Page 12 - 2019 Delegate Assembly Conference

General Session

LEADING AND ENGAGING ACROSS DIFFERENCES

Avoiding the Inclusion Illusion “Do not make your effort in diversity and

Speaker: Charles Weathers, Founder and President, inclusion about checking boxes, dotting Is and
The Weathers Group, and Board Member, Goodwill crossing Ts,” he said. “Diversity is more than just
Industries of the Upstate/Midlands South Carolina, Inc.
(Greenville) a statement. The statement means nothing if we
In his quest to cultivate leaders that lead don’t engage in the practices that are consistent
across differences, no two words infuriate with that statement.”
Charles Weathers more than “those people.”
Inclusion is the next step. Defining it as “where we
He said the mentality of having a scapegoat embrace, encourage, welcome and value those
or perceived group responsible for lack of differences,” Weathers said it’s the work of Goodwill
progress in an organization forms the biggest CEOs to set the tone and create the environment
roadblock to leaders achieving their missions, where every person matters. At the same time,
realizing their visions and making values-based inclusion requires a shift in power, because making
decisions. room for all opinions and perspectives can shift the
dynamic.
“We have a ‘those people’ challenge in our
culture,” Weathers said. “Today, I’m going to Developing the Right Organizational Culture
challenge you to not look at ‘those people,’ but
look at ‘the person.’” Neither diversity nor inclusion matter if Goodwill
CEOs don’t take the time to cultivate the right
Diversity Is the Presence of Differences organizational culture, said Weathers, who is also
a board member of Goodwill Industries of the
As the founder and president of The Weathers Upstate/Midlands South Carolina.
Group, a management consultant firm,
Weathers stressed that words like diversity and Weathers pointed out that after then-Sen. Barack
inclusion cannot be just a corporate statement Obama was elected president of the United States
or content printed on a brochure. Diversity in 2008, a major newspaper ran a headline on the
simply means “the presence of differences,” but election of the first African-American president,
leaders must truly believe in that definition and suggesting we now live in a post-racial America.
adopt it as part of their leadership style if they
want to fully embrace diversity.

“Every time we set a policy,

make a decision or determine

a priority, we are telling

people what our culture is.

Culture determines whether

we have real inclusion or just

an illusion.”

10 — Charles Weathers