The inspiration for founding in ENABLE started when I was in college. I attended Alcorn State University, a historically black college or university (HBCU). Though I’d had grown up in a very inclusive and diverse community, going to an HBCU was an opportunity for me to grow, because it taught me not to be naïve to the suffering of people who look like me, but did not have opportunities I had to prior to college. By the time I had graduated high school, I’d traveled around the world in an all-boys’ chorus. Some people struggled to pay for college, while my mother and father wrote checks for me every year. Sometimes I think we have blinders on when have not experienced the difficulties that others may have experienced. But through empathy—having the ability to understand the needs of others—I was able to identify the needs of the people around me. College taught me that when I’m in a position to help pull people up, I need to do it. Research shows that empathetic leadership drives psychological safety which in turn fosters an environment that generates learning and new ideas, leading to better innovation. Empathy may look like enforcing managers to adopt hybrid work schedules, ensuring parents have great benefits such as maternity and paternity leave, as well as sponsoring affinity groups for underrepresented employees and consulting them on how to make the workplace better, as accommodating these subgroups can lead to improvements that serve all employees.

Showing your employees empathy, empowering them to bring their unique perspectives into the work, and regularly engaging them can enhance the culture of inclusion at your organization. Not only will this help employees feel satisfied—thus increase retention—it can inspire them to innovate better, which can lead to accelerating the time to market, boosting competitive positioning, and expanding your organization’s market share. And most importantly, it’s just good business.