How to help underdogs thrive in organizations

Executive overview

Underdogs — people underrepresented in leadership due to race, gender, age, geography, or other factors — face challenges that diversity initiatives rarely address directly. Most programs focus on top-down policy, not on equipping individuals to navigate a system that isn't yet fair.

Terry Lipovski's underdog coaching framework centres on two moves: accepting the reality of bias without endorsing it, and adapting behaviour to move through it. The goal is to build a repeatable presence grounded in authentic strengths rather than waiting to be discovered.

Your uniqueness is your distinct advantage, not your limitation.

The underdog defined

• Underdogs have extra challenges: underrepresentation in boardrooms due to race, gender, age, religion, geography, physical attributes, or affiliations.
• Diversity initiatives (training, quota systems) address the system from the top; underdog coaching addresses the individual from within.
• Many underdogs underestimate the disadvantage they face — awareness is the first gap to close.
• Classic example: women often won't apply for a role unless they meet ~100% of listed competencies; men apply at ~60%.

Accepting and adapting

• Accepting means acknowledging bias exists without endorsing it — not turning a blind eye.
• The opposite of accept is reject; rejecting reality puts the underdog at a strategic disadvantage.
• Accepting is not agreeing. It is a non-judgmental recognition of current conditions.
• Adapting means steering and negotiating through those conditions — and working to change them over time.

Refining presence and authenticity

• Start by analysing strengths, uniqueness, and personal ethics — then live them consistently.
• Consistency gives others a stable, trustworthy signal to read and respond to.
• Being followable — authentic, grounded, and credible — matters more than matching the dominant culture's style.
• Case example: a young woman leading M&A in a male-heavy, engineering-dominated firm gained credibility not by mimicking the culture but by showing up with clarity about what she brought and why it mattered.

Being your own PR team

• Waiting to be noticed ("the Armstrong approach") rarely works — others are focused on their own careers.
• Effective self-promotion is forward-looking: linking personal strengths to organisational needs, not complaining about deserving recognition.
• Belief in yourself is reinforced by others' encouragement — hold that feedback close; it compounds over time.
• Case example: a compassionate leader pitched a voluntary salary-donation programme for financially struggling colleagues. The executive loved it because she knew her strengths and connected them directly to a real organisational gap.
• Underdogs specifically tend not to see the need for self-promotion — that blindspot makes the skill more urgent, not less.

Listening for emotion

• Deep listening means attending to non-verbals, tone, and the emotion underneath the words — not just content.
• Paraphrase the emotion, not just the statement: "I'm wondering if this is coming from a place of frustration — tell me more."
• Actions are driven by feelings; getting to the feeling unlocks the real coaching conversation.
• Leaders who don't share the underdog's experience can still coach effectively by developing this level of listening.

Emotional intelligence and mindfulness

• Emotional control is as important as listening — frustration and impatience are common in people who feel progress is too slow.
• Mindfulness trains the ability to notice internal signals (frustration, anxiety) before reacting to them.
• The practice: focus on the present moment and suspend judgment. Clear mind, balanced perspective.
• Admired leaders consistently demonstrate clarity and balance — mindfulness builds both.
• On judgment: don't fight it, just notice it. Recognition alone — on repeat — loosens its grip.
• Habit suggestion: once a day, notice one instance of judgment. The recognition itself is the work.
• Habit formation requires a minimum of 21 days; as judgment decreases, it becomes easier to spot it in others too.

What leaders who coach underdogs can do

• Build deep listening skills — attend to emotion, not just content.
• Work on emotional regulation in yourself before coaching it in others.
• Adopt a mindfulness practice to reduce reactive judgment and increase presence.
• Stop defaulting to the same high performers. Build team members' strengths rather than routing work to whoever seems safest.
• Awareness is the prerequisite for all of it — leaders miss bias not because they're malicious but because they haven't been exposed to the relevant perspective.