{"id":5541,"date":"2019-06-23T13:00:52","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T13:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/dax-dasilva-the-disruptive-force-of-diversity-and-inclusion\/"},"modified":"2025-03-26T03:38:05","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T03:38:05","slug":"dax-dasilva-the-disruptive-force-of-diversity-and-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"rbc_tl","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/innovation\/dax-dasilva-the-disruptive-force-of-diversity-and-inclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Dax Dasilva & the Disruptive Force of Diversity and Inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March, his Montreal-based tech company Lightspeed went public, and in April, his first book, Age of Union, was released. It’s part memoir, part manifesto, and it showcases something to celebrate this Pride month: diversity and inclusion could change everything.<\/p>\n

Dasilva is one of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs: Lightspeed is valued at $1.7 billion, a rare Canadian unicorn. His leadership at the company is legendary. But in Age of Union he talks about how he didn’t always see himself as a leader \u2013 he didn’t think he fit the mold.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never saw myself as having the Type-A characteristics of traditional leaders,” Dasilva writes. \u201cI chose instead to leverage my position by valorizing diverse perspectives. This has allowed me to find my own methods of leadership, elevated by the voices of others.”<\/p>\n

Dasilva came out as gay in the 1990s, when he was still a teen. That experience helped to shape him into someone who deeply understands the value of community connections, bringing together diverse thinkers, and raising others up.<\/p>\n

Dasilva defines his leadership style as \u201cempowering, optimistic, unifying, risk-taking, and supportive.”<\/p>\n

Last June, when Dasilva joined us as a guest at our RBC Disruptors talk<\/a> as part of Pride Month, he spoke about how diversity and inclusion can spur innovation. Long before Lightspeed went public, this conviction had informed every step of its growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hired brilliant people. And we established teams in places with cultures as diverse as Montreal, Amsterdam, Ghent, New York, London, and the U.S. west coast, which themselves revealed subcultures in every department of engineering, sales, support and operations. Somehow, we have still been able to find unity on our mission \u2013 a celebration of all that diversity can bring to a company born of the digital age.”<\/p>\n

The data backs up the value of diversity: a McKinsey report<\/a> found firms that place in the \u201ctop quartile for racial or ethnic diversity” are 35% more likely to have higher financial returns.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, Dasilva encourages leaders to think about inclusion every step of the way: \u201cNurture diversity in all aspects of your project: the team, the programming, the audiences you cultivate.”<\/p>\n

It just might change the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeking input and knowledge from people’s diverse backgrounds will lead to finding richer solutions to the world’s problems, solutions that work for all and not just a select few.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dasilva’s new book showcases something to celebrate this Pride month: diversity and inclusion could change everything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":5542,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"disable_focal_point":true,"featured_image_focal_point":{"x":0.5,"y":0.5},"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"rbc_tl_category":[100,122],"rbc_tl_tag":[108,99,113],"class_list":["post-5541","rbc_tl","type-rbc_tl","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rbc_tl_category-innovation","rbc_tl_category-skills","rbc_tl_tag-diversity","rbc_tl_tag-innovation","rbc_tl_tag-leadership"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDax Dasilva & the Disruptive Force of Diversity and Inclusion - RBC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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