Ideas at the intersection of career, personal growth and current events.
Comfort is a tricky term in DEI work. We don’t simply mean feeling comfortable enough to speak openly and honestly about culture, values, and goals. When we talk about comfort, we’re really talking about a kind of resistance, because comfort means the security of...
It’s affirming to see our Leverage to Lead’s values held by others who are working in DEI and social and racial justice spheres. We feel gratified when we see work that is similarly steeped in humanity, and interpersonal growth. When we hear Adam Grant say that our...
For a long time, we thought we needed to be blind to differences in order to be fair or equal. If someone embodied anything other than white, able-bodied heteronormativity, their differences were “accepted” and “tolerated,” but never fully seen, let alone welcomed....
A Statement on Violence and the Racial Divide in America One of the first questions heard after the mass shootings across three Atlanta-area massage parlors was, "Where is Black Lives Matter?" After the murder of six Asian American women, amid a year of escalating...
We are all socialized to be nice people, believing nice to mean good, kind, and honest. And of course, we should all want to be those things. But the word nice is too often co-opted and weaponized, especially against women and people of color. Being nice is...
“Our radical imagination is a tool for decolonization, for reclaiming our right to shape our lived reality.” -Adrienne Maree Brown, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good As the pandemic upends our travel and many other traditions, our ability to adapt...
We’re seeing signs that individuals and corporations want anti-racist change right now. There’s real talk about police reform, open support of Black Lives Matter, and new or revived company DEI initiatives. There is movement in the landscape of social response and...
In the past few months, we have had many organizations reaching out to Leverage to Lead for support in building their diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. We talk a lot about corporate culture and safety, so it’s encouraging to see leaders understand the need to...
We’re no strangers to working through difficult or uncertain times. But the current civic, economic, and personal upheaval we are experiencing can leave us feeling overwhelmed and despairing. All of our training, experience, and skills couldn’t have prepared us for...
We like to think of racism as individuals mistreating other individuals. We don't understand how we, nice people, are doing any harm. I'm not hurting anyone is what all junkies say. If only "the racists" would get clean, racism wouldn't be a problem. But that's not...