INTRODUCTION

The seeds of this book were planted in early 2016 when I became the CEO of Aviall, which at the time was a nonintegrated subsidiary of Boeing. It was my first experience in the role of CEO, and it gave me an opportunity to put a theory I had about leadership into action: growth and change come from clarifying a shared vision, and then prioritizing the empowerment of people at all levels to achieve that vision. Leadership, more than anything, is about helping others be their best. So I asked a lot of questions. I asked the employees how they felt about the company, how well they understood and connected to Aviall’s purpose, and how they thought we could operate in alignment with that purpose and deliver improved results. Through this process, together, we developed a new strategy oriented toward our higher purpose, with an eye toward fostering inclusion in our ranks.

After that, I made available every resource I could and tried to create space for others to lead by staying out of their way. To my great joy (though hardly to my surprise), they achieved remarkable results. Through the efforts and commitment of all our teams, Aviall won awards from GI Jobs and the National Guard for our support of veterans, and from Cigna for the health and wellness of our employees. And because of the work our affinity groups did in the community, we were recognized by the United Way for our commitment to diversity and inclusion. We did this all while increasing the revenues and earnings of a $3 billion company by at least 20 percent every year for three years straight.

Eventually, Boeing elected to integrate Aviall and rebrand it as Boeing Distribution (though, for clarity, in this book, I will continue to refer to the company at this time as Aviall). I helped to lead that rebranding effort, and at the end of it, I moved into a leadership position within a $15 billion supply chain. My new position had its own challenges and opportunities, but given my journey so far—from a small two-year school in upstate New York to the CEO of a multibillion-dollar company—I felt I had something to share. I believed that perhaps, if I told my story, I could inspire other leaders to pursue a new version of leadership, one centered on service, humility, and a commitment to helping others.

I’ve spent many hours reflecting on why Aviall and its employees thrived during that period. I narrowed it down to a few representative moments: the time that our third-shift warehouse workers came up with our new company purpose; the consistent and enthusiastic engagement we received from more than 200 managers, each of whom understood our goals and found creative ways to make their jobs their own; and, more than anything else, all those open conversations with employees at every level I had the privilege to engage in as I’d walk the floor—including the many times that someone told me I was getting it wrong and how I could make it right. I started journaling about these experiences, and eventually my entries formed the foundation of this book.

As I wrote, I realized that diversity and inclusion kept cropping up in my thinking and writing. This made sense—although I’d been pondering questions about inclusion in the corporate world for a long time, my thoughts gained clarity and momentum in 2018. That year, I led a roundtable with a group of new leaders—all diverse, passionate, and highly capable—who expressed deep disillusionment with what they saw in business leaders around the world. They didn’t think that successful leaders shared their values. They felt that most only worked to satisfy the quarterly demands of Wall Street when they should be serving their communities. Several even indicated that if all business leadership meant was boosting shareholder value, then maybe they didn’t want to pursue a career in a traditional setting.

This worried me. Here was an entire generation of principled, intelligent, and caring business leaders who felt excluded. I could understand why. Most big organizations—including Fortune 500 companies and even government organizations—lacked the proper infrastructure to listen to their employees. Even companies that want to understand their employees’ perspectives still used antiquated processes designed for a slow-moving, change-resistant world with limited communication capabilities. These old systems rely on top-down communication that systematically freezes out input from lower levels of the organization. These universally accepted norms privilege those already in positions of power while strangling diversity and inclusion. They also weaken the ability of a business to perform.

The only way to change this internal landscape is through concerted effort and initiative. With my background in engineering and systems analysis, I concluded that we needed to reengineer the mechanism of big organizations, replace the old top-down communication processes with two-way valves that allow for diverse interactions within a company, create space for listening, and encourage greater vision, inspiration, and innovation.

As part of my attempt to reengineer those mechanisms, I started a business coaching company, SUMMi7, that assists small and medium-sized businesses, especially those owned by women, people of color, and veterans, by leveraging our experience to help them scale with purpose. Our mission is to create a more equitable and diverse business ecosystem by providing support and resources to businesses owned by underserved and underrepresented groups. We focus on helping companies find their purpose, which we define as the reason a business exists beyond itself. Purpose naturally centers on customers, but there is often a higher purpose that creates a positive impact for society. We help these businesses scale with purpose and create meaningful impact for customers in a way that is both profitable and sustainable.

Not long after transitioning from the corporate world to the world of entrepreneurship, I began to scratch the surface in understanding the extent of the disadvantages that small and medium-sized businesses face; in particular, businesses owned by people of color and women. At Aviall, we had access to extensive leadership development programs, skills training, capital, and technology, as well as lots of other support. If I encountered a new problem or wanted advice on a specific initiative, I could call on numerous experts from a resource pool of more than 150,000 people in the company or hire consultants. Small and medium-sized businesses have none of that. So I asked myself, “How can I help make this a meritocracy? What can I do to fill some of the gaps for these companies, so that the people with the best ideas who put in the effort are actually the most successful?”

We’ve been working on that ever since. This book is part of that work. I hope it shows you—whether you’re a young entrepreneur, manager, executive, or frontline worker experiencing the same frustrations of the group of disillusioned leaders I met with in 2018—that you can be successful without sacrificing your values.

I have always had a deep-rooted desire to contribute to a purpose: to know that the work I’m doing is clearly aligned with my company’s vision and mission, as well as my own, and that I am making a meaningful contribution to our ability to serve customers and to drive company growth and profits while creating a positive impact in the lives of employees and the community. This is the higher purpose I refer to often throughout this book.

This higher purpose is then fueled when you can lead teams in which all employees are excited to go to work, to perform at their best because they want to, and they are unrestrained and empowered to do so. These inspired people know without a doubt and are able to see clearly that their work is essential to the company’s overall success. They are shown daily how they are valued through support, inclusion, recognition, and compensation. When this higher purpose is met, I have seen time and time again, that businesses achieve new heights of performance and success beyond what was previously thought possible.

As a leader, you just have to remember one thing: It’s not about you. It’s about serving others.

There are three choices all leaders make, whether they realize it or not, that will determine the impact they will have, both in their industry and the world at large:

CHOICE #1: Is leadership about what you can achieve or what you can help others achieve in service of a greater purpose for your customers, community, and society?

I’ve worked for leaders who believed that their personal success trumped their employees’ success. It’s likely you have, too. At one point in my career, I was literally told to “stay in my lane” by a leader whose attitude restrained my development. During those years, it was frowned upon every time I shared new ideas to improve our business, and my career was all but stalled. I’ve also worked for leaders who see the strengths of everyone on their teams, even when their backgrounds and experience are different from their own, and use those combined strengths not only to achieve more but also to improve every team member’s performance.

CHOICE #2: Will you follow the path of others, or will you create a new path, building on the work of others that came before you, leveraging your unique strengths and shaped by your values?

Like many, I spent much of my early career trying to fit the predefined mold of other leaders. I tried to meet their expectations, and I worked hard to fit in. Although this can be a good starting point, it eventually will limit your growth as a person and as a leader. However, I also believe that self-imposed limitations are in our own heads, and a good leader can help you get out of that box, as others have done for me.

CHOICE #3: Will you battle to make your organization more inclusive, by simplifying complexity, being transparent with information, and creating access for everyone? Are you willing to do this even if, in the short term, it seems to put your own career trajectory at risk?

In my experience, employees commit the most to their work when management reduces the barriers to participation in leadership. When our management teams made information more accessible, simplified our processes, and gave people a chance to offer their own points of view, it always led to the best results. However, whenever we did this, it always felt like a risk. Removing complexity, improving transparency, encouraging and celebrating diversity—all of these acts shift the status quo. And to shift the status quo, especially in a way that promotes inclusion, requires you to break institutionalized processes and habits. This always makes me nervous, and, at first, it often felt like a slower, less efficient way of doing things. But it’s not; it’s just an adjustment. Usually, with faith and discipline, it leads to a more streamlined organization with highly effective teams. The end result is a business with unlimited potential and the ability to grow well beyond the previous status quo.

The leaders I’ve seen who respond to these challenges with complacency tend to stall, while the ones who take them on, successfully or not, continue to rise. As Theodore Roosevelt suggested in his famous “Citizen in a Republic” speech, the credit for great deeds belongs to those who try, even if they fail, and not to the critic who sits on the sidelines.

I invite you to read this book with an open mind, to be willing to question what you understand about authority and the role of a leader. I hope that by the time you finish it, you’ll have gained a new perspective. I hope it will inspire you to double down on your commitment to set aside whatever ego and pursuit of glory you might have and engage in the hard work of self-reflection—to find out what you value and to move ahead in your own journey of discovery with the confidence to be yourself at all times.

The work is substantial, but the payoff is that you will find yourself in an organization that is not only absolutely killing it but one you are proud to lead.