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Recognizing and leveraging privilege to promote inclusion involves understanding how privilege operates within the organization and using it to create opportunities for underrepresented groups.

 

1. Help managers understand privilege

  • Privilege training: Conduct training sessions on privilege and its impact. Help employees understand their privileges and how to use them to support others. It is also essential for employees to understand how their privilege may harm others (McIntosh, 1989).
  • The Privilege Walk: DEI Facilitators use various illustrations to demonstrate the concept of privilege. While media is great for understanding privilege, an exercise that can get people involved is the privilege walk (Ma et al., 2022). This involves participants visually seeing the “head start” they may have due to privilege to increase awareness.

 

2. Take allyship seriously

  • Ally Training: Develop programs that train employees to be influential allies in a post-heroic world. This includes understanding the experiences of marginalized groups and learning how to support them.
  • Leverage Employee Resource Groups: Establish networks of allies to advocate for underrepresented groups within the organization. These networks can provide support and resources for inclusive initiatives.

 

3. Link leadership with accountability

  • Ensure that post-heroic leaders understand inclusion: Leaders should model inclusive behavior and hold themselves accountable for promoting diversity and inclusion.
  • Intersectional team diversity metrics: Track and report on diversity metrics beyond binary genders and what you may traditionally measure through your HR functions. Keep in mind an intersectional perspective of your employees that may offer dimensions not commonly asked but give them the agency to choose whether to provide the information. A key is including representation at different levels of the organization. Use this data to identify areas where privilege may hinder the organization (Rodriguez et al., 2021).

 

4. Understand your power

  • Though the team helps support post-heroic leaders in being accountable, it does not absolve leaders of their responsibilities. Therefore, it is essential that you, as a leader, maintain accountability for your privilege and power. Here is a set of questions to ask yourself as a leader, manager, or team member.
    – How do I exert influence over others?
    – Who do I have power over?
    – Am I actively championing others?
    – Am I creating space for others?
    – Am I emphasizing co-creation over delegation?
    – Am I asking for and incorporating feedback?

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Embracing the post-heroic leadership model is not just a strategy but a fundamental shift in how we perceive and practice leadership. It calls for leaders to prioritize empathy, collaboration, and shared success over individual accolades. By fostering a culture that values these qualities, organizations can create agile structures that democratize power, promote equity, and leverage privilege for inclusion. The recommendations outlined—promoting post-heroic leadership, empowering through power sharing, and recognizing privilege—are essential to building workplaces where power is distributed and shared responsibly. Organizations will close the power gap through this evolution and inspire a more inclusive, innovative, and resilient future.