The Friday Thing #670

I wonder what number the Friday Thing will be up to by the time we’re back to anything close to normality?

The Friday Thing #670 was going to be very different until I went out on my bike this evening. My team is becoming accustomed to this routine – I go out for a ride and come back with ideas, with feedback and perspective. Today I came back, parked my bike and then walked back the way I came. I had ridden past a sign that I couldn’t get out of my mind and it changed my direction this evening and the direction of this edition. Here is the sign.  

I feel like I have tiptoed around this topic a bit over the last two weeks – gently pointing to Running While Black and America’s Racial Contract. But I can tiptoe no more because people around me who I care about are deeply affected by the hate, violence and tragedy we are seeing around. My friends are scared. And they’re exhausted.

If you want to get a sense of this, please read Megan Carpenter’s reflections, as a Black woman and a D&I professional at Microsoft. Megan linked to a post from Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, Microsoft’s Chief Diversity Officer, who offers some practical advice such as “Engage with empathy and care”. I have seen this from others leaders at Microsoft this week, including our CEO, Satya Nadella, who talked about this topic at our all employee meeting. You can read his remarks in a LinkedIn post from Kathleen Hogan, our CHRO, titled Advocating for change starts with empathy.

Coming back to Lindsay-Rae’s post, she encourages us to “ask don’t assume” and recognize that every individual processes these things in different ways and that there is diversity within diversity. It’s such an obvious statement when you read it for the first time – and so profound when you process it. Diversity within diversity. Every one of us is unique, and deserves to be treated that way.

Lindsay-Rae’s third suggestion is that we “Take accountability for our own learning”. I love this – it speaks to the voracious reader in me while also reminding me that I have so much to learn. That learning journey is what has made me fearful to date of talking about this topic – because I’m afraid to use the wrong words or worry about my “talking points”. A friend and colleague urged me this week to throw away the talking points and just share how I feel. I appreciated that advice and would encourage you do to the same. As Megan says, “you will get it wrong, likely more than once". Getting comfortable with that is the difference between tiptoeing and jumping off the diving board. Wrong is okay. Wrong is your growth mindset tapping you on the shoulder.

And with that, I offer you a few more things to read: Ernest Owens’ I Have Not Missed the Amy Coopers of the World where he concludes he has been “social distancing from racism” and HBR’s How U.S. Companies Can Support Employees of Color Through the Pandemic offers a ton of advice at the individual and organizational level. 

I could go on….there is plenty to read and I am eager to hear what you are reading too. As I pointed out with Running While Black and America’s Racial Contract, if you only read one thing from the suggestions here, please read Refinery 29’s Your Black Colleagues May Look Like They’re Okay — Chances Are They’re Not. You will not regret it.

That’s all for this week. I’ll ride by that sign again tomorrow and know I have more to learn, more to read and more mistakes to make. I am on my journey.

Thank you Cherie, Amanda, Megan, and Lindsay-Rae.

Take care everyone. Stay safe and give grace.

-Steve