Omar L. Harris's Blog, page 4

Performative Allyship is NOT Enough

In the wake of the social reckoning post George Floyd's murder, America’s 50 biggest public companies and their foundations committed at least $49.5 billion to address racial inequality. As of this writing, less than $2 billion (4%) has been dispersed and with the majority of commitments ($45.2 billion) made in the form of loans or investments they could stand to profit from.

During the recent senate confirmation hearings for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Senator Ted Cruz made it a point to grill her on Ibram X. Kendi's children's book Antiracist Baby. His inquiry mostly centered around the ludicrous idea that white babies are born racist and whether or not (soon to be confirmed) Justice Jackson agreed with this notion and her role in the inclusion of such books on the curriculum at Georgetown Day School where she was a board member. Watching this painful exchange, I was struck with how little people understand the difference between the concepts of anti vs. not and how the people attacking the teaching of race in schools self-identify in the not group.

To be anti-something is to be actively engaged in the fight against a force deemed to be dangerous, toxic, evil, or denigrating something else of importance (liberty, freedom, purpose, progress). To be not something is to make a declaration and distinction that you should not be seen or judged as part of an undesirable faction or group. To be a not requires no further action than self-identification. But to be anti requires principled action.

Someone who declares they are not sexist simply is stating that the outside world should take them at their word on the matter regardless of what their actions have shown. Plenty of men taken down during the #metoo movement consider themselves as not sexist despite considerable sexism in their past. Plenty of other people who defend the actions of individuals found guilty of deplorable acts of sexism like R. Kelly likewise defend themselves as not sexist even as they identify as pro-sexual assault offenders like the serial pedophile.

Ibram X. Kendi chose his words and concepts wisely in the books How to be An Antiracist and Antiracist Baby. He was declaring that it is woefully insufficient to identify as not something while either remaining oblivious, ignorant, or obstinate to the suffering of disenfranchised groups.

To be anti is to up the ante from self-identification and issue blindness to activation and advocacy in service of eliminating the source of negativity.

By this measure then - one becomes antiracist only by actively advocating against racism in all its forms, facets, and functions in our society. A baby who is not taught, shown, and continuously reinforced that racism is evil, vile, and deplorable can never become antiracist - no matter how much their parents claim to not be racists. A corporation that states it supports antiracism and allocates funding but does not disperse the funds in a meaningful and impactful way has not fully joined the fight and as such does not deserve the positive PR, customer patronage, and investor loyalty they sought to gain by making these sweeping declarations of support.

As the old adage goes, you must be for something or you will fall for anything.

Many companies declare that they are for equal opportunity, fairness, and progress but don't actively fight against the inequities, injustices, and stagnating policies, procedures, priorities, and practices within their own walls and far less within the communities and societies that sustain them. This is at the heart of performative allyship which is even worse than being not something. As stated in a recent Forbes article on the topic, "the problem with performative allyship, is that it maintains the status quo and renders illegitimate, any attempts to change processes that support structural racism, and other barriers."

Companies and leaders are declaring and then only taking minimal action towards their goals. For employees, customers, and stakeholders - this lack of accountability should be punished even more than companies that have taken no action at all. At least we know where those entities likely stand. But it is the company that spends a few hundred thousand on posters and performative positioning that are truly toxic. Because they have no true intention to actually commit to doing the necessary work to change their stripes.

Unfortunately, there is no single entity holding these companies accountable for following through on their external and internal pledges and commitments. And companies are continuously dodging transparency and reporting because there is no benefit to declaring progress only to get dinged and criticized every time the numbers are released. But until companies hold themselves accountable and make continual strides in the right direction, they cannot be counted as anti the forces that make working and living so torturous for so many - no matter how many posters, commercials, pledges, and other acts of performative allyship they make.

We can begin to hold our companies accountable by contributing to the EquityPulse database - the only anonymous platform for employees to rate their employers against a standard measure of J.E.D.I. progress. I created this platform to be the social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion doppelganger of sites like Glassdoor.com. Check it out and rate your employer today!

Overcoming the Impossible - From 14 Peaks to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Heroism: econsists of putting others first, even at your own peril. The noun heroism comes from the Greek hērōs, which referred to a demigod. As someone who shows great courage and valor is referred to as a hero, their actions are considered to be acts of heroism.

I recently watched the fantastic Netflix documentary - 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible which details a team of Nepalese high altitude mountaineers' quest to summit the tallest mountain peaks in the world in only 7 months. I was exceptionally inspired by the audacity of their mission as well as the fact that they had something significant to prove coming from a traditionally disenfranchised background. But led by a dynamic charismatic individual they made the impossible possible.

I couldn't help but compare their journey to those of us working in the corporate social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion business - we are each climbing peaks - theirs physical - ours conceptual and ethical. The metaphor of mountaineering has long been used to typify a significant goal or struggle - Martin Luther King Jr. used mountains in many of his most significant speeches. But seeing how this group of intrepid explorers achieved their goal was more the point I took away. They showed and proved. They didn't wait for permission. They leaned on their collective experience, capability, and enthusiasm for the task at hand. And most importantly, they never gave up.

To achieve the peaks of a corporate world where injustice is eradicated, inequity is eliminated, diversity is expanded, and inclusion is enhanced we will need to heed the example of this documentary. We need to do more together. We need to support each other. And we must never stop until the goal is achieved.

With that in mind, here is my unpacking of the experience of the documentary in the effort to pass on the inspiration I absorbed. This is filtered through the primary subject of the documentary, Nirmal Purja - a soldier, son, team leader, and death-zone seeker.

The Soldier

Nirmal Purja's (or Nims') father and older brothers were some of the few to call themselves members of the Brigade of Ghurkas - elite fighters from Nepal consigned to the British Army since the 1950's. Their respective military careers allowed their baby brother to attend English boarding school. This educational boost would come in handy as he also embarked on a career with the Ghurkas in 2003. His first seemingly impossible feat was becoming the first Ghurka accepted into the British Royal Navy's Special Boat Service (comparable to the US Navy's Seal Team Six) in 2009. The special unit is predominantly made up of Royal Marines Commandos, and specializes in classified undercover raids. Along with the SAS, the SBS is regarded as the most elite unit in the British military.

In order for him to climb this first career mountain - which is arguably as challenging as any of the above 8,000-meter behemoth's he would later ascend, Nims would need to lean on his unique spirit of resilience, persistence, and overwhelming optimism. This optimism is what strikes viewers introduced to Nims in the documentary. The documentary traces Nims and his team of Nepalese sherpas' quest to climb all 14 super 8,000-meter mountains in the world (Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga, Mount Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, K2, Broad Peak, Cho Oyu, Manaslu, and Shishapangma) in merely 7 months. For reference, the previous record holder took 7 years to successfully do so.

Nims relatively happy nature belies the steely will he possesses. Underneath all the smiles, dancing, and hugging is a person whose ability has been forged in the crucible of terrible conflict and struggle. He is a dreamer with the practicality of military tactician. While on assignment, he was nearly killed when a sniper's bullet (aimed for his head) collided with the butt of his rifle. As the breadwinner of his family, he had to learn to balance military duty, familial responsibility, and a burgeoning passion for high-altitude climbing.

While in the special unit, he developed his love of mountaineering, even specializing in cold weather warfare. While on leave in 2012, he learned how to climb and summited the 6,119-metre Lobuche East with his guide shortly after. Then he began tackling Everest in earnest. Summiting for the first time in 2014 and then leading an expedition of Ghurkas up to the peak a year later. His climbing confidence building as his military exploits wound down some, Nims began to dream even bigger.

The Death Zone

The first time Nims saved a fellow climber was during that initial ascent to Everest in 2014. This led him to the realization that not only was the job about ascending peaks, but also never leaving anyone behind. In the documentary, Nims and his crew embarked on two separate death-defying lifesaving missions while chasing their own objective of racing up perilous peaks. While most climbers were in it for individual glory, Nims knew that his new passion and vocation extended far beyond himself.

He became addicted to what climber's call "the death zone" - or altitudes above a certain point where the pressure of oxygen cannot sustain human life for a significant time span. This is why plane cabins are pressurized. According to Wikipedia, at or above the 8,000 meters above sea level altitude "additional red blood cells are manufactured; the heart beats faster; non-essential body functions are suppressed, food digestion efficiency declines (as the body suppresses the digestive system in favor of increasing its cardiopulmonary reserves);[9] and one breathes more deeply and more frequently. But acclimatization requires days or even weeks. Failure to acclimatize may result in altitude sickness, including high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) or cerebral edema (HACE)."

During his mission, Nims was afflicted with high altitude cerebral edema, but still managed to save another climber also suffering the same symptoms. In a telling moment in the documentary, during his preparations for Project Possible - he was being tested in London at the Altitude Center. It was there that he gained confirmation that his fitness level for such high-altitude excursions was, in fact, above the curve. He possessed a natural physiological advantage – he could ascend and adjust to altitude faster than most mountaineers.

With his already burgeoning confidence reconfirmed by clear capability, he was ready to gain the approval of the only person that truly mattered, his mother.

The Son

Despite having naturalized to the UK, Nims has never forgotten where he came from. His mother was in declining health during the filming of the documentary and it was clear how important their relationship is. Nims was the servant leader of his family for some time, but knew he had to pursue his new calling. He went to his mother, seeking her understanding and approval. She co-signed the quest and urged him on at every step - even after nearly perishing due to a heart attack. She was the battery in his back energizing, focusing, and reminding him what he is doing all this for.

Still, Project Possible did lead to some estrangement with his brother, Kamal, who did not want Nims to give up his lucrative military pension to pursue what he considered a frivolous, selfish quest for glory. They did not speak for several months after Nims left the military. But their duty as sons brought them back together when their mother fell ill. Eventually, the entire family would come to embrace Nims' goals and to understand the broader importance of what he was trying to accomplish.

Nims is also the cherished son of his impoverished community. They cheered on his exploits and further accelerated his stamina and will for the task at hand. His quest changed things for his community forever - it put them on the map and will provide for them long after his legend has faded. This is why he was so passionate about pursuing this mission with an all-Nepalese team - to provide them with the exposure they would never receive as elite climbers otherwise.

But he couldn't just select any team - he needed the right combination of skills, attitude, fortitude, and experience.

The Team

If it weren't for Nepalese sherpas - no one would have ever scaled Mount Everest. They go up the mountain first, checking conditions, setting the ropes and ladders, placing oxygen at strategic points. They also lead the rescue missions when some wayward mountaineer loses their way. Because Everest is literally in their backyard, their expertise and labor is fundamental to success.

But there are very few Nepalese owned and run mountain guiding companies despite their knowledge, experience, and capability. Tourism is Nepal's second biggest export, and mountaineering accounts for a significant chunk of the sector, with a record 381 climbers in pre-pandemic 2019, according to Nepal's Department of Tourism. The mountain contributes about $13 million a year to tourism income, industry experts say - but the industry is dominated by Western enterprises who traditionally have been superior at recruiting high paying customers to the region and then leveraging local labor to get their customers to the summits.

Enter Nims and Project Possible which was about much more than setting a record - it was about shattering ceilings and opening a flood gate of new opportunities for a generation of Sherpas no longer content to play in the background. Which is why Nims was so precise in the selection of his team for the quest. He decided that a core team of five members would be the minimum crew needed. They would carry all their own kit - ropes, ladders, oxygen, tents, food, and water as they ascended. After careful consideration, Nims selected Mingma Gyabu “David” Sherpa: a Nepalese mountaineer and rescue climber who was the youngest person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, and held the Guinness World Record for "Fastest time to climb Everest and K2"; Lakpa Dendi (Zekson Son), Geljen Sherpa, and Tensi Kasang.

They divided the quest into three phases - Spring, Summer, and Fall and meticulously planned each trek. Their objective was speed and accuracy - they would climb as fast as humanly possible while remaining safe and they would celebrate every chance they got along the way. Despite significant odds - funding, governmental permission to climb, personal tragedy, near death experiences - they accomplished their goal with nearly a month to spare. And when they were done, Nims declared Mission Achieved and then began to dream about the next groundbreaking pursuit for him and his team.

The Takeaway for J.E.D.I. Practitioners

When I interact these days with those working in the J.E.D.I. space, I experience their fatigue, pessimism, and general discontent with the status quo. It seems like the quest we have chosen may be insurmountable and yet we must keep climbing because up is the only way to changing things in a sustainable fashion. Still, many of us are lacking what Nims possesses in spades - unbridled enthusiasm, passion, and the will to keep pushing forward day after day. We view J.E.D.I. work as a burden, not as a vocation and this mindset may be the biggest barrier to achieving our ultimate goals.

My takeaways from the documentary were quite straightforward and aligned with Nims' approach to high-altitude mountaineering.

We must gain enough experience and capability to have the confidence to chase these peaks of change as he did during his time as a soldier. We have to come alive in the spaces where most people quit - i.e. in the "death zones" of withering executive enthusiasm, political will, and apathy. We must balance the competing priorities of our jobs, families, and responsibilities and do whatever is necessary to keep our buckets full for the work ahead - just as Nims balanced his roles as husband, son, bread-winner, and dreamer. We must not climb alone - finding the right team of truly like-minded spirits is as fundamental to success as the quest itself - so pick the right people as Nims did.

I hope you watch this astounding documentary and are as inspired as I am. I am as committed as ever to the Project Possible quest of creating a corporate world where justice is secured, equity is the norm, diversity is the minimum, and inclusion is a given for all.

A World of His Own: What Facebook’s Move to Meta May Mean for Mark Zuckerberg’s Legacy and Ours

The Kid Who Would Be Emperor

It’s been well documented that as a child, Mark Zuckerberg spent hours playing world building games such as RISK and Civilization – imagining constructing a thriving society built in his image. He also loved learning about the world’s greatest conquerors – Roman emperor, Augustus being a lifelong favorite. While few people are able to turn their childhood fantasies into a reality – by advancing the ideas of social networking first coined by Six Degrees founder Andrew Weinreich in the mid 1990’s, Mark Zuckerberg connected the world and its many advertisers in an addictive ecosystem that has proven to be equally worthy of merit and scorn.

Facebook’s mission to connect the world ran up against a core ethos of moving fast and breaking things and the ethos easily won the battle. Just as growth is the impetus at the heart of capitalism, so is growth the true mission of Facebook and its growing family of brands. And just as the unchecked growth imperative of capitalism led to the industrialization of slavery, child labor, gender pay gaps, and environmental degradation – so has Facebook’s pursuit of scale created societal division, isolation, cyberbullying, and further environmental degradation. But since Facebook is just a technological platform devoid of a soul, morality, or scruples – it has enabled the best and worst of what we, the data providers and primary products being sold, bring in with us.

So far, Facebook and its founder have had to respond to governments around the world when trouble has arisen due to problems created by its priorities and practices. They are the embodiment of don’t ask for permission - ask for forgiveness up until now. While remaining robotically calm in the face of direct questioning by politicians – inside, Zuckerberg seethed at having to answer to people he deemed his intellectual and political inferiors. But he had a plan to escape from ever being held accountable again.

Enter the Metaverse

In 2012, Zuckerberg authorized a spending spree that would net Facebook the Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus companies and platforms. It quickly became apparent that of these three acquisitions, the crown jewel was Oculus. The potential of virtual reality and the ascent of augmented reality would untether the internet from computer and phone screens and instead put the user inside of this new virtual world. But alas, as Zuckerberg lamented, this technology was at least a decade away from broad-based accessibility. In the meantime, he would manage his flock well and in time, lead them to the virtual promised land.

The near-decade since Oculus was acquired has been even as the stock has outperformed all expectations. Whistle blower accounts from September 2021 have illustrated how little the company’s leaders have worked to anticipate problems their solutions might create – from fomenting hate speech and division to potentially electing the most morally bankrupt President in American history due to allowing their data to be coopted by Russian hackers and domestic interlopers like Cambridge Analytica. Mass murders have been broadcast on the platform and governments have been toppled by mass protests fomented and planned within Facebook. Even worse – some of this has been done intentionally by right wing executives well positioned to influence decision making during crucial junctures. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg, a self-appointed war time CEO, to coin a phrase he learned after reading an article by Ben Horowitz, has been on a never-ending apology tour to appease shareholders concerned that all the bad press will tank their precious investments in the company.

In the background, however, Oculus was transforming into something potentially bigger than any innovation before it – the enabler of the metaverse. Anyone who has seen The Matrix or Ready Player One can grasp the concept of a reality within a reality where people go to escape from the doldrums of everyday life into a limitless fantasy land where anything is possible. What few have considered, however, is what if the company to invent such a reality was a company with such a shoddy track record of protecting its users as Facebook. For them it’s a no brainer. Facebook has more user provided (and/or stolen) data than any company in history and they have learned important lessons from the things they’ve broken while moving fast – primarily user and government trust – advertisers don’t seem to care, investors are fully on board, and governments can’t stop them from growing.

Meta’s Potential Impact

Early in his tenure as Facebook’s CEO, Zuckerberg was taken under the wing of the man whose innovations have shaped the first twenty years of the new millennium – Steve Jobs, deceased CEO of Apple. Zuckerberg has long sought to be seen in the same mostly glowing light of his luminary. But to do so, he would need a second act far more audacious than that of his mentor. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple after his embarrassing ouster in the late 1980’s, he gave the world iTunes, iCloud, iPods, iPhones, iPads, iMacs, and Apple Watches to help people enhance their creativity while upending the status quo via technology. Meta, however, might just render all of Job’s hard work obsolete in a single stroke.

Apple’s products enabled our transformation into phone addicts, but they were built on a platform of the backbone of the Internet combined with data plans paid to cellular carriers. Meta will eliminate the screen interface all together and immerse us in a virtual world where phones, computers, televisions, and watches will be made obsolete. When a user puts on a wi-fi connected Meta headset they will be transported into the metaverse where the possibilities for interaction, connection, and commerce, among other things, will be available on steroids.

We are in the age of reinvention and this age has quickly chewed up and spit out the innovations that came before it. Apple, Google, Amazon, and Netflix for example are primarily responsible through their innovations for the slow deaths of the taxi industry, bookstores, movie theatres, shopping malls, health clinics, cable tv, music and video stores, and landlines, etc. But the metaverse will be far more potentially deadly to status quo industries.

Imagine a metaverse built on the back of Facebook’s extensive infrastructure where people spend at least 10-12 waking hours each day. Don’t find that scenario likely? Did your company adopt the iPad as a business tool when it came out? Businesses will flock to the metaverse, especially in a post pandemic world. They will invest heavily in the construction of their virtual reality real estate where the global headquarters truly is global – in that it houses the entire global workforce in a single virtual space. There goes at least 8 hours right there. People will attend meetings in the metaverse; they will read and write virtual email on virtual keyboards connected to virtual monitors; they will create presentations and collaborate on projects using virtual software applications built for the metaverse; they will attend virtual conferences and summits; they will participate in virtual learning and development programs.

Our personal lives will be consumed by these enhanced virtual interactions as well. Everything from dating to travel to shopping will happen primarily in this new space. Real estate will take on a virtual meaning, as people rush to purchase and enhance their virtual worlds and avatars. And as more and more people spend more and more of their lives in a virtual world, services in the physical world will start to wither and die. Physical travel, real estate, laptops, malls, airlines, cars, amusement parks, and telecom are likely victims. But the biggest victims may be the government and society itself.

The Fate of Humanity

When you enter Zuckerberg’s metaverse you will cease to be encumbered by geographic and societal boundaries. As a citizen of the metaverse you will only be subject to the rules and regulations of Meta itself. In this world inside our world, you can work anywhere, travel anywhere, interact with anyone, say anything, and do things that are not possible in the physical world. Why pay a government tax for infrastructure and a military when war ceases to exist in the virtual world where you spend all your time? Why get a driver’s license when you can teleport to the other side of the universe at a moment’s notice? Why worry about being cancelled or held accountable for any damage you do in the metaverse when there is no real-world implication of such an act?

In his book, The End of Power, Moises Naim details the erosion of borders, political influence, religious regulation, and military power. Importantly, while technology plays a role in this process, it is happening anyway due to other global forces such as economics and climate emergencies. A successful implementation of a metaverse controlled by a single company could lead to the next imperialist empire – one helmed by someone who often fantasized about being a ruthless conqueror and usurper of democracy.

A 2019 study for the Internet Association believed it to be worth US$2.1 trillion to the United States’ US$20.5 trillion yearly GDP which even the investigators found to be a low estimate. Now, imagine how much revenue will flow into Meta’s coffers due to their being the sole source for virtual world access on Earth? Just as every company will have to pay to have a home in the metaverse to work, they will also pay to advertise and sell their goods and services to people in the metaverse as well. How much will Meta charge Disney to host a global (virtual) premier of the new Marvel blockbuster in 2028? Who will regulate pricing policy within the metaverse? Who will protect consumers from fraud, identity theft, and other metaverse crimes?

There are other larger implications as well. What will happen to identity in a virtual world where you can literally be anyone at any time? What will happen to authenticity and truth? What about the people left out of the metaverse due to lack of infrastructure or worse, Meta waging war on governments who fail to acquiesce to their whims? History tells us that innovation may be good for the haves but the have nots always suffer more in the short to medium term. What about health and wellness? What might be the long-term impacts of living in a virtual world on the human spirit, psyche, and physique?

Well, the great thing about being an Emperor is that you don’t need to answer to anyone but your own ambitions and desires. Mark Zuckerberg is building a world of his own. We have a choice whether to join him there or not.

The Spectacular Unraveling of Will Smith

“What you have come to understand as “Will Smith,” the alien-annihilating MC, the bigger-than-life movie star, is largely a construction—a carefully crafted and honed character—designed to protect myself. To hide myself from the world... To hide the coward.” ~ Will Smith.

The more I engage organizations and coach executives - the more I realize how crucial self-awareness is to sustaining success. By filling in knowledge gaps related to how we are perceived by others, areas of vulnerability and talent we should bring to the fore, and hidden areas of potential that need more understanding, individuals and organizations become empowered to make the decisions that lead to greater prosperity. This process is known as the Johari Window:

As I watched and rewatched Will Smith initially chuckle at Chris Rock's bald joke at his wife's expense and then take to the stage and physically assault a fellow top-level entertainer in front of a room of the elite of the acting world and on live television it was like seeing a tightly fastened veil finally released, revealing the complete human being - in all his frailty, machismo, anger, and anguish. This unfortunate episode of the Will Smith saga would never have happened if not for the intense public deconstruction of his carefully cultivated image over the past three years. A journey that has forced him to reconcile with his failings as a son, father, husband, and professional entertainer. A quest to save the life of the human in the midst of the marvel of his own creation - a brand that has more often than not chosen measured restraint and image maintenance over his own roiling emotions.

Smacking a comedian after a bad joke has been construed by many as Will defending a black woman or standing up for his family. But it's far more complex than that. Will Smith has always been firmly in control of how he is being seen and perceived - and only recently has he begun to pull back the curtain on who he actually is while exploring further depths. The slap at the Oscars was far less about his wife's approval and far more about reaching a psychological breaking point between his happy go lucky persona (Uncle Fluffy), his rigid warrior spirit (The General), his brand (Will Smith), and a man caught between them who has had to claw and fight to keep his marriage and family together amidst entanglements, intense public scrutiny, and the pursuit of artistic perfection.

It was ultimate self-knowledge coalescing in real-time.

In this article, I endeavor to reconcile the Will Smith we bore witness to being born on live television during the Oscars and the Will Smith whose pursuit of image perfection led him to this very stage and this very moment. My principal argument is that Will Smith didn't slap Chris Rock at the Oscars. Will Smith (aka The General), enraged at all the times Will Smith (aka Uncle Fluffy) had to suck it up for the sake of Will Smith (the brand), took to the stage and smacked away our image of Will Smith to the extent that we have no choice left but to see and deal with this new man emerging before us. One who, in his own words, "wants to be an ambassador of the kind of love and care and concern Richard Williams demonstrated for his family."

The Coward

When Will Smith was a young child, he witnessed his father brutally beating his mother in front of him, his brother, and his sister. The trauma from this and other events like it during his childhood splintered off a section of his personality and manifested the entertainer we know today. In his excellent memoir, Will reconciles his conflicted feelings about his father (love/hate/fear/respect) and even reveals a murder fantasy in which he pushes his now elderly and vulnerable Daddio down the hospital stairs in his last days. Instead, he chooses love over hate and in this moment rises above how he was raised, the example of manhood he was given, and becomes a version of the man he has longed to be.

Fear has been a constant theme in Will's life as is manhood. A motivating and driving force keeping him sharp and at the cutting edge of his craft as one of the biggest entertainers the world has ever seen. As such, we can consider the coward as Will's shadow self - who he is constantly running away from in order to convince himself that he has transformed from that weakened state into something nearly divine. The best version of himself.

But at some point, Will realized that he had to stop running and confront the coward head-on. And as if that wasn't a big enough challenge, he also committed to getting back into superstar shape after delivering an Oscar worthy performance in the film King Richard and putting on weight for the role and sitting around after lockdowns initiated. This confrontation was years in the making - ever since his marriage to fellow actor Jada Pinkett-Smith collapsed after an over-the-top birthday celebration for her 40th that opened up all the festering fissures between them. Soon, thereafter, for the first time in decades, Will confronted what it meant to be alone.

In a very revealing anecdote, Will discusses being on a yacht away from everything and everyone he knows in Trinidad, while a group of recent acquaintances frolics in the water nearby, and becoming furious that their entire itinerary for the day was to literally do nothing - even in the presence of WILL SMITH. He realized the need to check himself after this incident because clearly the hamster wheel he'd been running on - the same one that had brought him astounding fame and success over the years, was no longer serving him. It seemed that the coward was as afraid of inaction as he was of swimming.

The Icon

One of the most simultaneously comforting yet disconcerting things about Smith's memoir is how fundamentally flawed and human he comes across while at the same time realizing how high he has flown on his talent, discipline, dedication, calculation, and good fortune. He stumbled into a love of rap music as a teenager and had the extremely good fortune of becoming friends with Jeffrey Allen Townes (aka DJ Jazzy Jeff). Prodigiously charismatic even as a youth, Smith leveraged his talent and charm into a career that has now spanned over 35 years as an entertainer and public figure.

Will Smith, the global icon, is big on the concept of deciding, dedicating, and following through with rigorous discipline. This version of Smith made a decision early on that he wanted to be the world's biggest movie star (in the hopes that it would help him put the coward to rest once and for all) and then put all his dedication and discipline to bear until he stood alone at the top of the box office sales mountaintop in the early 2000's after completing a cinematic run between Bad Boys and Hancock that may never be repeated. Along the way, he carefully cultivated an unrivaled image of individual, familial, and business success. He became, as the kids today say, #lifegoals.

Failure became as foreign a concept to him as unscheduled time. Everything was meticulously mapped out and executed. Within his sphere of control, it seemed he could do no wrong. This was a direct result of the persona he named The General - the aspect of his personality responsible for intense discipline and achievement. But as it does for everyone, collapse came for him in the most insidious of manners - through his children. Pushing his kids into the spotlight as manifestations of his own brand of perfection blew up in his face. After Earth, the film he shot in the hopes of building out son Jaden's burgeoning film career was a disaster and his daughter Willow called off a global music tour. And further on the home front, he and his beloved wife Jada were having significant marital challenges. His family was being forced to deal with the dizzying dichotomy of living with the coward and icon simultaneously - something like watching your fifty-year-old father/husband Helo jump over the Grand Canyon in front of a global audience.

Having failed to fully weaponize his celebrity as a force for global good, despite pithy quotes, charitable contributions, political involvement, and launching a sustainable water brand; Smith, in this latter stage of his life, realized he needed to do some important reconciliation between the icon and the man. He needed to murder Uncle Fluffy and The General and then deal with whoever was left. And he needed to do it in front of a global audience.

The Man

On his 2021 television show - The Best Shape of My Life, Smith begins this public deconstruction of his well-crafted image that culminates with Chris Rock being smacked during the Oscars. Out of shape, ornery, and uncomfortable - we witness Will, fresh off playing Richard Williams, as he confronts the interstitial and existential weight of his fifty-plus year existence - reconciling what the world expects of Will Smith and what Will Smith expects of himself in this stage of his life. His psychologist on the show asks the insightful question, "how the heck does this guy cope, when he's not winning?"

How does someone with such an image of perfection deal with what could be perceived as a public character assassination orchestrated by his own wife on her platform as she stated by way of rationale for seeking a relationship outside of their marriage, "I just wanted to feel good - it had been so long since I felt good." Will Smith, the man, was never more vulnerable than during the episode of Red Table Talk where Jada revealed that during a short breakup in their marriage, she had a romantic "entanglement" with an R&B singer. He looks visibly ruffled and disheveled as they get deeper into the conversation - his ego noticeably deflated with the icon nowhere in sight.

From that low moment, we can trace a straight line from the Red Table to the Oscars slap. We collectively witnessed Smith's version of rock bottom. Rock bottom for someone as needy for approval as Will Smith is not the same as rock bottom for other people. All it takes for him is to cross a bridge and then leave that structure irrevocably damaged in his wake due to the honesty and reality of the moment. And today, at the time which should be a celebration of his greatest career achievement, the world is discussing exactly who Will Smith is.

By focusing on reconciling his self-awareness and deconstructing his internal self and states, Will Smith has found an endless supply of inspiration and objectives to pursue beyond just being universally beloved, revered, and respected. With a global bestselling memoir, a choice of movie roles on deck, and finally an Oscar - Will Smith is not yet finished with winning. The real question is what he will do with his winnings. How will he make his life meaningful for others beyond merely entertaining us? The answer, ironically, is entangled in his very name and identity - will. His relentless focus has now met its match in terms of his increasing awareness of his human frailty and limitations. Allowing himself to feel, be real, be vulnerable, and be seen for who he actually is while living in service of his broader mission will be this man's greatest challenge yet.

Leadership Lessons from Spider-Man: No Way Home

Please note: this article contains spoilers.

Is more always better? This seems to be the question at the center of the most ambitious standalone super hero film probably ever conceived - Spider-Man: No Way Home. When we left our friendly neighborhood Spidey at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, he had been outed by Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) as Peter Parker. Where they go with this relatively simple conceit is quite astounding in terms of the overall scale and scope of this trilogy's final chapter.

The synopsis of the film goes: With Spider-Man's identity now revealed, our friendly neighborhood web-slinger is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life as Peter Parker from the high stakes of being a superhero. When Peter asks for help from Doctor Strange, the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.

On one level, this film is about recovering from bad decision making and the related consequences. But this movie is also very much about the exact essence of heroism and what is means to be a force for good. As Maya Angelou once stated:

You will face many defeats in life, but never let yourself be defeated.

With this thought in mind, allow me to present 5 key leadership lessons from this eventful movie.

1. Find strength in purpose: Due to being outed by Mysterio and becoming the most infamous person on the planet - Peter Parker/Spider-Man completely loses his way. This is evidenced by a noticeable lack of heroics in the first act of the film. He becomes consumed with what has happened to him personally versus what he ultimately stands for and this leads him to making a fatal error. Leadership Lesson: All the work to define an organization's Why and Core Focus is so that during moments of high tension, stress, and turbulence, you and your colleagues have a solid anchor to hold you firm despite the stormy seas. If you throw out your purpose at the first sign of trouble, you need to examine why you were doing it in the first place.

2. Practice good decision-making: Under extreme duress and feeling guilty for how his infamy is negatively affecting those around him, Peter makes a knee jerk decision to enlist the support of Dr. Stephen Strange to create a spell that will make the world forget that he is Spider-Man. The fact that this decision is so poorly thought out leads to the emergence of the film's primary antagonists. MJ tells Peter that he should have consulted with her and Ned before taking another action that could put them in jeopardy - and their relationship pays the ultimate price. Leadership Lesson: The difference between good and bad decision-making comes down to rigor, discipline, and process. Examining the facts, seeking out root cause behind problems, debating potential courses of action, and planning for the potential of failure all improve the odds of making a good decision. Bad decision making is based on inferences, opinions, or feelings versus solid process. Ultimately, whether a given decision will be deemed right or wrong is determined by the passage of time which is why successful leaders focus more on good process versus fear of making a wrong decision.

3. Fight for your beliefs: When Peter tracks down the MIT recruiter to fight for MJ and Ned's placement in the prestigious university, he demonstrates the selflessness of the hero he has not yet become. By putting his ego aside and humbling himself while also passionately defending his friends (and ultimately saving the recruiter from Doc Oc's attack) - he turns the tide on their futures. Leadership Lesson: Leaders know which battles to fight and which ones to sit on the sideline. The right battles almost always involve going to bat for the people with the highest leverage points with the organization/team's external stakeholders. Every second spent trying to remove obstacles for these value generator's is worth it to a servant leader and therefore this is how prioritization is determined.

4. It's not about you: Having been raised by an altruistic parental figure in the form of Aunt May, Peter naturally leans heavily in that direction morally. But when May perishes due to injuries sustained at the hands of the Green Goblin, he nearly succumbs to internal bitterness and a consuming need for vengeance. It takes the love and support of MJ and Ned, plus the surprising appearances and sound advice of Toby McGuire and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Men to walk him off the ledge - reminding him that Spider-Man is bigger than the tragedy he's experienced - it's not about him - it's about those he must protect and serve from greater tragedies and evil. Leadership Lesson: The two most important days in a career are the day you are appointed to become a manager and the day you realize why. When a person realizes that being a manager is a privilege and not a right and that they exist to serve and support the development and success of others (and that any success they achieve individually is a result of the collective success of the team), then they truly can call themself a leader.

5. Optimism is a super power: At Aunt May's behest, Peter stops looking at the assortment of villains they've collected in Dr. Strange's catacombs as bad guys and uses intense empathy to realize that each of them is a victim in his own right. This leads to an unusual climax for a super hero film where the goal is not bringing evil to justice, but actually helping them overcome their dastardly actions so they might live better future lives as solid societal contributors. It is his belief that they can change that leads to a transcendent moment for this now fully realized hero. Leadership Lesson: Servant leaders have chosen to believe in the inherent goodness in people and lead them accordingly. They don't put labels or judge others. They accept them as they are and then go on the journey together. They are able to transform adversity into positive consequences merely by believing that they can!

Overall, Spider-Man: No Way Home raised the stakes significantly over the prior entries in this trilogy. And with an ending that allows the franchise to go anywhere from her, I am more excited for Spidey's prospects than ever! The messaging was outstanding and Tom Holland proved why he deserves to be the number one Spider-Man (5 out of 5 stars from me).

What other leadership lessons did you glean from the film? Let us know in the comments below. And please give the article a thumbs up and share with your network if you enjoyed and got anything out of it.

How J.E.D.I. Leaders Take a Stand

We are entering a new age of corporate leadership, where social justice and inequity are becoming key components of successful modern leadership. Leaders (and organizations) who do not move swiftly and strategically, risk not only alienating employees but also potential clients and customers.

Over the past two weeks there have been three watershed events that have impacted the body politic here in the US - the Kyle Rittenhouse murder verdict, the Ahmaud Arbery murder verdict, and the undermining of Roe Vs. Wade by the US Supreme Court due to potentially upholding a Mississippi law that violates one of the essential holdings of the famous abortion statute established nearly 50 years ago. In this politically charged environment, a question that leaders are wrestling with is what, if anything, should they do or say related to potentially controversial events. The answer, as always lies less in their comfort level addressing issues that impact their most crucial stakeholders - employees and customers, and more with living up to the standards of J.E.D.I. leaders - or those who uphold the principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in how they lead their teams, divisions, functions, and/or enterprises.

To recap - Kyle Rittenhouse crossed state lines with an illegally obtained AR-15 assault rifle and ended up killing two people and injuring a third during protests in Kenosha, WI related to the police shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed African-American man in August 2020. On November 19, a predominantly white jury (19 of 20 jurors) acquitted Rittenhouse on all charges, including first-degree intentional and first-degree reckless homicide. He argued he acted in self-defense and the jury sided with his defense. The issue at heart here is the continued evidence of an unfair legal system that if the tables were turned and an African-American youth had committed the exact same act of crossing state lines, inserting themself into a volatile situation and then murdered two other African-Americans and been arrested - would be in prison today, not taking photo ops with Donald Trump.

Ahmaud Arbery, a 25 year old African-American man, was taking a jog, when Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael (both white) grabbed their guns and pursued him - believing he might be responsible for a rash of burglaries in their suburban enclave (or so they claimed). In the ensuing confrontation Arbery was shot and killed. They claimed to be conducting a citizen's arrest of the unarmed African-American man until video, shot by a third white man, William "Roddie" Bryan who joined the pursuit and recorded the shooting on his cellphone, emerged ten weeks later, igniting calls for arrests and investigations of the tragedy. In this instance, a predominantly white jury (11 of 12 jurors) convicted all three men on 23 of 27 counts. If there were ever a lighting rod case for Black Lives Matter-ing - it is this one, where three white "vigilantes" took it upon themselves to play judge, jury, and executioner to a young African-American because he had the gaul to run outside in a predominantly white neighborhood.

And on December 2, The US Supreme Court deliberated on a Mississippi law that prohibits most abortions after 15 weeks. The national law is that states may not prohibit abortion before the point of fetal viability, which is generally estimated to be between 22 and 24 weeks of pregnancy. A ruling in favor of this Mississipi term limit would throw abortion regulations into chaos across the US and fully undermine the landmark legislation based on the Roe vs. Wade verdict. Women in these states would face a similar situation to those living in Texas whom now have to contend with anti-abortion legislation that Justice Sonia Sotomayor said was a “flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny.”

At the center of these three events are questions of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion:

When is it just to murder, when you brought the gun to the party for instance? In which states and instances should a woman have full dominion over her body and her choices? How is it diverse to try cases, in which the racial implications are obvious, with majority white juries? How can traditionally disenfranchised employees feel psychologically safe and fully included in companies that remain silent on issues that matter?

With that in mind, here are four ways J.E.D.I. leaders keep themselves aligned with the continual efforts to eradicate injustices, eliminate inequities, expand diversity, and enhance inclusion in their companies, communities, and societies:

Demonstrate empathy: The first step is to listen, understand, and validate the experiences, feelings, and emotions of the agrieved parties. In these instances it is African-Americans and women (regardless of their stance on abortion). Really lean in and make space to take in these perspectives and make these constituencies feel heard and seen. Take a stand: Regardless of a leader's personal politics related to these verdicts and potential judgements, if you are responsible for a diverse group of people, they are expecting their leaders to stand up for the causes of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion especially when it is unconfortable to do so. Fence-sitting and silence will not be forgotten by employees and customers. Double down: This is a fantastic moment to reiterate the company's investments in enhancing internal and external fights for greater social justice with specific recent examples of actions and progress. Demonstrate how the company is on the side of solutions and not inaction. Take a cue from your ERGs: Consult the leadership within Employee Resource Groups before firing off a response and align the communication plan. And more than this, let the ERG's lead the corporate response bith internally and externally to avoid carelessness and calousness in these crucial messages.

Responses that contemplate these four elements will not only land well with a majority of employees and customers, they will also reinforce the leader's and companies why or true north of leveraging their platform to not only deliver great products and services but make the world a better place at the same time!

The Money Left On the Table (Due to Failure to Embrace J.E.D.I. Opportunities)

Over $6 trillion.

Most organizations are in the process of turning the page on 2021 from a fiscal perspective and aiming their attention at 2022 goals. Yet as C-suite executives issue top-down performance expectations for the coming year, most are failing to account for the significant dollars just waiting to be claimed. This is because they may be ignorant to the exact size of the prize that comes when embracing justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion as a key how to deliver more for more stakeholders: employees, customers, communities, the environment, and shareholders.

Over $6 trillion.

Most DEI work being performed across large companies today is unfortunately not delivering the expected outcomes. This is largely due to a fundamental misunderstanding of this work and why it really matters. Some CEO's may view it as a necessary external expenditure to signal allyship with relevant causes or even as an extension of their existing corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. But DEI work is far closer to Quality, Ethics, Compliance, and Environmental and Social Governance efforts and should be funded and prioritized accordingly. But effective risk management is only one of the ways J.E.D.I. work can enhance a company's financial outlook.

Over $6 trillion.

There are two frameworks, one from the world of ethics and compliance, and another from the world of total quality management, that are fundamental to the work being done in the J.E.D.I. space. The first is the internal control framework which is a system built on identifying potential risks, crafting standard operating procedures, communicating and training the organization around these, and then monitoring the adherence towards them via internal and external audit processes. When you treat injustices, inequities, uniformity, and exclusionary beliefs, biases, behaviors, processes, and priorities as business risks - you are in effect performing similar work to what compliance officers do every day. The second framework comes from the world of total quality management and deals with corrective and preventative actions or CAPAs. CAPA management is fundamentally about learning from failure, elevating standards, and enhancing outcomes. Inevitably issues will arise within any organization - being disciplined and robust with CAPAs is the continuous improvement mechanism company's need to enable J.E.D.I. work.

Over $6 trillion.

The moral argument for eradicating injustices, eliminating inequities, expanding diversity, and enhancing inclusion is clear and cannot be overstated. Unfortunately, the moral argument alone cannot sustain the work required to truly transform the status quo and right long-standing wrongs. Thankfully, there are some very compelling business arguments as well.

Injustice: Citigroup estimates the US economy would see a $5 trillion boost over the next five years if the U.S. were to tackle key areas of discrimination against African Americans. Inequity: Closing the gender pay gap could add $512 billion to the GDP, not to mention how the inequity impacts everything from healthcare and higher education to international trade and the middle class. Uniformity: Companies with above-average total diversity, measured as the average of six dimensions of diversity (migration, industry, career path, gender, education, age), had both 19% points higher innovation revenues and 9% points higher EBIT margins, on average. Exclusion: Workplace belonging leads to a 56% increase in job performance. Employee disengagement costs companies dearly every year—up to $550 billion a year.

Over $6 trillion.

This is just a fraction of the money left on the table for failing to tap into the power of J.E.D.I. work. Individual businesses may choose to opt out of this opportunity - but the leading companies cannot. To achieve the lofty goals of stakeholder capitalism; to add more value to more stakeholders; to mitigate the significant business risks inherent in allowing injustice, inequity, uniformity, and exclusion to corrode the potential and purpose of the enterprise; to turn away from the enormity of opportunity present in embracing modern leadership principles; is fundamentally unacceptable and irresponsible. Corporate irresponsibility should never be rewarded. It's time for businesses to become more and there is no time like the present to set the right DEI goals for 2022 and get back on track!

Redefining Success by Reconciling Equity and Privilege

In 2006, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) introduced a novel scoring scheme for gymnastics. The new system allocated credit for a given routine's content, difficulty and execution, and scoring was no longer limited to a maximum of 10. This system encouraged athletes to innovate, train more, attempt, and perfect harder and harder athletic feats. It is known as degree of difficulty.

From Wikipedia: "Degree of difficulty is a concept used in several sports and other competitions to indicate the technical difficulty of a skill, performance, or course, often as a factor in scoring. Sports which incorporate a degree of difficulty in scoring include bouldering, cross-country skiing, diving, equestrianism, figure skating, freestyle skiing, gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, surfing, synchronized swimming and trampoline. Degree of difficulty is typically intended to be an objective measure, in sports whose scoring may also rely on subjective judgments of performance."

This definition is relevant beyond the arena of sports, though isn't it? Think about our professional pursuits - much of what we call success cannot be objectively quantified. This is due to the elements of luck and privilege that force us to examine achievement through a different lens. In sports, landing a Yurchenko double pike, as Simone Biles did during warmups at the 2021 U.S. Classic in Indianapolis, has nothing to do with luck or privilege - it is pure talent, hard work, repetition, and courage.

No one would complain if the CEO of a company leveraged his privilege to solve bigger and bigger business and societal problems - the issue manifests because to become a CEO today without the significant boost of privilege and more than a little luck is a nearly impossible feat. So it is far more disappointing when we learn that these exceptionally privileged individuals choose to leverage it not in service of creating a better world, but as a platform to give those with more even more. If you didn't achieve your status purely based on your talent, hard work, perspective, and courage - you could at least pay your privilege forward to the less fortunate, goes the thinking of the 99%. But business success today is more a function of ruthlessness, ego, and self-orientation than altruism, cooperation, and reciprocity.

No wonder people are opting out of this system at alarming rates during the Great Resignation Trend of 2021. We live in a society where all the preparation you need to become a potential online influencer (and entrepreneur) is your own experience and creativity. Opportunities to participate and succeed have been greatly magnified by the Internet, wifi access, and perpetually connected devices and social networks. Why work for someone who cares nothing for your development when you can develop yourself and gain valuable experience and repetition that may one day result in the success you desire?

This is the question of our age. Reconciling privilege, equity, and success.

The philosopher Seneca once stated that success happens when opportunity meets preparation. But privilege creates better preparation and more opportunities and therefore greater success with less effort (hence why it is so desirable). Equity dismisses privilege and recognizes, values, and adjusts as necessary for degree of difficulty in making more out of better preparation and fewer organic opportunities.

It is impossible to compare the success of Mark Zuckerberg with that of Simon Biles. Zuckerberg had access to computing at an early age and was able to indulge his passion for programming throughout his adolescence. His parents indulged his interests and were able to afford to send him to an elite academy in New Hampshire that was one of ten such feeder schools in the US for Ivy League schools. Although Zuckerberg's talent and intellect are undeniable, so is it undeniable the advantages he enjoyed on his way to inventing Facebook, not the least of which was being a straight white male who had access to a Harvard education (the only school he applied for).

Simon Biles by contrast was abandoned as a child by her birth parents and raised by her grandparents. She found her passion on a field trip at the age of 6 and her grandparents were able to afford to keep her in the program under the tutilage of a single coach to transform her potential into a formidible athletic prowess. What set Biles apart was her consistency, her exuberant personality, and the high degree of difficulty she incorporated into her routines in all four events—vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise. She had to do more to break through in a sport that was only beginning to value difference.

Degree of difficulty is a concept that we never consider when evaluating potential in our companies. We examine track record, consistency, and impact but never consider that for the single mother of two to achieve consistent results versus the wunderkind single woman from Yale is not nearly an equivalent feat. Managers want to see themselves as impartial and fair but fail to take into account the weight of identity and background on the weight of the boulders being asked to push up the hill. And this is why equity and the lack of it is such a crucial topic for us to tackle in modern society and business.

So how do we reconcile equity, privilege, and success? Here are 3 keys:

The first step is acknowledging both that privilege makes accessing opportunities easier for some and that given the same opportunity, someone lacking such privilege may require a boost of their own to get the chance to show what they are capable of achieving. This means making uncomfortable bets and eliminating biases. If you are perpetually blocked from accessing such opportunities you can never develop the necessary experience and demonstrate that you possess the capability that is assumed and taken for granted in those with privilege. Take the leap of faith and go beyond the comfort zone or the "type" you are seeking and see what other types can bring to the table. The next step is to begin appreciating degree of difficulty in our calculations of execution and performance. We do this not by assuming that someone experiences disadvantages related to the tasks at hand but by engaging managers beyond the function of monitoring performance and reinforcing that their role is to serve and support all of their people to success. The burden of proof should rest on the manager's shoulders, not on the employees (unless anti-ethical behavior is involved). Employees should be judged by their development under a given manager, not on an arbitrary performance standard because personal development is a function of objective measures - proactivity, discipline, consistency, and detail orientation; performance is often a function of conditions beyond our direct control. Lastly, we reconcile privilege by giving shortcuts to those who experience greater inequity due to their identity by pairing them with more successful internal mentors who can help them navigate their way to success just as they did. But the internal mentor's function must go beyond advice and veer into the territory of advocacy. So much of corporate success comes down to who is fighting for you in discussions you don't even realize are happening about you. Invite the mentors to the talent discussions as important voices to be considered beyond the metrics, qualitative anecdotes, and passionate defenses of more outspoken managers.

If we do these three things well, those with privilege and those without will find themselves on a more level playing field for the first time. And this is the point of talent identification and development - when we value work ethic, passion, solution-orientation, and emotional maturity more than we value numbers or pedigree or similarity or familiarity, more people can earn a seat at the table. And everyone has to do the same kind of work to achieve success under this approach.

Today, Zuckerberg is the billionaire and Biles is the American hero. Writers and readers of fiction understand this important difference. A heroes' journey without significant adversity does not make for a very interesting protagonist - it doesn't build the character necessary for them to understand that their power is only as good as how they leverage it in service of others. Zuckerberg and Biles do have one thing in common even though they arrived at it through completely different means - when asked why they possess such lofty visions of what they can achieve in their unique pursuits - both routinely reply - because I can.

It's time we make sure more people can too.

https://youtu.be/NESV8eu6k18

Why I created TYMPO.io

As I was writing my latest book, Be a J.E.D.I. Leader, Not a Boss, I began contemplating solutions for each of the key pillars – justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Believing that inclusion is the toughest to truly quantify in corporations, I set myself to the task of designing a solution that would make the process of creating belonging and two-way exchange in businesses much more straightforward. Leaning on my previous entrepreneurship experience in the interactive communications space I decided to disrupt the existing audience response paradigm by dramatically enhancing the value for the specific purpose of augmenting inclusion.

In 2010, I worked for Unison – an interactive communications start-up looking to enhance participation and engagement in meetings with a comprehensive interactive application called Captivator. We developed and launched one of the first fully operational web apps for participant engagement in the world – but were unable to breakthrough due to a lack of internal strategic alignment and funding. But I always planned to get back into this space because I am quite passionate about turning one way didactic communication into an interactive and safe space where real business problems can be solved by leaning into the wisdom of the crowd. So, I have invested my own money to bootstrap such a solution.

As more leaders recognize the important role of diversity, equity, and inclusion as not only business boosters but also risk mitigators, they have begun to direct investment into this space. However, DEI leaders are a bit hamstrung by surveys when it comes to measuring inclusion initiatives. ,TYMPO will transform a theoretical concept into a tangible one by highlighting all the diverse voices in an enterprise and allowing them to have a louder voice as it relates to strategic and financial understanding, agreement with key actions and initiatives, and alignment with their roles. By doing so it will add teeth to a previously toothless (and thankless) task of proving that inclusion exists within a given corporate space. The data is undeniable as is the trust that will be gained when senior leaders truly lean into inclusion by listening to all the voices and going beyond majorities.

In contrast to the typical audience response applications on the market – ,TYMPO was designed to enhance inclusion – not general audience sentiment or engagement. Gone are frivolous polls in favor of targeted engagement on the issues that matter – understanding, agreement, and alignment. Free text is finally linked to a specific category so gone is endless scrolling through varied sentiment. And after the forum, there is a transparent issue resolution matrix that will build trust by visualizing progress against agreed upon actions post forum. The app was also designed for full anonymity for participants so they can be sure when they contribute they won’t be or can’t be singled out by management.

Executives familiar with traditional audience response applications will find a lot to like in ,TYMPO’s targeted and sleek functionality. It has the familiar features like polling, questions, and voting, with the added boost of real-time drill downs by demographic and reporting by key demographic. And the pricing model is very attractive for continual users. It is the most focused app for this purpsose and this is just the beta!

For Experienced Audience Response Users and DEI Leaders, ,TYMPO is an impactful solution for employee inclusion that will make quantifying employee inclusion and enhancing organizational trust easier than ever before, because it elevates the voices of all employees during the most crucial business meetings (Town Hall, All hands, Annual Conferences, Ask Me Anythings).

We are building out our team, pitching investors, and seeking beta testers. If you would like more information in any of these regards please contact us.

Here is the press release.

https://youtu.be/PYRVZLqgZyw

Reconciling My Own Privilege

Just as ego is the enemy of servant leadership, privilege is the primary antagonist of equity.

I have long adhered to the principle that those with the most privilege have the greatest responsibility to improve conditions for the rest of us, but maybe I am in the minority, or maybe most of us have never taken the time to reconcile our own privilege. But as this is the foundational step on the journey to doing #thework of eradicating injustices, eliminating inequities, expanding diversity, and enhancing inclusion, please endulge me as I take a trip down memory lane and account for the universal gifts bestowed upon me and how I have used these to make the world a bit better in my own way.

When you understand my story you will understand why I fight so diligently for everyone to be able to be their best selves and live their best lives.

Privilege 1 - Nationality and Timing: Being born in America post the struggle for Civil Rights as an African-American male was extremely fortuitous. The American passport is still one of the most valuable documents in the world allowing access to almost anywhere you can imagine and some places you can't. In my lifetime, the United States is still the only Western country in the world to elect a Black man as President and a Black and Indian woman as Vice-President. And only in this country do we have the freedom to speak out so publically against injustices and inequities that occur, without fear of censure - something many of us may take for granted.

Privilege 2 - Rearing: I was born to loving parents who remained married for 44 years (until my mother passed away in 2020). Back in 1977 (when I was born), the proportion of (married) 2 parent American households for children under 18 was around 80%. As of last year this has eroded to 70%. In the African-American community this number is only 37.9% in 2020 - meaning the majority of African-American children today are raised by a single parent (by contrast 75.5% of white children today come from married two parent households). This means I never experienced the trauma of divorce or the struggles of a single income family. It means my lived experience will always be different compared to anyone raised in a different family arrangement than myself.

Privilege 3 - Stability: My parents were solidly lower middle class (we never owned a home), but we never lived in a housing project, or went hungry. We always had at least one car and I never missed a school lunch for lack of funds. My parents never lost their employment (my father was a chemical engineer and my mother was a social worker and early childood educator). I was a latch key kid, but most nights I went to bed with both parents in the house with me. My parents never drank or smoked and I never dealt with physical or emotional abuse. I didn't have it all but I always had enough - especially love. This created a reservoir of self-confidence and comfort that I brought with me into the world.

Privilege 4 - Gifted: In the 3rd grade I was deemed "gifted" by an aptitude test and got to go to a special school once a week in elementary and junior high school and then experience the best of my high school's academic program. I was never marginalized due to the perception of my lack of intelligence. By contrast I was upheld as a token that black kids too could be admitted into an elite educational track. I attended public schools but these were extremely well funded with excellent teachers and extracurricular programs such as orchestra, marching band, athletics, and other organizations that I fully capitalized on.

Privilege 5 - Straight/Cisgender/Able-Bodied: I've never had to feel the otherness and discomfort of not belonging in my born body or not being mainstream sexually or managing a disability either mental or physical that inhibited my ability to perform basic tasks. And to be honest, if you would have asked me if I considered this area a privilege in the early aughts - I probably wouldn't have known what you were talking about. But, I never had to "come out" or reassign my gender or navigate the obstacle course of everday life or deal with the related fallout from possessing these identities in an ignorant, antipathetic, and unforgiving society. I walked out the door each day and was by and large accepted without having to do the social gymnastics so many of our LGBTQ+ and disabled brothers and sisters have had to survive through just to be themselves.

Privilege 6 - Popularity: Although I didn't come from money, my intellectual acumen and ability with different groups of people made me quite popular throughout my K-12 days. It even led to me breaking some barriers as I became the first African-American prom king and student council president in the history of my high school - accomplishments I attribute to the fact that I got along with everyone from the band geeks to the nerds to the jocks to the popular kids of all races and nationalities. And the fact that I wasn't allowed to go to house parties or date or attend sleep overs and didn't get my driver's license until the night of my Senior Prom or have my own car somehow didn't dampen my social prospects.

Privilege 7 - Full Academic Scholarship: Late in my senior year of high school I received notice that due to my PSAT scores I was being offered a full ride 5 year scholarship to attend HBCU Florida A&M University. I accepted the scholarship, completed school, got a great job, and never had to pay back loans or go into debt for my education. On top of that, because I chose the School of Business and Industry (SBI), I was put on the fast track to corporate success due to the professional development program, paid internships with Fortune 500 companies, and innovative curriculum that enabled me to achieve an MBA by the age of 25. This gave me a significant experiential and financial leg up over other college graduates and led to me never having to be stressed out over repaying student loans.

Privilege 8 - Fast Track Management Development Program: Because of my academic track record and positive and extensive real world work experience I got accepted into a Management Associates Program that only selected 10 MBA graduates each year to be disproportionately invested in and developed into a manager faster than others entering the company at the same time. I got access to and visibility with senior company stakeholders, choice projects, and a six figure salary coming out of college. I also received a two year window to succeed when most employees only get the 90 day probationary period to demonstrate their wares.

Privilege 9 - Working for Leaders, Not Bosses: The vast majority of my early managers were truly leaders and not ego-driven bosses. This included Brian Cook, the Pfizer District Manager who I worked for in Detroit, MI; Jim Booker, my beloved people-first manager at Zales; Tom Manos, who transformed my life by introducing me to Clifton Strengths at the age of 25; Mike McCann, my first real corporate manager who molded me into a leader; Ray Russo a true ally who regularly promoted African-American talents who worked for him; and Sean McNicholas who told me that no matter how I performed when I was working as a Business Unit director in Brazil I would have a home back in the US. These six straight white males helped me become the corporate leader that I am today.

Privilege 10 - Living Overseas: At the end of 2012, a dear friend of mine, Andrew Miles (another straight white man) hired me to work with him in Turkey for a large global pharmaceutical company. Although I had already lived in Brazil for three and a half years by this point, there was still so much of the world I hadn't seen and experienced. Moving to the European/Islamic nation of Turkey and the epic cosmopolitan city of Istanbul, gifted me with culture agility, acceptance and appreciation of difference, and the confidence that comes with surviving and ultimately thriving in a foreign land. After two and a half years I moved to Indonesia for three and a half years and then back to Brazil for two more years. Travel expanded my horizons and transformed my people acumen as well.

Privilege 11 - Severance: Some people work their entire lives for a company that never gets bought - which means they subsist on the annual raise and merit increase cycle meanwhile contributing to a 401K that they won't be able to access for multiple decades. Others work for the company doing the acquiring which may create better job security but it doesn't provide any near term incremental boosts in finances. I have worked for two companies that were acquired by larger companies and because of my position at the moment of purchase was able to cash in major financial windfalls in the form of severance payouts. This has afforded me a level of financial freedom that has allowed me to live very comfortably.

When I reconcile my tremendous privilege, it is obvious that I owe as much or more than I have been given. I never allow myself to forget these myriad blessings because the moment I do, I will start abdicating my responsibility to those who haven't received a 10th of my good fortune. It also keeps me humble as I recognize that I had nothing to do with much of the advantages in this list. It is my strong belief that if each of us (but most especially) the most privileged of us, start listing off our entitlements, it will hopefully engender in us a sense of gratitude.

Gratitude leads to grace, grace leads to giving, giving leads to growth.

This is the essence of #allyship that we so desperately need today to build a more just, fair, equitable, open, and supporting world. This is the beginning of #thework. I challenge everyone reading this to reconcile your own privileges big and small and then make a daily commitment to recognize that just because your lived experience has bestowed upon you certain benefits - none of us is entitled to our apathy or biases or ignorance about the lived experiences of others. We all have to #leanin and learn to lead with l.u.v. - an acronym for listening harder, seeking to understand other perspectives, and validating what we learn by accepting these point of views as factual and in many instances traumatic, and showing up as allies to assist in eradicating these painpoints so that we all can commence on a new shared experience of unity, freedom, and belonging.