Jermaine Benjamin
19th October 2022
Navigating Leadership as a Minority
Given we are in Black History Month I thought it useful to add value to a few people by sharing my three top leadership bits of advice for anyone from a minority background on their leadership journey.
Ownership
Firstly, lets acknowledge racism, sexism and various other ‘isms’ exist. Despite this being the case, your development and progression is in your hands and is not a limiting factor to your career. You must have an ownership mentality and if there is a hurdle, barrier, or obstacle to your progression part of your leadership development is to solve this problem. The ability to navigate these obstacles should be seen as an opportunity for you to develop skills other individuals in the majority may not have the opportunity to develop and as such place you at a longer-term advantage.
Adaptability
As a society we are still developing in understanding each other and our different backgrounds. It’s of significant importance we continue to strive for environments where people can bring their authentic selves to work however the reality is this is very much a work in progress. Part of Leadership includes your ability to adapt to environments and facilitate your own progression. As part of adapting, it is possible to maintain authenticity whilst having the capacity to adapt and adopt cultural norms. This requires some skills and if developed can provide you with a significant advantage in relationship building throughout your career and especially when leading teams.
Up skilling
Although this applies to everyone, in certain scenarios you may have had a less advantaged start or perhaps need to navigate certain barrier in certain industries, environments and cultures. One of the strongest ways to overcome these obstacles is an intentional determination to up skills yourself by taking on assignments outside your ordinary sphere inside and outside of work. It’s also crucially important to be intentional about your personal development in your leisure time and to ensure your capabilities, knowledge and experience is far beyond any potential limiting barriers due your race, gender background etc.
Personal development and leadership is a personal passion of mine and these three steps have significantly helped in my career. Should you have any further comments drop me a line I would love to discuss further