The ability to influence people is subjective and wide spread.  Influence is based on the needs, desires, attitudes of people which cannot be pre-determined.  Equally so, people that require leadership are not always accurate about what they need in a leader.  I’m amazed, shocked, and sometimes disappointed at the people that are promoted and followed on social media threads.  Some people may even feel that way about me and my blog, after all, opinions are abundant and often expressed.  The thing that concerns me is that not all of those with influence use it responsibly or use it wisely.

Unfortunately, I’ve worked with numerous people and under diverse leadership, some of which has embarrassed me immensely.  Seriously, some of the people that I’ve worked with or for make me question my very influence and mindset.  Their ignorance is my motivation for ensuring I’m not an employee (even if it is contract) for the rest of my life and hopefully to pass that on to my next generation.

Leadership in the workplace is becoming increasingly abusive, invasive, rude and bias.  It’s quite concerning.  When people stop thinking or being concerned about people as “individuals”, it’s dangerous to society.  Unfortunately, whether we want to admit it or not, we don’t see people as individuals but a collective body according to race, ethnicity and our “hood”.  Yep, I said, “hood”, short for neighborhood, although when most people hear that term, their thoughts turn to that of African-American Community.  However, most people are prejudiced by their immediate influences.  Their ideas about how a person functions, thinks, operates are based upon their own without the option to consider, entertain or even understand the diverse cultures, ethnicities that live and work in the U.S.

The culture of a company is determined by the leaders and managers as well as owners.  When leadership is closed to the cultures that it serves, the treatment of employees becomes abusive.  There is a niche of small companies that continue to run through employees like running water.  Unfortunately, these companies hire quickly, pay decently (not market but better than minimum) which is why they attract employees.   On the flip side, they replace quickly, leave too many employees feeling doubt and ruin the workforce.

There was a time when leadership went through training to learn how to lead and now it’s just a matter of having the ‘financial means’ to be in charge places one in a leadership position, whether he or she is fit to walk in those shoes or not.  Leadership in the workplace impacts the confidence and not to mention the livelihood of employees.

Leadership has a responsibility to treat people with respect without leaning toward our own prejudices and fears against diverse cultures.  Leadership should always attend workshops, get understanding and knowledge from Human Resource professionals to ensure that they continue to grow as people and as leaders.

• Be open to learning and gaining an understanding about how people think individual and not lump them in categories based on ethnicity.
• Remember that most of the ideas we have about other cultures is biased and based on the things the media portrays.
• Be open to learning people
• Do not allow the pains from the past to control future decisions – As an employer, you will always have employees that have to be fired, that may hurt your business or even cause your business problems, but it is more important to not allow those employees to change, alter or hurt current and/or future employees.
• Treat people the way that you would like them to treat you, even if you feel you have more power or means than the people you employ.

Leadership requires people to think beyond their feelings.  Too often leaders don’t do that.  The greatest resource is human resource and mistreatment of human resources means that your business will suffer eventually.