The Vulnerability of Leadership

With the current light being shone on systemic racism, I see many of you checking in on your own understanding of what this means.

As am I.

If I were to ask you this question, “What is the mark of a good Leader?”

What attributes would come up for you?

What often comes up would be attributes such as:

• They are Visionary

• They develop others

• They set the goals for the organization

• They are good communicators

• They navigate change

Another that I’d like to add to the mix here, is: They recognize when they may not have all the answers.

I see this as an opportunity to lean into: ‘I don’t know what I don’t know’.

I invite you to consider this time to allow yourself to be vulnerable and to ask yourself the powerful question of ‘what don’t I know about systemic racism’?

You may be coming from the position of knowing a LOT through your own lived experiences or you may be coming from the position of being unaware of how deeply racism resides in our societal structure.

The first step, for me, was to acknowledge there was more to learn.

I’ve chosen to learn through the work of racism educators: Robin DiAngelo and Layla Saad.

As Whitney Johnson, author of Disrupt Yourself suggests, “Just as there are micro-aggressions, there can be micro-actions”.

What can be different a year from now?

Which leads me to consider:

How might hiring practices adjust? Where might purchasing behaviour be adjusted? How might company policies shift? What organizations are doing this work that may need support? What issues need to be considered in future elections?

Learn and Lead.

I encourage you to make use of those amazing attributes I know you have that are listed above.

NOW is YOUR time.

Ariana

#blacklivesmatter #anti-racism