REDESIGNING LEADERSHIP FOR REAL BELONGING Leaders often say that people are their greatest asset, yet too many workplaces overlook marginalised talent. If we want to have organisations in which people can truly thrive, we must redesign leadership itself, not just use token slogans, says Marcelle Moncrieffe-Newman
M y work in executive HR and board roles has taught me that most leaders do not wake up intending to exclude. Yet the impact of their decisions can be systematically unequal, especially for racially diverse colleagues and other under-represented groups. My book, One Step Forward, Two Steps Black names this reality as the “ethnicity career progression gap”, the yawning space between what talented Black professionals contribute and the lack of opportunities to progress. Moving from intent to impact means treating inequity as a performance risk, not a public relations threat. When progression data shows marginalised groups concentrated at entry level, leaders must respond with the same urgency as any other material risk. In addition, inclusion must be positioned as a line-of-sight issue. Every executive should be able to explain, with evidence, how their part of the organisation is narrowing progression gaps, not simply how many awareness sessions have been run. Accountability needs to be hard-wired; clear metrics on recruitment, promotion, attrition and pay, broken down by race, gender and other characteristics, need to be discussed routinely at board and executive level, not just in an annual diversity report.
redesigning talent processes in a corporation, involve those most affected in co-creation, testing and evaluation. When you can describe your culture from the vantage point of your most excluded colleagues, you can finally seek to change it.Ethnicity career progression gaps do not emerge by accident; they are the result of seemingly neutral decisions that cumulatively advantage some and disadvantage others. These include who gets informal feedback, who is invited into high-profile projects, or whose mistakes are forgiven as ‘stretch’ versus being labelled as proof of a lack of fit. The leaders who make the greatest progress focus on three disciplines. We need to clarify what ‘ready’ looks like; vague criteria such as ‘gravitas’ or ‘fit’ are breeding grounds for bias. Leaders must define role-relevant capabilities and behaviours and align assessment processes. Moreover, access to career-changing opportunities should not depend on an informal ‘tap on the shoulder’; organisations must re‑engineer career pathways. It is not enough to diversify graduate intakes if the senior leadership cadre remains unchanged a decade later; talent management and succession planning should be tracked to address blockages. A thriving organisation is one where individuals see a credible future for themselves and can trust that advancement is earned, not earmarked.
Organisations in which everyone can thrive are those that have leaders who understand that equity is not a ‘nice to have’, but rather a non-negotiable condition of sustainable performance. One of the central arguments in my book is that you understand an organisation’s true culture not by listening to its most powerful voices, but by paying attention to those who experience the greatest barriers. When Black employees describe being overlooked for stretch assignments, talked over in meetings, or scrutinised more harshly than their peers, they are telling you how your systems really work. DEI RULES TO REPLICATE For business schools, companies and organisations, this has three primary implications: • Centre lived experience as evidence: anonymous qualitative data, listening circles, in-depth interviews and exit interviews should sit alongside surveys and KPIs. Patterns in these testimonies often raise issues that dashboards miss. • Recognise ‘cultural tax’: under- represented staff are frequently asked to mentor, sit on panels and join every inclusion committee, often without time in lieu, recognition or advancement. Leaders must quantify and redistribute this hidden workload. • Design with, not for, marginalised groups: whether you are reshaping curricula in a business school or
36 Business Impact • ISSUE 2 • 2026
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