The Leaders You Need

An innovative, field-tested framework for leaders and managers on how to create more diverse leadership and management teams.


We need the strength that comes from diversity more now than we ever have in our collective memory. Without leadership teams that reflect the full range of humanity, for-profit and nonprofit organizations alike will find it more difficult to confront today’s challenges and are unlikely to thrive in the long term. But no two organizations have the same need for greater diversity in leadership nor the same path to achieving it. In The Leaders You Need, Karen Brown offers an innovative, field-tested ABCD Framework that will help readers to discover the hidden leadership and management talent in their organizations—and how to harness it.

Karen Brown shares the approach she has used to guide organizations from small nonprofits to the Global 500 on their journey to greater diversity in leadership and management. Her framework consists of four pillars:
•   How to align diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts with business priorities
•   How to build strong partnerships with stakeholders
•   How to cultivate a culture of role models
•   How to define objectives and outcomes with data
Readers will learn how to use the framework to identify and dismantle the barriers to greater leadership and management diversity in their organizations. What’s more, they will get practical advice on how to become inclusive leaders who create opportunities for everyone on their teams to learn, grow, and fulfill their potential."Brown is a highly experienced consultant who has advised a wide range of companies about implementing programs for greater diversity, equity, and inclusion at the top. In this pithy book she brings together her lessons and gives useful advice on how to develop leadership teams that include women, people of color, and people from the LBGTQ+ community. . . With an eye on what works, Brown provides a map for tying DEI objectives to the bottom line."
—Kirkus Reviews“Brown upends stale diversity, equity, and inclusion models that have generated backlash, instead offering an innovative and accessible framework focused ‘less on counting heads and more on making heads count.’ It’s a must-read for corporations and universities.”
—John Blaxland, Director, Australian National University North America Liaison Office; coauthor of Revealing Secrets
 
“As someone who has had the great fortune of learning the lessons in The Leaders You Need firsthand from the author throughout my career, I am thrilled to endorse this brilliant work. It underscores the role and responsibility of diverse leaders in inspiring those around them toward morally elevating purposes, driving organizational success.”
—Byron Slosar, CEO and Founder, hellohive
 
“An essential guide for leaders seeking to align diversity, equity, and inclusion with business priorities. This book provides a robust framework for identifying and dismantling barriers to greater leadership and management diversity, cultivating a culture of role models, and defining actionable objectives with data. A transformative resource for any organization committed to true inclusion and sustainable success.”
—Hege Sollie-Zetlmayer, Chief Human Resources Officer, PTC Therapeutics
 
“Karen Brown inspires us to reposition our focus from measuring diversity to elevating diverse leaders, so all employees can experience a collective sense of belonging and, at the same time, feel valued for their individual attributes.”
—Guy Pacitti, Director, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, Bose Corporation  Karen Brown is a management consultant with 35 years of experience as a leader in corporate operations and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her work has been published in Building and Encouraging Law Firm Diversity, Chicago Tribune, and Harvard Business Review.