Great Leaders Know They Need to Do This One Thing

How often do we let the one percent of ‘bad apples’ dictate the way we lead the other 99 percent? Is it possible we do this unknowingly at times?

I have recently spent time outside of the United States. I have been in places where I am most definitely the minority in language, color, and culture, yet everywhere I looked, I saw the same thing I see at home. Other people who only want the best for their family and to find a level of success they can be proud of. I see strangers caring for their children no different than I do as a parent. I see them laugh, I see them smile at others, I see them offer helping hands to others they don’t know. I see humans being humans.We, that’s the collective human we, have more in common than we allow ourselves to realize. The greatest leaders can see this and work to connect the strengths of our multicultural world. The best leaders embrace diversity in thought, culture, and experiences to learn and grow themselves and those around them. They do not allow the misdeeds of the few to spoil the possibilities of the many.There are bad apples out there. I encountered this fact as well. I had my backpack stolen in a train station in Milan, Italy. I lost passports, computers, clothes, and other small items. I could choose to believe that every Italian was the same and become pessimistic about who they are. Instead, I have found the vast majority to be caring and interested only in connecting to me as a person. I have met couples from multiple countries that when sharing stories could be in Any Town, USA. They speak about their kids no differently than I speak about mine. My wife and I laugh with these strangers about stories we have experienced as well. To believe that any group of people is unique in their desire to find success in life is a lie. And a dangerous one at that. When we close ourselves off and believe that other people or cultures could not align with our thinking of what success might look like, we leave so much potential on the table.Leaders that connect with those they serve come to understand what is and isn’t most important to them. Aligning those thoughts helps to build engagement and strengthen the influence of the collective group. This thought process can serve leaders in any environment, whether it be in a business, a school organization, or any of the social movements we have seen recently. The best leaders know they must be open to other’s perspectives and feelings. They must empathize with their situations and then provide insight into the possibilities that exist.As leaders, we must seek out the voices of those around us and not just the ones that look like us, sound like us, or grew up in the same place. Many workplaces speak to the importance of having a diverse makeup of people within it, but at times this is misguided or merely lip service. Diversity is not a metric to achieve, it is the connection of people that makes reaching our full potential possible.How can you reach out to others today to understand their beliefs better? Share your thoughts in comments.Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash