Editor’s note: Serial investor and entrepreneur Donald Thompson is a regular contributor to WRAL TechWire. His columns are published on Wednesdays.
RALEIGH – A few weeks ago, you met my friend Tim Humphrey as we discussed how to lead a business through racial unrest. These next few months, I plan to introduce you to people who inspire me so you can hear their perspectives on leadership and success.
Today, I want you to meet Nakira Carter and Kimarie Akenbrand of JLL, a global commercial real estate company that is consistently recognized as one of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies and was recently named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the 13th consecutive year. Much of that recognition comes from their emphasis on leadership, and Nakira and Kimarie are great examples.
Nakira runs Project and Development Services for the Triangle and is the first Black female in the country to hold this position in the company. Kimarie is the Broker Lead for Raleigh-Durham and works on more than half a dozen boards and councils in the area and nationally at JLL. Both are younger than me and both are making big moves that show their strength in business, so I wanted to hear about their experience with multigenerational leadership styles.
Donald Thompson: Talking leadership and racial unrest with IBM’s Tim Humphrey
Our discussion was born from the recent partnership between our firms to create a white paper and trend report on next-generation leadership skills. You can download that report here. What follows is a condensed version of our conversation. You can listen to the entire podcast here.
Donald Thompson:
When we talk about multigenerational leadership and millennials as leaders in business today, how have you seen that growth prospect and that influence?
Kimarie Akenbrand:
Depending on what stats you look at, the oldest millennials were either born in 1981 or 1980, and I’m an August 1980 baby right here, so that means me. We’ve been bouncing around that buzz word for 10 years, but I think a lot of people still hear it and picture a 25-year-old, right out of college who’s telling us they want to have their cake and eat it too.
Yet the reality is that my generation is in leadership now. I’m two years into a new leadership position, and I’m still trying to navigate what we bring to the table alongside the baby boomers, who are still in a majority of our very senior leadership roles. I think one element is the communication between parties.
For example, I’m new to the leadership table at JLL, one of about a hundred broker leads across the country and probably one of the youngest ones of the hundred. When I look at the majority of our leaders in that group, they’re probably 50, 55+. We have two very different communication styles.
Leadership in the past was very close to the vest: a few people at the top making a decision and pushing things down. Yet when you look at the millennial generation and Gen Z coming behind us, they want very transparent leadership. They want a seat at the table. I think everyone’s trying to get used to that kind of communication intersection, if you will.
Nakira Carter:
Yeah, I feel like millennial leaders are really pushing the envelope around how we define leaders. There’s one type of leadership that’s aggressive and assertive, but we’re starting to move away from that, and we’re really looking at leaders that are more human, that are vulnerable. We hear that word a lot.
Our millennial leaders also bring a global perspective. I’m Gen X, and my generation was really the beginning of the era of cell phones, internet, email. Everyone that came behind us is just more global. I remember being in college in Charlotte, the first time students started doing video conferences. It was such a big deal! Now that’s the norm. My daughter has interacted with kids all over the world and, with Tik Tok and Snapchat and Facebook, or even LinkedIn, we’re all just more connected globally. They grew up with that.
DT:
To transition a little bit, as we think about that leadership from a female perspective, from a person of color perspective, I see a lot of momentum right now around racial injustice and equity. I’m interested to hear from both of you about how you’ve navigated those dynamics and what advice you would give for people on that journey.
Donald Thompson: Activating growth with multicultural marketing
NC:
For me, the most important thing is identifying the allies. JLL makes that a little easier than most companies. We have a number of different resource groups, whether it is the Asian group or the Black professionals network or the Latino group, and not only are people from those racial backgrounds joining those resource groups but also people that don’t fit those descriptors. I joined as well, and those people became my allies. Those are the people that will speak up for you when you’re present and, even more importantly, when you’re not.
The second piece is being welcome in a space so you can fully bring yourself to work. I’m one of those people who’s always bubbly, happy and just enjoys life, so I always brought that person to work. On June 1st though, which was the first day we were back in the office and also the week following the George Floyd incident, I came in and there were only another maybe 15 people in the office. No less than eight of them walked up to me and said “We stand with you. We understand what you’re going through.”
That had never happened before, and it gave me permission to fully bring myself to work because, in the past when things like Trayvon Martin or Ferguson had occurred, I felt like I had to leave it at the door. No one was really talking about it.
George Floyd’s death transcended race, transcended socioeconomic class, transcended gender, transcended everything, and it gave a lot of us people of color permission to fully bring ourselves to work because those allies showed up too. They showed their support and were just as vocal as we were about the pain we were feeling. It’s liberating to be able to be more emotional, to be a full person at work.
DT:
As leaders, we have to be adaptable. That’s one of our pillars from the trend report: learning agility and also the ability to think like a start-up.
Right now, I’m talking to a lot of CEOs who are leaning in to diversity, equity, and inclusion because they really are starting to see that more productive, happy employees lead to more productive, happy clients. Simple as that. I’d love to hear you each speak a little about how we can link the emotive with the economic.
KA:
To piggyback off of your last comment, Donald, I’ve heard this teed up a few different ways, whether it’s adoption of technology or diversity and inclusion, whatever companies are doing to stay relevant. You know, when you think of a sustainability plan, most people these days still think of solar panels, recycling, green initiatives, but the reality is this: diversity, technology, social media.
You will not survive without those skills. Whether you’re public or private, no matter what industry you’re in, they’ve got to be a core part of your DNA. Otherwise, you don’t have a sustainable business plan.
NC:
Exactly right. I would also add this: if you have happy people, you have happy clients. I think companies are realizing now that their people are the brand. You build a culture, and that culture is supported by your people. You could have an amazing product that you’re bringing to the market, but if your people aren’t happy, then it’s going to show. They’re going to go out, and clients are going to see it in the way that they sell the business.
It’s important to make sure that everyone realizes that your people are your brand. They’re the ones that carry your company.
About the Author
To learn more about this topic, download The 5 Key Pillars of Next Generation Leadership or find Donald’s full interview with Kimarie Akenbrand and Nakira Carter on The Donald Thompson Podcast. Donald Thompson is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, author, podcaster, public speaker and mentor for Google’s Entrepreneurs Exchange. He is currently the CEO of Walk West, a digital marketing agency, and co-founder of The Diversity Movement, a technology-enabled DEI training firm.
