When it comes to leadership attributes, what are the top attributes in your opinion? Is it motivation? Is it vision? Is it integrity? Most often, the answer to that question emerges from our own experience, or what we have already seen. Rob’s guest today is Darren Isom and Darren explores various aspects of leadership based on his interviews with 25 leaders of color. Darren discusses topics such as: assessing leadership competency, the importance of self-leadership, and the benefits to a collaborative leadership model in nonprofit organizations. What he finds is both interesting and insightful when it comes to this whole issue of how we view leadership and how we develop leaders.
Darren is a partner at The Bridgespan Group, which consults with nonprofits, NGOs, donors, and investors to advance learning and accelerate the impact of their work and philanthropy. Darren co-leads the firm’s commitment to advance racial equity in philanthropy and is also the host of the podcast Dreaming in Color: Creating New Narratives in Leadership.
Darren discusses a recent article he co-wrote, “Lessons on Leadership and Community from 25 Leaders of Color,” published by the Harvard Business Review. He explains that because leaders of color engage the world differently, they can leverage a different set of skills to positively impact the organizations they are a part of. Darren believes that the nonprofit sector is lacking when it comes to properly assessing leadership competency, and that nonprofits need to bring on different players to strengthen their teams. He shares that there is a commonality in the leaders of color, when it comes to where their motivation originates from. Darren explains what self-leadership looks like and why it is so important for the individual to be securely anchored in knowing who they are and what they bring to the table. He recognizes that having a leadership role can be difficult, and offers advice on how to become comfortable in the discomfort. Darren compares a “command and control” style of leadership to a collaborative model of leadership, and shares the many benefits he has seen in nonprofits with the co-leadership model. Finally, Darren explains that while we may be living in chaotic times, that chaos itself can be a sign of winning.
Mentioned:
“Lessons on Leadership and Community from 25 Leaders of Color”
This Episode is sponsored by:
Heller Consulting
Amalgamated Bank
Holly Rustick Grant Writing & Funding
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