The Elephant and the Mouse

Chapter 7The Elephant and Mouse Inclusive Leader

The Elephant and Mouse is fundamentally about how we look at the way organizations and people operate in diverse worlds. There are underlying assumptions built into this book.

The first assumption is that diversity is here to stay as a force and dynamic in our society. It may have fits and starts. It may get pushback from those who do not necessarily agree with how to embrace the changing world. But the world is changing. A company like Intel won't now use law firms with average or below average ratings on diversity. Ten years ago, that was an unthought of, if not unthinkable, criteria. And in the years to come, there will be even more that was unthinkable before as DEI morphs, evolves, and becomes more important. We will continue to learn more about individuals and how they experience the world. Social media continues to bring behaviors that were once unseen or hidden out into the open. Public opinion continues to move and reshape itself. DEI and social justice attitudes and demands can be considered a bellwether of those changes. DEI will force change and be forced by change.

The next essential step for the Elephant and Mouse leader is to move on to inclusion, to equity, to belongingness, to being valued, and to “ownership,” as my colleagues Mason Donovan and Mark Kaplan of Dagoba Group frame it. This ownership notion is that ...