Inclusive Leadership – Swim with Wild Ducks

June 17, 2025 - Anil Jalali

There is a strong emphasis on fostering diversity in progressive organizations, yet many struggle with the practical implementation of “inclusion,” where rubber meets the road.

Inclusion is about making conscious efforts in weaving an organizational fabric that welcomes, nurtures and leverages diversity.

Measuring diversity and inclusion, alongside empowering managers with actionable data and insights, lies at the core of unlocking the business advantages of a diverse workforce.

Key Focus Areas for Leaders

Be Inclusive in Recruiting

Seek potential candidates across a diverse talent spectrum for all positions to ensure the best fit for each role. Form diverse assessment panels, trained to identify and mitigate unconscious biases.

Adopt a long-term hiring perspective that evaluates candidates against behaviors integral to the organization’s continued success.

Learn and Educate

Organizations that invest in training on unconscious bias, harassment prevention, and leadership advocacy for diverse groups often excel in fostering inclusion.

These groups may include women, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+, neurodiversity individuals, generational diversity, and anyone offering unique perspectives.

One notable anecdote from my experience involved a woman leader who shared an incident: upon her introduction as part of the leadership team, a male colleague remarked, “Oh, you’re the diversity representative in the leadership team.”

This comment underscored the challenges of genuine inclusion.

Drive an Inclusive Culture

Support employees equitably across diverse talent pools. Evaluate career advancement opportunities, performance assessments, and job quality to ensure fair representation in leadership, management, and core competency roles.

Effective representation across levels and roles determines the ability of diverse groups to meaningfully influence organizational directions.

Measure, Engage, and Support

Identify the unique needs of diverse groups and ensure their voices are heard. For instance, assess requirements for accessibility, flexibility, and unique learning orientations.

Measure inclusion at the smallest possible unit, share analytics at the unit level, and cultivate ownership and understanding of the metrics involved.

Swim with Wild Ducks

During my time at IBM, I encountered the concept of “wild ducks,” a term embodying diversity, innovation, and original thinking.

Across organizations, leaders often struggle to retain and support these “wild ducks.” Inclusive leaders display self-awareness and actively seek out individuals who think differently.

They welcome strong opinions, view challenges as opportunities rather than threats, and provide these individuals with the wings to soar.

Empowering wild ducks is foundational to inclusivity.

Inclusion is about you being able to bring “who you are to work” and not “who others want you to be”.

Unravel New Possibilities and Discover pathways to professional growth and transformation. Learn and embody new behaviors and actions that uniquely serve you and your goals.