Role models

It helps to be able to see what is possible

Help your younger team members see their potential.

Representation matters. Role models matter. Members of historically underrepresented groups often don’t have a lot of “people who look like us” to show them what is possible. Make sure your team members don’t have limiting assumptions about themselves. And especially make sure that YOU and the other senior management don’t have limiting assumptions about them, either.

The leaders who bring out the best in everyone on their teams will thrive. The managers who place arbitrary limits on their team members based on “old-school assumptions” or biases will lose a lot a capable talent to better leaders. Look for potential. Give everyone a chance to impress you.

(image: https://www.kake.com/story/49091635/remembering-sally-ride-40-years-after-she-shattered-the-glass-ceiling-on-the-way-to-space)