EQUALITY INSIGHTS
Weekly 5 Things editions plus essays and GUIDANCE on inclusive communication
5 Things / Community
Last week, I spent a few days at my mastermind retreat with a group of other business owners. I enjoy my mastermind so much because, honestly, being a founder can be lonely and I need all the support I can get to achieve my BIG vision for equality. I need community.
5 Things / Triggered
I spent two days this week on a retreat with my mastermind group. We’re a bunch of varied founders who come together to learn and support each other as we build our businesses. The theme of this retreat was “communication” and one of the sessions I enjoyed was on communicating with ourselves when we’re triggered by something someone says at work.
5 Things / Behavior
This week, one of our clients hosted me for a fireside chat. I was asked about how to respond to people whose sincerely held beliefs (religious or not) counteract current demographics, culture, and progressive thought. For example, a co-worker who believes that there are only two genders.
5 Things / Still Learning
This week I had a bunch of planning meetings in anticipation of upcoming keynotes. About 80% of the time, the client advises: “As a heads up, our employees are generally pretty conservative.” I’ve heard this from clients in many industries: financial services, energy, manufacturing, commercial real estate, and more.
5 Things / Pride Paradox
Happy Pride! I’m going to be honest here…to me, life as a gay person in America right now feels like whiplash. On one hand, we’re seeing rainbow everything and everywhere this year – from products at IKEA and Target to tweets like this from the Marines. It’s so extreme that I’ve seen posts decrying the commodification of pride. They’re not wrong. And also, I really love rainbows.