Listen. Own. Commit.

The death of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police was a horrific - and avoidable - crime. The Black community has been the victim of police brutality and structural racism and oppression for far too long. This week, we have witnessed civil unrest that erupted worldwide, resulting from so many years of inequality and mistreatment of the Black community. All of us at Bionic are outraged by the most recent injustices at the hands of the police and the systemic racism that plagues our society: the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent violence against those who protest, rightfully, for change. 

With absolute unity, we stand with the Black Lives Matter movement.

We want to over-communicate our unequivocal support for our Black colleagues, friends, and communities and denounce racism as a systematic evil that must be eradicated. Black Lives Matter. We are with you, and we must all do our part in defeating racism and inequality. In both small and large actions, we all must play a role in driving this change. Every one of us. We must let our Black colleagues and everyone experiencing inequality know that they have been seen, heard, and defended. Identifying and calling out racism and prejudice is the very least we must do to educate those who are unaware of how their biases translate into microaggressions. We must have higher standards for accountability. We have no tolerance for racism or prejudice at work nor in our personal lives. We must identify systematic racism and, individually and as a company, do everything in our power to change those systems. We need to first start by listening, then by looking at ourselves, inside our own company, and make changes to drive us to a world we all, inclusively, want together.  

On Monday, we started our all-hands meeting by opening up the forum to everyone to share their experiences. We were met with profound and powerful courage. Many of our Black team members shared their experiences with radical candor - it led to sobering reflection. One observation that stuck with me was shared by one of our accomplished Black entrepreneurs, who is a coach in the Bionic enterprise growth model. He shared that we rarely coach intrapreneurs of color. This begs the question, how can one solve the new needs of a person when you have not walked in their shoes? Bionic believes that diversity of people, ideas, and experiences lead to better outcomes. To discover and solve new needs in the world, you must have teams who reflect the actual people whose needs you are trying to address. We can - I can - do better, and we can do it with intention. 

Over the past few days, many companies and business leaders have shared public statements, reflections, and commitments. These statements are an important and necessary start: we have large platforms that cannot stay silent on social justice issues. But that is only a start - the real work is in following those statements with actions. At Bionic, we call this “do vs. say.” Yes, we must start by saying, but change comes through doing. I am holding myself accountable and I am holding Bionic accountable to moving past say and following through with action. 

At Bionic, we are deeply committed to equality and inclusivity. Diversity has often been part of open, challenging, and often candid internal conversations. And we will continue to raise the bar. To that end, at Bionic, we commit to the following in 2020:

• We will be making a contribution of time and resources to an organization/ organizations, selected by our team, that are on the front lines of the fight against racism. We will identify actionable opportunities to support these changes together. 
• We will conduct a comprehensive review of the Bionic Growth model to identify ways to ensure that there are diverse voices involved in finding solutions, that those voices and ideas are supported. 
• We will continue to build our diverse culture, looking for ways that we can proactively improve our hiring, retention, and promotion of diverse leaders. (We have for several years published our diversity data publicly at https://onbionic.com/our-team)
• We will create more opportunities, formal and informal, to have open, honest conversations about what Bionic can do to address systematic and individual racism in our organization and beyond, and to listen, learn, and evolve who we are, how we act, and how to maximize our impact. 
• As a company, on Juneteenth, June 19th, which marks the effective end of slavery in the United States, we will take the day off in observation of the Emancipation Proclamation. We will use this time to reflect and identify personal change on this important day. 

When we started Bionic seven years ago, we wrote our purpose to be “We ignite growth revolutions.” Over the years, we have come to discover this has less to do with economics, and everything to do with the growth in the mindset and heart of leaders. Change begins inside the mind and heart, while we listen, learn, and grow. Now is the time to ignite a growth revolution that can lead to systematic equality. 

A Small Needful Fact, by Ross Gay

Is that Eric Garner worked

for some time for the Parks and Rec.

Horticultural Department, which means,

perhaps, that with his very large hands,

perhaps, in all likelihood,

he put gently into the earth

some plants which, most likely,

some of them, in all likelihood,

continue to grow, continue

to do what such plants do, like house

and feed small and necessary creatures,

like being pleasant to touch and smell,

like converting sunlight

into food, like making it easier

for us to breathe.