Community Well-Being

Executive Leadership Program's Tony Kong Shares How Different Perspectives Help Build High-Functioning Teams

Justin Michael Forbis — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 20:48:24 +0000

Executive Leadership Program's Tony Kong Shares How Different Perspectives Help Build High-Functioning Teams Justin Michael… Mon, 02/17/2025 - 13:48

When it comes to developing diversity within an organization—everyone has something to say and contribute. That is the message Associate Professor Tony Kong shares with participants in his courses across the undergraduate, Executive MBA and the Leeds Executive Leadership Program. Kong encourages participants in the courses to keep their minds open as they consider how they can bring equity and inclusion principles back to their teams and company culture. “I believe everyone has a say as different perspectives will always contribute great insights.”

Bringing People Together

“Bringing people together is the spirit behind diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI),” said Kong. However, everyone’s personal understanding of what that means is different due to their lived experiences, knowledge, and identities. “That is why there are disagreements on what it means to people and how it should be practiced, despite the agreement that people are diverse and everyone wants to feel included.”

“I care about helping and developing people and believe that belonging and collaboration benefit the greater good,”

Kong’s research focuses on addressing how to enable people to be more prosocial (that is, promoting others’ interests and collective interests). “I care about helping and developing people and believe that belonging and collaboration benefit the greater good,” he said. “I care about this topic because I believe in its purpose of bringing everyone together. You need to be able to hear other perspectives to create a greater understanding.”

IDEO is a design company that Kong references in his executive leadership course as an example of a company that has built a culture where they care most about the different and unique ideas and perspectives their employees bring with them. “Companies that are successful in equity and inclusion know how to bring their employees’ different ideas and insights to the table,” Kong explained. “People should have common goals though.” Teams that can embrace places where one person’s weakness is another’s strength allows them to create more trust, empathy, and understanding with each other.

Impacts in the Workplace

Despite some organizations rolling back their DEI initiatives, Kong believes that businesses are receptive to learning and integrating that feedback. When those initiatives are thoughtful and leveraged effectively, it allows companies to not only foster learning and integration, but also to become better places where people can show up authentically and as their best self.

For organizations hoping to implement or refine their policies and practices, Kong recommends starting with what the company has in place currently and asking employees how they see and interpret inclusion. “It’s important to gather opinions on what people want for inclusion and equity and use that for culture building and the creation of norms and behaviors.”

Diverse views can lead to seemingly inconsistent results according to Kong. He encourages companies not to reject the entire premise and instead “identify the gaps and key metrics and address them. Companies need to see these gaps as an opportunity to learn and build a better culture.”

One key part of advancing equity and inclusion is implementing equity and inclusion for everyone in the organization. “Problems occur when DEI policy and practices are narrowly focused and thus many people have difficulty in relating to the policy and practices and identifying the relevance,” explained Kong. “If people can see and identify the self-relevance of these policies and practices, then they will care and lift everyone up.”

How Leaders can Build an Inclusive Team

“Kindness and empathy are important qualities that high-performing leaders have. Leaders need to show receptiveness to other ideas even if they make the same ultimate decisions.” Kong teaches the Freedom Framework in his leadership training session, which is a set of principles that encourages people to be more authentic, recognize the value of differences, bring their strengths forward, and the opportunity to both speak up or fade out as necessary while learning from mistakes.

These principles lend themselves to “recognizing moments as learning opportunities. Sometimes there are assumptions that people are knowledgeable or informed when that isn’t the case, so this represents learning, growing and forgiving,” Kong shared. These are things that all leaders can inspire within their teams.

A team that is inspired fosters a positive and healthy environment high in emotional intelligence where people show up and thrive, developing a sense of psychological safety in the process. A culture high in psychological safety allows people to challenge the status quo without fear of retribution, and to secure acceptance from others. Leaders hoping to reinforce this culture should inspire people to contribute and bring their authentic and best selves to work, as well as gather input from all levels when making decisions.

Tony Kong is an Associate Professor of Organizational Leadership and Information Analytics at Leeds. He teaches across programs at Leeds including the Executive MBA. You can learn directly from Tony Kong on building culture and inclusive work environments in the LEED: Executive Leadership Program taking place May 12-16, 2025 on the Boulder campus.

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Leading Citizen Well-Being Through Business Research: Launching the Initiative for Global Business Impact

Jane Majkiewicz — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 23:05:06 +0000

Leading Citizen Well-Being Through Business Research: Launching the Initiative for Global Business Impact Jane Majkiewicz Tue, 02/11/2025 - 16:05

Thanks to an anonymous gift, Leeds is investing $3.85 million to launch the Initiative for Global Business Impact this fall, accelerating the school’s world-class research infrastructure and academic reputation.

The new Initiative for Global Business Impact will take Leeds to the world and bring the world to Leeds. Human welfare is strongly affected by sustainability of practices by businesses and individual citizens, and by the quality of consumers’ financial decisions. But the solutions offered by businesses and governments differ dramatically across geographies, as do the apparent effectiveness of those solutions. The world needs next-generation leaders who can learn from those differences and act on rigorous evidence about what works.

Employers are seeking business professionals who can not only drive operational excellence, but who can also champion purpose-driven organizations that prioritize societal impact alongside profitability. With a focus on citizen well-being, the initiative's initial phase will prioritize consumer financial decision-making and sustainability.

“This generous gift provides Leeds with the opportunity to both broaden and deepen our inquiries by fostering connections with global communities, creating a meaningful impact on citizen well-being, businesses and society,” said Vijay Khatri, Tandean Rustandy Endowed Dean of the Leeds School of Business.

Leading the way

Khatri has appointed Distinguished Professor John G. Lynch Jr. as the inaugural director of the Initiative for Global Business Impact. Lynch was named the 2025 AMA-Irwin-McGraw-Hill Distinguished Marketing Educator, the highest honor in the field of academic marketing, recognizing "creative accomplishments, public service, research, teaching and service contributions."

Lynch was the founding director of the Center for Research on Consumer Financial Decision Making and served as senior associate dean for faculty and research at Leeds. His scholarship, extensive teaching experience, awards, mentorship and reputation in the world of consumer financial decision-making and marketing uniquely qualify him to advance Leeds’ position and academic reputation through this new initiative.

Solidifying Leeds’ research infrastructure

Leeds faculty are already addressing global societal issues through exemplary interdisciplinary research. To take Leeds global, the school will expand its research eﬀorts through global partnerships with scholars worldwide, enhancing its impact and solidifying its position as a global leader.

To bring the world to Leeds, Leeds faculty will have an opportunity to broaden their research scope to address critical global challenges. This will involve engaging esteemed Global Faculty-in-Residence and Global Postdoctoral Fellows whose expertise will drive intellectual growth and innovation, enabling us to tackle complex problems that address citizen well-being and produce meaningful research.

These eﬀorts will also support the development of global academic programs in collaboration with international business schools, preparing our students for leadership roles in a globalized economy.

Addressing global challenges through business innovation

Today’s rapidly evolving business environment is increasingly shaped by factors like climate change, poverty, population growth and geopolitical conflict, noted Khatri. In response, Leeds is closely following key trends in digital transformation, sustainability, economic shifts and the future of work to address the dynamic needs of business leaders.

“Since founding the Center for Financial Decision Making in 2009, Leeds has established itself as a leader in consumer financial decision-making and household finance. That experience has demonstrated how externally focused research centers can create an infrastructure for impactful work. With this new initiative, we will collaborate with leading global partners and scholars to build trusted business research that addresses large-scale societal challenges with solutions that really work,” said Lynch.

"With this new initiative, we will collaborate with leading global partners and scholars to build trusted business research that addresses large-scale societal challenges."

John G. Lynch Jr., Distinguished Professor

The Initiative for Global Business Impact, focused on accelerating momentum in citizen well-being through business research, strengthens Leeds' ongoing efforts and aligns with the 2035 Leeds Strategic Plan, shaping the future of business over the next decade.

Thanks to a generous anonymous gift, Leeds is investing $3.85 million to launch the Initiative for Global Business Impact in fall 2025, advancing the school’s world-class research infrastructure.

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Community Well-Being

Executive Leadership Program's Tony Kong Shares How Different Perspectives Help Build High-Functioning Teams

Bringing People Together

“I care about helping and developing people and believe that belonging and collaboration benefit the greater good,”

Impacts in the Workplace

How Leaders can Build an Inclusive Team

Related Articles

Leading Citizen Well-Being Through Business Research: Launching the Initiative for Global Business Impact

Leading the way

Solidifying Leeds’ research infrastructure

Addressing global challenges through business innovation

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