Leading boldly and authentically to drive an inclusive culture by Ebele Kemery

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Leading Boldly and Authentically to Drive an Inclusive Culture: Women Tech Global Conference

Welcome to an exciting recap of a keynote session held at the Women Tech Global Conference featuring Emily Cry- Head of Global Technology, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for JP Morgan Chase.

Meet Emily Cry

Emily Cry is a renowned leader with an impressive track record in the tech industry. At JP Morgan Chase, Emily liaises with over 50,000 technologists, ensuring that there is diversity, equity, and inclusion in technology development and how the firm supports their employees. Her diversity and inclusion programs span across 21 global technology centers. Prior to her current role, Emily was the Global Head of Business Technology Optimization.

A Journey of Bold Leadership

Emily’s journey in leading towards an inclusive culture started in 2006 during her second internship at Lehman Brothers. Emily appreciated the humility, authenticity, and client-oriented approach of the CEO, which eventually attracted her to accept a full-time offer from the company. It was from this experience that Emily realized the impact of authentic leadership. Now, she aims to carry these values into her role at JP Morgan Chase and inspire others with her conviction and courage to change the status quo.

Five Attributes of Authentic Leadership

  1. Purpose: Leaders need to communicate and share their purpose to unite their team.
  2. Integrity: It's crucial for leaders to align their actions with ethical values.
  3. Empathy: Understanding and meeting team members where they are is key to leadership.
  4. Transparency: Honest communication and openness build trust and eliminate suspicion.
  5. Consistency: Consistent behavior reinforces trust and forms a basis of authentic leadership.

Inclusive Culture: A Pathway to Creativity and Innovation

An inclusive culture is not just about representation or diversity. Instead, it revolves around the acceptance, embrace, and utilization of our differences. Emily shared her experience in the Society of Women Engineers meetup, where she felt a strong sense of belonging and community. When employees feel comfortable to express their opinions and share their ideas, creativity and innovation can flourish.

Stepping Towards Bold and Authentic Leadership

Emily highlighted three key steps towards bold and authentic leadership:

  • Confidence in oneself and in one's position as a leader.
  • Creating an organizational culture that supports authenticity.
  • Embodying the five attributes of authentic leadership: Purpose, Integrity, Empathy, Transparency, and Consistency.

She emphasized that nurturing an inclusive culture requires leaders to be self-aware, self-regulate and have emotional control. And consistency is the ultimate proof of authentic leadership.

Emily concluded her inspirational talk with a quote from Simon Sinek on trust, pointing out that building trust is about consistently doing lots of small things that ultimately lead to a bigger impact.

Questions and Answers with Emily

In a Q&A session, Emily expanded on the power of storytelling in leadership and explained how to stay authentic even when you need to uphold company decisions or policies you don't personally agree with.

Final Thoughts

Emily’s emphasis on leading boldly and authentically to drive an inclusive culture is a timely call to action for leaders across all sectors. Beyond just annual diversity and inclusion initiatives or policies, fostering an inclusive culture requires regular and consistent actions from leaders at all levels to engage, involve and value every team member.

As Emily’s inspiring journey shows, authentically leading with purpose, integrity, empathy, transparency, and consistency can drive us to build stronger, more creative, and innovative teams.


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