More than a decade ago, out of a need to help her frustrated clients better engage this generation of workers, Susan searched for answers. The books she read and the seminars she attended revealed how generations were different. “I wanted to know what unites us as generations, not just what divides us.”

An executive friend led her to the ghettos of South Central Los Angeles to Tony LoRe and Youth Mentoring Connection. Here was a former business executive who had sold his successful marketing-and-management-systems business. For fifteen years he had been transforming and saving the lives of thousands of inner-city millennials. His leadership style changed when he listened to what would engage them. Over the years, influenced by these youth, he created the “Gift-Centered Approach,” which refers to bringing out the best “gifts” that each of us carries inside. This method is at the heart of his way of mentoring, which he called Sawubona, a Zulu greeting that means “I see you,” as in seeing the whole person.

Seeing how a gift-centered approach turned around thousands of lives—for inner-city millennials and the staff serving them—Susan brought Sawubona Leadership to the corporate world. Today she has guided hundreds of clients’ teams through dramatic turnarounds and cultural transformations to achieve increased productivity and profitability while transforming their lives.

In an ever-changing world, successful leaders know that to be competitive, you can’t be on the cutting-edge, you must redefine the edge. That means anticipating change, innovating the next best thing, and making decisions in a shorter timeframe without all the information. Great leaders know they can’t do it alone. They need all their people anticipating what’s around the corner and using their gifts to innovate the next disruption in their industry. These leadership capabilities, once only required of senior managers are now critical for all employees. When something comes out of left field and catches a company off guard, it’s too late.

Sawubona leaders have been making the LeaderShifts necessary for over a decade to develop within themselves and their people these leadership capabilities. They see the world through a lens of connecting rather than controlling, seeing and accepting rather than conforming, finding purpose rather than just getting things done. Their people respond by creating a culture where people’s ideas are heard, their gifts are seen, their creativity soars, and their best selves come forward to keep the company ahead of the curve and thriving into the future.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere, whether it’s Waze giving you directions or Alexa as your personal assistant. Yes, robots are replacing people. So what makes you different than a robot? What value do you bring that Alexa can’t?

Successful leaders know that it takes more than knowledge, intellect, or even experience to thrive. If you’re only operating from your intellect, you’re using one-third of the capacity available to you. Scientists have discovered that vast untapped intelligences exist in our hearts and bodies. Tapping into these intelligences are critical to a leader’s success in the 21st century, so they use their intuition when making decisions, sense what’s next when there are few hard facts to guide them, and think not just outside-the-box but where there is none. Developing all three of our intelligences gives everyone the capacity to do what bots can’t!

Sawubona leaders strive to build a culture that supports all three intelligences (head, heart, body) so people feel heard for their ideas, use their innate gifts and find purpose in their work beyond doing a job to fulfilling a mission that is changing the world for the better. When this happens, long-term sustainable success is possible.