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Words as Culture: Why Language Isn’t Just Communication, It’s Leadership
Every organization has a culture. Whether it’s vibrant or dysfunctional, inclusive or exclusive, intentional or accidental, it exists. Culture isn’t just your mission statement or your values poster in the breakroom. Culture lives in the daily actions, expectations, and conversations your team has, especially the unspoken ones. And one of the most powerful, overlooked tools that actively shapes culture? Language. The words we choose – how we frame feedback, communicate policies, greet colleagues, or write job descriptions – signal what we value. If strategy is what you plan to do, language is how you do it. And if your language doesn’t reflect the culture you’re trying to build, you’ve already…
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From Crisis to Culture: How to Lead Beyond Emergency Response
Disruption is no longer a hypothetical scenario. It’s a constant. Especially these days. Whether it’s global pandemics, economic downturns, leadership transitions, technological shifts, or public accountability movements, every organization today operates in a climate where the next challenge is not a matter of if, but when. Yet amid the reactive scramble for contingency plans and recovery strategies, a more critical question often gets sidelined: What kind of leader do you become after the crisis ends? Crisis isn’t just a test of endurance. It’s a revelation of identity. It uncovers the truths that were already present about your systems, culture, and values whether you were aware of them or not. As…
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Inclusive by Design: How to Architect Equity from the Start
Okay, let’s be honest: most DEI efforts weren’t designed to last. I know I am going to catch some heat for this, but the truth is… they were reactions to public pressure, and not necessarily deep commitments. Yes, they were strategic afterthoughts, but not core architecture. Words in mission statements plastered over a pretty webpage, not values in motion. And the next truth is that we really can’t afford that anymore. Not in this climate. Not in this economy. And not with the leadership crises we’re seeing across every sector. If equity isn’t built in from the start, it’s built to fail. And failure in this context isn’t just about…
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Is Your Team Afraid to Speak Up?
In boardrooms across industries, leaders often mistake silence for agreement. But when team members hesitate to voice concerns or ideas, it’s not harmony it’s a warning sign. Reflecting on Leadership Practices As a leader, ask yourself: Psychological safety isn’t about being agreeable; it’s about fostering an environment where individuals feel secure enough to express ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes without fear of negative consequences. Building a Culture of Psychological Safety To cultivate such an environment: Take the Next Step Creating a psychologically safe workplace is an ongoing journey. We have been both at the giving and at the receiving end, which aligns strongly with our intent of creating safe spaces…
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Performative vs. Transformative DEI: Why Your Checklist Isn’t Enough, Especially Now!
We’ve all seen it, especially post George Floyd, the protests, and the financial shot in the arms by industries all over the US. You remember seeing the new webpage pop up on the company website titled “Our Commitment to DEI.” Some higher up kicks off a Zoom training on unconscious bias. An employee resource group is formed and given a $500 budget. Monthly DEI (or any related acronym: DEBI, REDI, DEIB, DEIA, DEIAB, DEIJ, DEISJ, etc) meetings that lead nowhere, maybe discussed a Netflix movie or series based (or lightly based) on gentrification, racism, slavery, and so on. Then silence. There was no follow-up. No real accountability. No shift in…
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Oppression by Bullying is Not a New Thing
We are commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday and heading right into Black History Month. Last week was rough for the Black community with the news of Dr. Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey, Vice President for Student Affairs at Lincoln University in Missouri. The more articles I read on LinkedIn, and then on other news outlets, the more my heart ached. I felt horrible for her, her family, her [good] colleagues, and the entire Black community. I am sure she was loved. So, after so much information overload, I logged off to reflect. Over the weekend, I attended a vision board workshop to chart the course of 2024. Among the stacks…