The Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation and TIED (Talent, Inclusion, Engagement & Diversity) Roundtable hosted the culmination of a yearlong series of Virtual Voices on Thursday, Nov. 18, in an informative discussion around what it means to practice inclusive leadership every day.
Kirsten Vermulen, interim executive director of the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation, moderated the discussion. She was joined by Fran Campbell, CEO of the Asian Chamber of Commerce, Lorii Rabinowitz, CEO of the Denver Scholarship Foundation, and savinay chandrasekhar, CEO of Minds Matter Colorado.
Check out our key takeaways and the video of the webinar below.
The commitment to practicing inclusive leadership is a lifelong journey. Each of our leaders spoke about how their experiences from across their lives informed their desire to lead inclusively. For chandrasekhar, it was visiting family in India as a child and realizing that he won “the ovarian lottery,” being raised in the United States after his mother immigrated to Southern California. Rabinowitz grew up in a multicultural environment in New Mexico, accustomed to experiencing cultures and communities different from her own and not realizing that was not everyone’s background and experience. Campbell, a Denver native, did not fully appreciate the support the Asian American Pacific Islander community had in the region until her community was faced with increased hate crimes and violence in 2019 and 2020.
Check your biases at the door. This work is not instinctive, it is not easy and it will require serious, ongoing self-reflection. For the three leaders who joined us, that means they are constantly checking their own biases. For Campbell at the Asian Chamber of Commerce, this means adjusting to language differences, cultural differences, historical discrimination, priority and generational needs, and levels of acculturation. She knows that leading inclusively starts with her, so she is in an ongoing process to be aware of her biases and do the personal work needed to lead an organization inclusively.
You don’t decide whether you’re inclusive. Others will be the judge of whether you are inclusive. For Rabinowitz at the Denver Scholarship Foundation, that means listening to the feedback of her team members and providing pathways for them to grow in their own inclusive leadership within the organization.
It’s important to lead by example. When chandrasekhar hired a new vice president at Minds Matter Colorado, he quickly realized this would be the individual who could help take Minds Matter Colorado to the next level. To ensure this happened for the organization and its students, chandrasekhar decreased his own salary to make room for Kate Brenan to be named chief operating officer of Minds Matter Colorado, leading to the organization’s most successful year – despite a pandemic – with students accepted into Harvard and Yale for the first time. Sharing power and making space for others enabled this success. If we want systemic change, it begins with the individual.
You can view a list of resources compiled from previous Virtual Voices webinars here. We have started a list of definitions to help frame this and future discussions at Virtual Voices. You can read and download that list here.
This was the last Virtual Voices of 2021, but stay on the lookout in the new year for more ways to engage in this important discussion with the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation and TIED Roundtable.