Recently, someone asked me to send them an article I wrote back in 2015: “Leading Across Race—So Simple You Won’t Do It.” The fact that readers are still asking for it nearly ten years later says something—the challenge of leading across race, gender, and culture hasn’t disappeared. If anything, it’s even more pressing today.

In that article, I laid out five actions every leader must take to lead effectively across difference. They were simple then. They are still simple now. The hard truth? Most leaders still won’t do them.

Here they are:

1. Know yourself
2. Stop being afraid
3. Apply the rules fairly—no exceptions
4. Practice empathy, not sympathy
5. Communicate at the highest level

Over the next few weeks, I’ll revisit each of these actions—updated for today’s leadership landscape. Because the principle I wrote back then still holds true:

All people deserve good leadership.

Which of these five actions do you think leaders struggle with the most today?

Semper Fi, Colonel John Boggs, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.)