Talking Around the Board Table

If I were serving on an advisory board of a U.S.-based company looking to position itself to bolster the place where it is headquartered, the people it employs, the product or service it offers, the values it espouses, I would recommend we devote a board meeting to listening to a 2021 podcast conversation between Ezra Klein and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.

I like time traveling back a couple of years, and re-listening to Kendi describe the characteristics of an antiracist business as one that replaces a previous commitment to "diversity" in a public statement with a commitment to "being antiracist" and then ". . . documents precisely what they intend to do to create more equity within the company, precisely how they plan to make an impact on the larger community in terms of more justice. They even create a plan in which they’re going to track their success, and how they’re going to hold themselves accountable to being better and to growing and to making an impact. That latter company, that latter scenario to me is more in line with being antiracist, and the first one is more symbolic."

The same planning, tracking, and accountability can be applied to all systems in which we operate - healthcare, political, education, judicial, financial, legal, social welfare, environmental protection, transportation, communications, military and defense, to name a few. But for now, I'll imagine the discussion I might have with others around that corporate board table after we listen to the fascinating conversation between Kendi and Klein. I will think about the actions I would volunteer to take to help achieve our goals and create a timeframe to review our progress.

Then I would time-travel back to today, because there is no time like the present to commit to the kinds of changes that would benefit every single one of us, our families and our futures. My board table may look more like a kitchen table to you, but there is such potential around it. #antiracist #equity #opportunity #purposedrivenleadership