A world turned upside down

Are you OK?

No Holly Willoughby sarcasm intended. Nearly everyone I've talked to has had their world turned upside down to some degree this week, directly or indirectly. Feelings of rage, helplessness, disbelief and horror are everywhere I turn. I wrote (nervously) about the allyship paradox around the Israel / Palestine conflict. Whatever the current conflict means for you and the people you love, I wish you strength and comfort.

Selective allyship

I've also written this week about selective allyship, and I was tickled pink that Rochelle Lamoureux turned my post into this formula:

EDI Leadership = (activism + courage) x (relationship + resourcing)

I love it!

In a tight(s) spot

An update on my enquiry to Pretty Polly about the colour descriptors on their tights - I received an email response pointing out that I'd bought tights from very old stock (which is true), and reassuring me that re-naming colour descriptors is an ongoing process for them as they introduce new products. According to the person who wrote back to me, 90% of their stock has now been renamed.

I checked their website and wrote back to point out that the very first page I checked for new products has 'Nude' colour descriptors (nude means different things to different skin tones), and whilst there are several shades for lighter skin, the only option for darker skin is black. I'm still awaiting a response to that one...

Inspiration from James Clear

In this week's newsletter, James Clear suggests this:

"Look back ten years and you can probably identify a few blind spots or mistaken beliefs you held at the time. Now, fast forward ten years from today... what are likely to be your current blind spots? What are you not spending enough time thinking about or perhaps even willfully ignoring?"

That had me thinking. I know for sure that ten years ago I had thousands more blind spots than I do today. I've done a lot of work on myself as an ally, and I know I've conquered lots of them. But I know I still have many, many more. And I think my biggest blind spot is the perspective of people who haven't yet become an ally.

A few years ago, a colleague said to me "You need to meet people where they are. You've done so much thinking and learning about diversity and inclusion that you can't remember how it feels to not know about diversity and inclusion. Things that are obvious to you are hidden to others."

I don't spend enough time thinking about how to phrase things in ways that are understandable and motivating to people who are yet to dive into allyship, and aren't sure they want to do so. So that's my challenge for the next few weeks!

Pastures new

From next Friday, I'm moving this VIP (Very Inclusive People ??) newsletter to Substack. I'm moving for three reasons:

• Like most other EDI creators, I'm finding that much of what I write on LinkedIn is delivered to fewer and fewer people in my network. That's because we talk about inconvenient, unpalatable truths highlighting the lack of equity, diversity and inclusion in the world, and the LinkedIn algorithm doesn't like it. I don't want to have to filter what I write, but neither do I want what I write to be stuffed under the carpet where people who might want to read it don't see it.
• Writing unfiltered content will challenge me to do better and be better. Right now, I can excuse myself from not Going There 'because I'll get blocked by LinkedIn'. So I don't Go There, which means I don't articulate for myself what it means to Go There. There's no better way to make personal sense and meaning of the world around us than writing it down. The more honest I can be in articulating inclusion and allyship to myself and to everyone who reads my content, the more insights we can all draw together.
• LinkedIn is a brilliant business platform. I love it, and I learn loads every day from the people on there. Lots of us feel we have to be careful about what we contribute, though, knowing that our boss or other business stakeholders might read what we say. When everyone can see who we work for, we're extremely mindful about how our boss will view our contributions! Substack isn't a business platform. It's a platform for building community. No employer affiliations on there, just personal views and compassionate challenge in a community of people who have chosen to engage with what I write.

All this sounds like I want to write completely different, out-there stuff. I don't. It'll be the same thing I've always written, with perhaps a little extra seasoning. And if you've been reading my stuff for a while, you'll know that I love a little light-hearted humour and whimsy too. I'll still be me, just more so!

I won't stop showing up on LinkedIn. And I'll still post a summary newsletter on here every week. But I'll move towards writing my main ideas on Substack, posting sanitised excerpts of what I'm writing on LinkedIn so that it will be given more reach. That way, I can encourage more people into active allyship. Because that, wonderful VIPs, is my life's purpose.

A quarter of the people on my email list have already signed up (thanks everyone!). If you're not already part of the VIP community and fancy joining it, I'd be thrilled to welcome you! Just click here, and you'll get this newsletter direct to your inbox every week.

That's me done for this week, VIPs - I'm off to spend the weekend with my gorgeous sister and bro-in-law in Cornwall. Wishing everyone a safe and peaceful weekend.

Rebecca