Ideas at the intersection of career, personal growth and current events.
A year ago, we published a newsletter titled Breaking the Rules of DEI where we exposed some of the toxic, unspoken “rules” of DEI. Contradictory, self-canceling, and paralyzing, such “rules” are really meant to undermine any real progress toward increasing diversity...
We’ve been writing a lot about seeing each other’s humanity —the full, unique individual made up of many identity markers and experiences. In Bobbie Harro’s Cycle of Liberation, this is part of the Waking Up and Getting Ready stages. You can see from Harro’s graphic...
When we see aspects of white supremacy culture arise during DEI work (perfectionism; assimilation; presumption of comfort, safety, and power; individualism), it’s rarely in the form of overt bigotry or discrimination. We’ve all been socialized with white supremacy...
At Leverage to Lead, the complexity of identity is always on our minds. In a recent meeting, we saw different identities and different realities clash. Three colleagues were reminiscing about living in the same city in southern California. Two Black women lamented...
DEI work is never linear. People and organizations rarely move from Point A to Point B in a neat or simple way. Instead, we go slowly, then quickly, then slowly again. We grow and we resist. We take risks and we retreat. We progress, we stall, and we surprise...
Read more from our Reframing Series: Reframing Burnout, Reframing Nice, Reframing Uncertainty In our Reframing Series, we examine commonplaces that, upon closer look, reveal a toxic belief or harmful behavior. In this newsletter, we’re taking on boundaries. There’s...
Since 2018, Leverage to lead has added Leadership Coaches/Facilitators, and heads of Talent Management, HR, and Finance. Hiring has been, without a doubt, a major growth area for us. Because it’s not exactly a piece of our DEI work, we haven’t shared much about this...
Sometimes, organizations aren’t as ready as they think they are for DEI transformation. It’s happened more than once that we’ve facilitated a values excavation for a client only to find that an entire wing of the organization has been completely overlooked—not even...
Lately, we’ve noticed a difference in organizations seeking DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) transformation. There’s been a shift, a different set of needs being presented. It’s something our team has been collaborating on because we want to show up for every...
We have to talk about burnout. Not only because it’s cited as one of the main causes of the Great Resignation, which may permanently reshape how we work, and not only because it’s widespread (can we ever use the metaphor of “epidemic” again?) across workplaces. We...