culture of inclusion Archives

In today’s high-stakes, high-performance industries, from finance and law to tech and consulting, one often-overlooked leadership skill can quietly make or break teams, productivity, and profits: respect.

Workplace incivility, or persistent disrespect, now costs U.S. businesses a staggering $2 billion per day, according to Gallup estimates. That’s not just a human problem – it’s a bottom-line problem. A Harvard Business Review study found that 50% of employees who experienced workplace incivility reduced work effort, and 12% left their jobs.

And for women in leadership roles, the stakes are sometimes higher. When we lead, we’re often scrutinized more harshly and held to different standards. But we also have a powerful opportunity to model a leadership style that encourages loyalty, psychological safety, and measurable success.

As the former CEO of Syms Corp., the first off-price retailer of its kind, I learned early on that cultivating respect wasn’t a luxury. It was a leadership imperative. In a male-dominated industry, I rose to become the youngest female president of a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. And I did it by building a culture where people felt seen, valued, and heard. That’s still rare. But it shouldn’t be.

In my upcoming book, Leading with Respect, I argue that creating a workplace grounded in dignity is no longer optional – it’s the most sustainable way forward in today’s anxious, fast-moving professional landscape. With 31% of employees feeling disengaged, according to Gallup, now is the time for leaders to focus on improving performance, collaboration, and retention.

Below are five ways women executives can lead with respect and reshape the cultures they’re part of, from the top down.

1. Set the Tone Early and Often

Respect starts at the top. Leaders who model respect and inclusion empower others to do the same. If you ignore microaggressions, tolerate dismissiveness, or let egos dominate meetings, your silence sets the tone. So does your presence.

Whether you’re onboarding a new analyst or presenting to the board, show up in a way that centers clarity, presence, and attentiveness. Respect isn’t about being “nice” – it’s about creating space for everyone to contribute meaningfully.

In team meetings, implement a simple practice of rotating who leads or facilitates. This democratizes airtime and signals that hierarchy doesn’t override value.

2. Listen Like It’s a Leadership Skill (Because It Is)

Too often, leadership is associated with speaking. But in high-performing firms, real power comes from listening. Employees, especially those in early or marginalized career stages, might not volunteer truth unless they trust you’re genuinely open to hearing it. And we know women are interrupted 50% more often than men in professional settings, so let’s interrupt that pattern with active listening. This also builds psychological safety, which makes employees feel more comfortable. When people feel heard, they stay engaged. When they don’t, they quietly check out.

Replace “Any questions?” with “What’s not clear yet?” or “What am I missing from your perspective?” These prompts unlock better dialogue and better data.

3. Respect Boundaries – Yours and Theirs

Respect also means knowing when to pause. In industries where overwork is normalized (“hustle culture”) and availability signals loyalty, boundary-setting can feel risky. But leaders who respect their own limits model sustainability. And those who acknowledge their team’s personal and professional boundaries earn deeper trust.

It’s especially vital for women leaders to reclaim time and enforce boundaries as part of workplace culture, not despite being ambitious, but because of it.

Normalize “focus hours” on team calendars. Publicly support people who decline late meetings or take full parental leave. Set the example without apology.

4. Reward Integrity Over Optics

Too often, loud performers get the spotlight while quiet excellence goes unnoticed. If your culture rewards only visibility, you risk alienating the very people who keep your business running with consistency and integrity.

Women leaders are uniquely positioned to challenge performative cultures by rewarding substance over showmanship. Promote those who lift others, not just themselves.

In performance reviews, build in metrics for collaboration, mentorship, and ethical decision-making, not just revenue or output.

5. Be Explicit About Inclusion and Act on It

Don’t assume that respect will trickle down. Cultures of inclusion must be intentionally built. That means regularly reviewing who’s in the room, who gets airtime, and who’s being overlooked.

When women in leadership elevate others, especially across lines of identity and background, we disrupt exclusionary systems that thrive in silence.

Create sponsorship programs, not just mentorship ones. Advocate for underrepresented voices when promotions, stretch projects, or visibility opportunities arise.

Respect Isn’t Soft; It’s Smart

In the boardroom, courtroom, or C-suite, respect is not a sentiment. It’s a strategy. And while it costs nothing to implement, it pays dividends across every business metric that matters. According to Deloitte, leaders who model respect and inclusion significantly outperform those who don’t.

For women in leadership, leading with respect is also a form of defiance. It says: I don’t have to emulate toxic models to succeed. I can build something better, and I can bring others with me.

In a world where too many companies are quietly cracking under the weight of incivility, women executives have the power and responsibility to lead differently. To lead with respect.

By: Marcy Syms is a social entrepreneur, philanthropist, and the former chair and CEO of Syms Corp., the first truly off-price retail chain in America. Her forthcoming book Leading with Respect: Adventures of an Off-Price Fashion Pioneer (Citadel // August 26, 2025) explores how respect-focused leadership fuels performance and purpose in today’s workplace.

(Guest Contribution: The opinions and views of guest contributions are not necessarily those of theglasshammer.com)

Over 2/3 of companies say that DEI work is critical, and the conversation these days centers on fostering cultures of inclusion to support the diversity of workplaces we need to have, do have and will have – if organizations are optimizing potential. Organizations are increasingly aware that “diversity without inclusion is exclusion.”

According to a new Bain report from a survey of 10,000 people (4,500 women) in seven countries entitled “The Fabric of Belonging: How to Weave an Inclusive Culture,” most people agree on what inclusion looks and feels like, but what actually creates the outcome of feeling fully included is more complicated – not only to organizations, but also to individuals, themselves.

Inclusion is Nearly Universally Defined, But Rare?

We all want to belong, but how we get there, together, can feel enigmatic and the solution is far from a one-size-fits-all approach. People, regardless of individual identities, levels and experiences – describe what inclusion feels like and what it looks like in very similar, nearly universal ways.

When it comes to what inclusion feels like, the researchers define inclusion as: “the feeling of belonging in your organization and team, feeling treated with dignity as an individual, and feeling encouraged to fully participate and bring your uniqueness to work every day.” When it comes to what it looks like, people to tend to come together on the notion that an inclusive organization is diverse and where people are heard, valued and supported. Other research has shown that we feel inclusion only when our needs for both uniqueness and belongingness are met.

While people hold a universal ideal of what inclusion means to them, one of the most “stark” takeaways Bain asserts is that the majority of employees – regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation – do not feel fully included (less than 30%), including those we tend to regard as most favored by the system and in positions of influence and power (straight white men). And no one demographic indicator can predict who feels excluded.

However, as Bain points out, “Even though the feeling of inclusion is fundamentally the same across groups, our research shows that the lived experience of inclusion is driven for various groups by a diverse variety of factors.”

To add some grounding, too, another perspective is that inclusion is really a net effect of day-to-day interactions, and individuals in particular groups experience acts and outcomes of exclusion far more frequently than individuals in other groups. In Forbes, Gaudino writes that “inclusion is invisible to those who enjoy it, because inclusion reflects the absence of negative incidents that make one feel excluded.”

Among the many examples we could draw on, McKinsey notes that black employees are 23% less likely to see there is support to advance and 41% less likely to view the promotion process as fair. Or consider that 59% of black women reported never having a casual interaction with a senior leader, versus 40% for all men and 49% for all women. Or that Asian American women have been the least likely group to experience being promoted to management.

If the experience of feeling “fully included” is pretty low in general, the evidence of exclusion is still highly punctuated for individuals in particular groups.

Feeling Included Matters For Individuals and Organizations

Amidst The Great Resignation, the feeling of inclusion is important to retention. Women who feel excluded at work are 3 times more likely to quit. Employees experiencing low inclusion are up to six times more likely to actively pursue new jobs compared with those in similar demographics experiencing high inclusion.

On the flip side, Bain found that approximately 65% of people across identity groups view an inclusive environment as “very important when considering new roles.” Employees who do feel fully included are much more likely to promote positive word of mouth about their organization. People in more inclusive environments, where psychologically safety is present, are more likely to innovate, challenge the status quo, and bring new ideas to the table. Bain argues the gains in creative thinking from inclusiveness are much greater than increasing diversity alone.

Just What Creates Inclusion?

Not surprisingly, the researchers found people hold different deep-seated notions on what creates inclusion, and those beliefs can clash in ways that create strong discomfort.

What is even more critical is that individual’s perceived notions of which “behavioral” and “systemic changes” would create more inclusion do not always match up to what actually drives impact or the experience of inclusion, so leaders are advised to “listen first for problem identification, not solution design.”

As an example, black women’s perception of how certain enablers are important to their sense of inclusion matched up 55% of the time – high perceived enablers corresponded to actual high impact on their sense of inclusion and same with low perceived enablers. But enablers such as “open and honest communication” and “coaching and professional development” were undervalued in perception, relative to how highly they were attributed to feeling a sense of inclusion for black women. And enablers such as “engagement check-ins” and “team feedback sessions” were overrated in perception relative to how attributed they were to feeling a sense of inclusion.

In inclusive cultures, people feel able to be authentic and supported to fulfill their potential, and Bain found that a common denominator of inclusion for everyone is opportunities for professional development and growth – in which there is much room for more equitable access to opportunities – and where employers can focus effectively.

When it comes to what individuals truly need, or different demographic groups, Bain emphasizes a data-informed intersectional approach that incorporates geography, demographics, and seniority to understand how to identify the systemic and behavioral enablers that can increase a sense of inclusion.

Other research has also indicated that inclusive leadership is fundamental, as Bourke and Titus point out: “what leaders say and do makes up to a 70% difference as to whether an individual reports feeling included.” They found the most important factors in cultivating a culture of inclusion are leadership commitment and demonstrating a visible awareness of the bias within oneself and the organization.

Ultimately, everyone wants to feel a sense of both authenticity and belonging and like they have access to the opportunity to thrive and fulfill their potential. People look to see if leadership is listening to this, and whether they are committed not only to the cause, but to understanding the real needs of their people.

By Aimee Hansen

Tag Archive for: culture of inclusion

Op-Ed: 5 Ways Women Leaders Can Build a Respect-Rich Workplace Culture