Excellence requires innovation, different perspectives, and change. Leadership means bringing about that change in the striving for excellence. But no one really wants it. We are all content to stay on automatic pilot. As leaders, though, we have to motivate people to accept change in how they do their jobs and think about them.
Leadership includes managing diversity and instructing others to do the same.
Achieving excellence requires open communications, the sharing of information with staff. Previously, the EEOC operated in a system in which individuals had power because they had information. As chair, I devalued the information by making it available to everybody. For the first time, entry-level staff had access to the EEOC's budget information, so they understood what pressures I faced to meet the budget deficit and where we wanted and needed to go. Another important tool for achieving excellence involves the establishment of informal mechanisms for dispute resolution at the lowest possible level.