Social media freaks me out. It can foster feelings of lack and “not enoughness.” When we launched The Equity Practice in 2020, I remember being so intimidated by what I saw others doing on LinkedIn. I felt like I didn’t have enough to offer the space. I worried I didn’t have enough to say. So I didn’t say much. I shrunk myself down and muted my own light.
I had a chance to take part in the Own Your Message program, created by the amazing Stephanie Zhong last year, and I realized I wasn’t serving anyone by making myself small. Dimming my light means that people who are aligned with the work I do can’t find me, and I can’t find them. What I learned through Own Your Message inspired me to take up more space and share more of my ideas with the world. I’m turning on my own light for people to see.
So this year, I’ll share more. Late last year, I wrote an article for HBR called “How to Infuse Liberatory Principles into Work Practices” (https://hbr.org/2022/12/how-to-infuse-liberatory-practices-into-work-practices). I believe there are four fundamental steps leaders and organizations must take to transform their workplaces to be more liberatory:
Commit to reciprocity: Many DEI efforts fail because they never address business practices that are centered around extraction. The antidote to extraction is operating with a spirit of reciprocity.
Cultivate a liberatory consciousness: Creating a liberatory workplace will require unlearning traditional ways of doing business and learning new ways of operating. Dr. Barbara Love’s liberatory consciousness framework (https://d31kydh6n6r5j5.cloudfront.net/uploads/sites/574/2020/10/dev_liberatory_conscious_001.pdf) articulates how people and organizations can become more aware of patterns of extraction and oppression at work and develop the skills to understand and disrupt these patterns.
Design for liberation: Business models that are built on principles of extraction will need to be reimagined to center principles of reciprocity and liberation. This will require redesigning practices, relationships, and the economic model.
Practice and be accountable: For liberation to thrive, we must commit to the ongoing practice of liberation, and to commit to being accountable to maintain right relationships and reciprocity.
This year, I’ll share more about these ideas and what they look like in practice. So if you’re curious to learn more, definitely be sure to follow me here. We’ll also be sharing more tools, templates and resources for folks who want to transform their workplaces through our newsletter in the coming months. So if you love actionable resources, please sign up for our mailing list here: https://www.theequitypractice.com/newsletter
Thank you all for coming on this journey with me! I hope you’ll turn on your light. It helps us all find each other.
Photo courtesy of Nappy Stock licensed under Creative Commons Zero
Alt Text: Red and white bullhorn being held up by brown skinned hand, with a white building, electrical wires, and blue skies in the background