EQUALITY INSIGHTS
Weekly 5 Things editions plus essays and GUIDANCE on inclusive communication
5 Things / Getting It Wrong
This week my team and I made a few mistakes. Sometimes we get it wrong, and I appreciate the folks who took the time to help me get it right and hold me accountable. Keep it coming.
First, I received an email from a reader named Lucy regarding my use of the term “breast milk” and the headline with the word “moms” in the last newsletter. I know that not just moms give birth (because some trans and non-binary people do also, and may not use the word ‘mom’) and I knew another term for breast milk is expressed milk (and thanks to Lucy, ‘human milk’). Lucy also shared a resource on the topic of transgender fertility.
5 Things / Benefits Edition
This week I made some new friends, including a man who went undercover with Al Qaeda and wrote a book to tell the story. He’s a great guy, and like my other new friends, is very different from me. But one thing we all have in common is that we’re speakers. During the pandemic, I enrolled in Heroic Public Speaking (HPS) to level up my speaking game, and one of the unexpected benefits was meeting a bunch of new people with completely different lived experiences, stories, and perspectives than me. I loved it.
5 Things / Authenticity
This week I delivered my keynote Follow the ARC to a professional medical association, and my talk happened to fall on Lesbian Visibility Day. As I shared on LinkedIn, I come out during every keynote (and make fun of myself a little bit) because it’s more fun for everyone when I’m authentic.
5 Things / Getting It Right
I’m part of a Facebook group where there was a hot debate this week after a particular speaker was announced for an upcoming event. With fears of cancel culture, cries for freedom of speech, and heartfelt descriptions of personal trauma, I was reminded of just how polarized we are. And how it sure is easy to hide behind a Facebook post.
5 Things / Spring Break
This week my 11-year-old son is on spring break. I thought it might be fun if he watched 5 Things in 15 Minutes on Monday (he was happy for the screen access!) I forwarded him the newsletter but instead of using the YouTube link, he used the LinkedIn link and then was asked to create a LinkedIn account in order to watch. In three minutes, my son Patrick told the world (via LinkedIn) that he’s an Amazon account manager. That was my first LOL moment after the show wrapped.