’t mean everyone will like the process, but a values-aligned leader can make a clear, concise and convincing argument that their decisions are objectively fair.

The problem, in my opinion, is too many decisions are so capitalistic in nature they can’t ever be fair. Therefore, leaders exchange their values for dollars.  

Agree or disagree? What is your definition of a values-aligned leader?

Need to reflect on your leadership style? Download the Authenticity Audit. It’s a reality check to provide radical reflection.

About Stacey Gordon:

Stacey Gordon is a Bias Disrupter and an unapologetic evangelist for inclusion. As the Founder of Rework Work, she anchors action using change management principles while facilitating mindset shifts. She is a global keynote speaker, Top Voice on LinkedIn and a popular LinkedIn Learning [IN]structor with nearly two million unique learners enjoying her courses.

Want to work with Stacey live? Consider booking her for your next keynote, leadership development meeting or consulting engagement.