Episode 34: Be a more powerful advocate for change - start with yourself, with Louise Weine

Leadership Amplified by Dr Karen Morley

This is part of the wisdom from my conversation with Louise Weine, CEO of National Association for Women in Operations and is fitting commentary for this International Women’s Day’s focus on embracing equity. Early in her career, Louise learned she needed to check her own leadership style and biases. She worked hard to expand her own circle to have a much more diverse group of mentors, colleagues, volunteers and providers – she saw that she needed to stop going to the same type of people and getting the same answers. She says that a lot of leaders think they're inclusive until they're forced to self-reflect and realise that as human beings we fall into habits that can be exclusionary. We discuss whether we should even be focusing in on women as a diversity target group. The danger in talking about inclusion more broadly is that you might not get to the heart of some fundamental issues that are related specifically to gender. The positive for taking a broader view of inclusion overall is that it's far less divisive; it’s a conversation that everyone’s a part of. Louise says ‘We just want more human-centred workplaces where people consider things from a heartfelt human point of connection first.’ Her suggestions for increasing inclusion put it within everyone’s reach: Become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Through discomfort comes growth. Small, incremental things done by more people make a bigger difference. Be kind and show empathy. What are you doing to Embrace Equity this 2023 International Women’s Day?