Kaya Reader

This week, we're turning our attention to something that can feel like a purely practical business decision:

Hiring and team culture.

But the people we bring into our businesses don't simply perform tasks.
They become part of the experiences our businesses create.
And that means the way we hire (who we look for, what we value, what we ask people to adapt to, and what we make room for) is also an act of leadership.

Especially when we're thinking about creating businesses where people from marginalised communities can genuinely participate, contribute, and belong.

Let's explore that together.

Is this you?

Maybe you're thinking about hiring.

Perhaps your business has grown to the point where you can't (or don't want to) do everything yourself anymore.
Maybe you're considering your first VA, contractor, employee, or team member.

And suddenly, hiring raises questions you weren't expecting:

• Who do I actually need?
• How do I know they'll be right for my business?
• How do I find someone who understands what matters to me?
• What if they're brilliant at the work but don't fit the culture I've created?

And perhaps the bigger question underneath all of those:

Because hiring isn't simply about adding capacity.
You're bringing another person into the environment your business creates.
And that makes hiring a leadership decision.

The Subconscious Pattern

When we hire, we naturally look at:

• Capability.
• Experience.
• Qualifications.
• Skills.
• Reliability.
• Communication.

And then there's the familiar phrase:

It sounds completely reasonable.

Of course we want someone whose values align with ours.
But what do we actually mean by fit?

Sometimes, without realising it, we can start looking for people who:

• communicate like us,
• work like us,
• think like us,
• understand our unspoken expectations,
• and feel comfortable with the way we've always done things.

And when that happens, hiring can unintentionally reproduce the culture we already have.

Because we're asking:

rather than also asking:

The Leadership Shift

Inclusive Business Leadership invites us to change the question.

Instead of only asking:

ask:

This isn't about lowering standards.
It's about becoming more intentional about what we're actually measuring.

Because every part of a hiring process communicates something.

• The language in your job advertisement.
• Where you advertise.
• The qualifications you require.
• The hours you expect someone to be available.
• How you structure interviews.
• What you consider professional.
• How you interpret confidence.
• Whether flexibility is genuinely available.
• How you respond when someone asks for an adjustment.

For people from marginalised communities, these seemingly ordinary decisions can create very different experiences.

Sometimes exclusion isn't created by one obviously discriminatory decision.
​Sometimes it's created by a collection of ordinary decisions that were never examined.

This Week's Inclusive Business Leadership Principle

An inclusive team doesn't require everyone to think, communicate or work in exactly the same way.

It requires a business where different people can contribute their skills, perspectives and experiences effectively.

Because difference isn't automatically valuable simply because it's present.

It becomes valuable when the business is designed to make room for it.

Louise's Weekly Leadership Question

This week I'd love you to sit with this question:

What assumptions about who is "right" for my business are built into the way I currently hire?

You might notice assumptions about:

• communication
• confidence
• availability
• education
• personality
• professionalism
• working hours
• experience
• cultural norms

Some may genuinely be relevant to the role.
Others may simply be familiar.

And those are worth examining.

Explore Your Business Through This Lens

If you're currently hiring (or thinking about hiring) I'd love to know:

• Maybe you're wondering whether a requirement is actually necessary.
• Maybe you're unsure how to approach "culture fit".
• Maybe you're worried about creating a team culture that unintentionally excludes people.
• Or perhaps you already have a team and there's a particular dynamic you're trying to understand.

Reply to this email and tell me what's happening.

I'll help you identify one assumption or potential barrier worth examining and the leadership question I'd start with.

No obligation. No sales pitch.

Just a genuine opportunity to explore the situation with another perspective.

Continue the Conversation inside the ICC

This is the kind of conversation we explore inside the Inclusion Creators Collective.

Because Inclusive Business Leadership isn't about learning a list of inclusive things you're supposed to say or do.
It's about becoming more intentional about the decisions, systems, and experiences that shape your business.

Inside the ICC, we take these ideas and bring them into the reality of running a service-based business.

That might mean looking at:

💜 Who gets access to opportunities.
💜 Who feels able to participate.
💜 Who gets heard and valued.
💜 Where barriers may be unintentionally built into our systems.
💜 How our leadership decisions affect people from marginalised communities.
💜 And what we can practically redesign.

The goal isn't perfection.

It's more intentional leadership.

You don't need to build a team where everyone fits the same mould.

You can build a business where different people have the opportunity to contribute, belong and be valued.

And sometimes inclusive leadership begins with something as ordinary as asking:

Until next time, may you hire for contribution, design for belonging, and make room for difference.

P.S. If you know another service-based business owner who's thinking about hiring or building a team, I'd love you to forward this email to them.

Sometimes social change begins with one business owner sharing a conversation with another. 🦋