Why Mindful Exclusion Is Important To Inclusive Leaders [Interview with Justine Lutterodt]

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Today I’m speaking with Justine Lutterodt. Justine is a leadership consultant and Founder of the Centre for Synchronous Leadership, she has over 15 years of experience working as a Management Consultant and she is involved with several inclusion related initiatives including the UK Diversity Legal Awards and Workplace Gender Equality Awards

Justine’s focus is on innovative and ethical leadership and she has considerable experience of using this to help organisations that are trying to be more inclusive. I was delighted to speak with Justine so that she could share the benefit of her considerable experience with us.

In todays show we discuss several things including

Why “Mindful Exclusion” is important to leaders
Why people who are different need to “bridge” in order to succeed
The reason why leading an employee resource group tests leadership skills and much much more.

Here’s some of the wisdom that Justine shared:

Mindful Exclusion can lead to better outcomes

Justine suggests that exclusion is a necessary part of the management process but problems occur when leaders do not exclude for the right reasons. Justine explains how inclusion and exclusion are two sides of the same coin:

“Inclusion is great when it’s done well, exclusion is great when it’s done well, in fact when it’s done well they become the same thing”

“Bridging” is required for minority groups to succeed

Drawing on her own multicultural identity, Justine talks describes how being “different” means that individuals have to “bridge” cultural gaps as part of their experience. Justine explains that this process is necessary in order for minority groups to succeed in the workplace:

“People who are different have to bridge, if you want to be successful”

Leading Employee Resource Groups tests leadership skills

Justine describes how employee resource groups are important for modern organisations. In particular Justine explains how leading an employee resource group provides an opportunity for individuals to test their leadership skills.

“Being a network leader is one of the best tests of being a leader because no one has to do what you say”

SHOW SUMMARY SLIDES

If you want a quick snapshot of what the episode is about I’ve created some slides that you may find interesting

THE KEY TAKEAWAY

Exercise your personal choice, despite your bias

Show notes

Here are some selected links to for the resources and reports I discuss in the episode.

Centre for Synchronous Leadership

Walk the Tight Rope

Justine Lutterodt LinkedIn

Centre for Synchronous Leadership Twitter

UK Diversity Legal Awards