Leading the Leaders
Fortitude Consulting believes a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce lies firmly in the hands of America’s organizational leaders. But they must be trained—and willing—to lead.
Leaders today carry heavy loads. They’re not only navigating the century’s darkest health crisis, but they’re also fumbling through the mechanics of an increasingly diverse workforce. They’re often overwhelmed with where to start—or, worse, fearful of getting it wrong.
“Diversity is a sensitive topic where good leaders often become very wimpy,” says retired Colonel John Boggs, founder of Fortitude Consulting. “They don’t know what to do, so they shove it off to diversity training. But this is not a training issue.
Training doesn’t work. Building a more diverse and equitable workforce is a leadership issue.” With a passion for effective leadership and more than three decades of military and civilian leadership to his name, Boggs is on a mission to equip leaders to make systemic change.
“If you want to move your organization in a direction that is more fair, diverse, and equitable, it starts with you, the leader,” Boggs says.
GETTING UNCOMFORTABLE
When Boggs sits down with a new client—perhaps a Fortune 500 CEO, a startup founder, or someone in between—the conversation often begins like this: “I am not a racist, and neither are you.” With that, he sets the expectation for honest, unfiltered, two-way dialogue.
“If we’re not willing to get uncomfortable, we’re not going to move forward,” he says. “We’re going to talk about your bias as a leader and how it shows up in your organization—and we all have bias. We’re going to strategize how to create change, and then you’ll have to do it. I’m here to help you build the mental fitness to do the work. Words are nice, but actions scream.”
A strategy designed by Fortitude Consulting might examine the minority and gender representation of a company’s C-suite, then design steps toward increasing that ratio. Or it might suggest new rules regarding fair and respectful workplace behavior. The leader’s duty is to then model and enforce those rules.
“The rules must apply to everyone across the board, without exception, period,” says Boggs. “You cannot change what’s in people’s hearts, but you can enforce rules that change behavior.”
SELECTIVE BY DESIGN
The Fortitude Consulting team boasts over 535 years of collective leadership expe-rience and over 13,000 hours of leadership development and coaching. Team mem-bers and clients are both hand-selected by Boggs, and not everyone makes the cut.
“I won’t work with everyone. If my services are merely a diversity checklist, and if clients don’t truly care about leading effective change, then I won’t work with them. I don’t care how much they can pay me,” he says.
It’s this brand of blunt, transparent, passionate advocacy that has earned Boggs the respect of colleagues and clients alike. “The people who work with me are good at what they do, but they’re willing to do the work to be great,” he concludes.
