Inclusion Unlocked

SECTION 2.3Culture Quadrant: How Do I Cultivate an Inclusive Culture?

The third quadrant of the Inclusive Leader Scorecard moves from team to culture. Growing an inclusive organizational culture is served by the three dimensions of optimism, resilience, and autonomy. All six dimensions from the previous quadrants continue to be just as relevant here. As a business leader, you're responsible for, and are vital to, creating an exceptional culture for a globally diverse array of people to work in. Culture is the hardest aspect of your business for competitors to copy or replicate. Therefore, invest the time, energy, and resources to ensure your culture is not just adequate or good, but extraordinary. As Brian Chesky, co‐founder and CEO of Airbnb, explains, “Why is culture so important to a business? Here is a simple way to frame it. The stronger the culture, the less corporate process a company needs. When the culture is strong, you can trust everyone to do the right thing.”¹

What Is an Inclusive Culture?

In a business context, culture can be described as the system of values, beliefs, and behaviors that underpin how work gets accomplished: “the way things work around here,” whereas “engagement” refers to the level of commitment and fulfillment an employee gets from their work: “how people feel about the way things work around here.”²

Leaders have an outsized impact on their organization's culture, as “The culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior the leader ...