Lead Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion

by Anne Chow

Drawing from over three decades of experience, former CEO of AT&T Business Anne Chow shares how to lead bigger by leveraging inclusion beyond DEI, to elevate your work, workforce, and workplace.For generations, when we’ve needed to innovate and grow, we’ve been told to “think bigger”—it’s now time to Lead Bigger. In a world that’s become more interconnected yet polarized, inclusion has been overly politicized and narrowly defined to issues of gender and race. As a result, we need a new approach to inclusive leadership that goes beyond DEI, harnessing its power for innovation and growth. In Lead Bigger, Anne Chow reframes inclusion as the required leadership competency of expanding our perspectives for greater performance in our work, workforce, and workplace. As former CEO of AT&T Business, she was the first woman of color to hold the position of CEO in the company’s over one hundred and forty year history. Chow draws from her expertise in transforming organizations to teach you how to create a dynamic environment that engages everyone you and your company interact with—as well as those you wish to be connected to—while adapting to the ever-changing world. This book equips you with the necessary tools to expand your inclusive leadership skills, including prompts, tactics, and enriching insights from leadership visionaries General Stanley McChrystal, Arianna Huffington, and Adam Grant. Chow illuminates a seismic shift in the business world, in which a more humanistic approach is required as technology upends work as we know it. If you’re committed to advancing work that matters, engaging a dynamic workforce, and fostering an agile workplace, you’re ready to Lead Bigger.

Genres: Leadership, Business

272 pages, Hardcover

Published September 10, 2024

Reviews

[Shirley Kingery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lead Bigger is a powerful book on leadership. It is very well written in a manner that flows smoothly, written in precise and straightforward language. I recommend this book to anyone working in a corporate office environment, particularly those who are leaders or who have a desire to become a leader. However, it is also well worth reading if you don't work in an office at all. I fall in to that latter category and feel like I learned alot about subjects that are very relevant to current affairs.

Anne Chow is an amazing person with decades of experience in various jobs and positions of leadership. She is also a fantastic author! In fact, her list of accomplishments and her skill sets and ability to juggle so many different tasks is mindboggling to me. It's no wonder she produced this important and timely volume on leading bigger, focusing on inclusivity. My corporate office experience was decades ago, and I could not help thinking what I would have given to have a manager like Ms. Chow or one who practiced the skills she advocates.

Lead Bigger is full of positivity with a "can-do" attitude from start to finish. One that can include everyone and lead to an office full of positivity, acceptance and understanding and the profound differences that type of atmosphere can produce. It was especially heartening to me to read this book about inclusivity under the current atmosphere of the U.S., which is so stifling, foreboding, and downright scary! To know that no matter what happens, there is a culture of hope and those like Anne Chow, who are at the forefront of passing that message along to leaders of the present and future.

The last section of the book includes interviews with three prominent and powerful leaders who incorporate inclusivity in their leadership practices. These three are General Stanley McChrystal, Arianna Huffington, and Adam Grant. These interviews provide great insight into the practice of DEI and inclusivity and how it positively affects your organization.

This book belongs in the Business section of everyone's library. I found it to be a beacon of hope and it definitely deserves its spot on the Best Seller list!

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was this book groundbreaking? Maybe not. Was it informative? Yes. Was it entertaining? Also yes.
Chow writes, as the title says, about leading bigger. Really, (as she says), she means leading more inclusively. It's not exactly DEI but it's not NOT DEI. And I like that she explicitly says that equal doesn't always equal fair.
I also enjoyed her analysis of how birth rate contributes to job satisfaction. The interviews at the end were with some big names and contributed nicely to the points Chow was trying to make.

[Erik Swanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her humor, humility, and grounded perspective make complex leadership concepts feel approachable and real. I had the chance to hear her speak in person, and she leaves a lasting impression—both inspiring and practical. This book is great for anyone wanting to lead with inclusion without losing authenticity.

[Nick Salenga · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book that reframes inclusion as required leadership competency of expanding our perspectives for greater performance in our work, workforce, & workplace.

[Steve Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have selected this book as Stevo's Business Book of the Week for the week of 10/6, as it stands heads above other recently published books on this topic.