Yield to the Most Vulnerable

In 2016, I visited friends currently living abroad in The Netherlands. One day we drove from their home to a market in Rotterdam. I was blown away by the traffic — tons of cyclists, pedestrians, buses, and cars everywhere you looked! “How do you manage to make it all work without a ton of accidents and deaths?!” I asked. “It’s a lot, isn’t it?!” Ian said. And it was! Even for someone who learned to drive in Boston. “We all yield to the most vulnerable,” he explained. This idea has stayed with me for years as I’ve navigated life personally and professionally, resurfacing earlier this week during an interview with Sisterhood, one of our ERG’s. Asked about leadership lessons I’ve learned over the course of my career, I pointed to this. As leaders, we should always be on the lookout for opportunities to yield to the most vulnerable; to create space for those with less power to share their thoughts and recommendations, and shift that dynamic by amplifying their voices. Whether that imbalance is caused by an employee’s level, geographic location, gender identity/expression, race, physical ability, or even the fact that they’re virtual when the rest of the team is in the room, it’s our job to stop, take in the environment, and yield the floor.

#leadership #inclusion #culture