Sounding Off: Leaders must use this time to make a difference

Blair Taylor, Accenture

“We live lives of consequence. We are all leaders. There has never been a better time to make a difference.”

Quote from Blair Taylor, managing director of talent and organization and North American lead inclusion and diversity at Accenture, in a clip from Phocuswright's Diversity in Leadership event this week.

Each Friday, PhocusWire dissects and debates an industry trend or new development covered by PhocusWire that week.

There will be very few company c-suite executives who would admit to showing a lack of leadership over the last 20 months.

They are there, by virtue of their positions, to inspire the workforce when times are tough and when decisive action is required to bring an organization out the other side.

Of course, many employees of companies will say privately that their leadership teams have failed in their responsibilities and staff are simply running from one challenge to another, without a plan in place.

And then there are leaders who might be saying and doing the right thing to keep a company together but are lacking in the wider perspective now needed to bring about some long-lasting change in the industy.

Important issues around diversity and sustainability are the ones that perhaps are not front of mind in the recovery process - but they, arguably, the most important challenges facing the industry.

The former needs addressing simply because it is the right thing to do. The industry must do a more effective job of ensuring its leadership better reflects its customer base and gives under-represented people the opportunities that have not being available until now (either by chance or design).

Sustainability is an equally difficult and complex issue to work through, yet is it one that - without action soon - threatens the very survival of the sector in the medium to long term.

As consumers and the industry's workforce become more aware of the climate crisis that awaits them over the course of the next decade (perhaps even sooner), they will both look to those at the top of the sector for leadership and, most importantly, strategies that acknowledge the mess being created and what will be done about it.