Anne Chow Urges Us To ‘Lead Bigger’

Summer is a great time to dive into books that challenge conventional thinking, spark innovation, and deepen understanding of the ever-changing business landscape for leaders. This series features some of the newest titles by faculty and alumni. For more recommended reading, check out the books on Dean Andrew Karolyi’s shelf. 

Anne Chow ’88, MEng ’89, MBA ’90 believes that “ideas, invention, and innovation thrive at the intersection of technology and people.” As the former CEO of AT&T Business, Chow led a $35 billion business with more than 35,000 employees. Now an independent board director, she advises organizations on strategic planning; mergers and acquisitions; intellectual property; and regulatory, cyber, inclusion, and sustainability initiatives.

Chow wrote the book to articulate and elevate what leading with inclusion is and should be. And now that conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have grown more politically charged, a new approach to inclusive leadership is essential for the success of any organization and society at large.

“It’s not just about thinking more expansively—it’s about leading that way too,” she says.

Chow’s book Lead Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion (Simon & Schuster 2024) distills her 30 years of industry experience into actionable insights and showcases her high-performing, human-centric approach to leadership.

“Ironically, inclusion has been made too small,” Chow writes in the book’s introduction, meaning that it’s been considered only in terms of workforce representation, especially related to gender, race, and physical disability. Instead, Chow urges readers to consider inclusion in terms of the work itself and the workplace—using larger datasets and more viewpoints when making decisions, for example, or “more agilely addressing where, when, and how” to support business needs.

“We can look to Anne to expand our understanding of how real, durable trust is built,” writes Andrew Karolyi, Charles Field Knight Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, in a recent post on his blog, Keeping a Better World in Mind. “It’s not about control or hierarchy—it’s about listening, including, empowering. Anne’s leadership embraced diverse perspectives and expanded the decision-making lens. The result was not only stronger teams, but more resilient, values-driven outcomes.”

Karolyi continues, “She reminds us that trust is never abstract. It’s something we build—deliberately—by how we lead and whom we choose to include. And through that lens, Anne Chow encourages us to consider that leadership is not about size or scope. It’s about impact. About leading bigger, for the greater good.”