Boldness Beyond Banners: Break Down Barriers
Sheri Lynn Fella
At Bloombase, we often talk about our work with leaders being a long walk home (channel Ram Dass) to yourself – your truest self. It is Pride month and that is what I hope all leaders are giving every single person around them . . . the opportunity to be their truest selves.
Imagine a world where no one had to hide any aspect of their humanness or authenticity? Imagine a world where all of our uniqueness was not only accepted, but harnessed for tomorrow’s innovation? Imagine . . . just imagine that.
I imagine that world and I find myself fighting for it every day, internally and externally. I crave it for myself and for everyone around me, and each day I experience more and more leaders with that same passion — leaders who are transforming activity into impact, making a real difference in the lives of their teams, families and communities.
Yet data from the Human Rights Campaign shows us that almost half of LGBTQIA+ workers in the U.S. are closeted when they come to work each day, exhausted from hiding their sexual orientation (17%) or their gender identity (13%). They report wasted time and energy concealing their authentic selves, in part because nearly two-thirds of non-LGBTQIA+ employees believe discussing sexual orientation and gender identity is “unprofessional.”[1]
Last month in an executive coaching session with a CEO of a multi-national company, he asked me how he could model inclusion – not only in how he talks, but in how he walks – literally. How could he express and invite belonging in every interaction, not every day, but EVERY interaction? That kind of intention is what will bring the cache of fancy banners espousing belonging and “pride” off the banner and into impact.
The question he asked took us in a lot of dark corners and guess what – every single corner had light in it that we could reach for. Questions began to bubble up for us – questions we each had for ourselves, questions he had for LGBTQIA+ leaders, questions he had for white and/or straight leaders, questions he had for all leaders, questions he had for every employee, and so on. Notice that nowhere did we find answers. The only answer we came upon was curiosity.
Too often simple answers are given to complex systemic challenges. Too often we fly “our flags” without doing the work to examine the roots that the flagpole was planted in. Too often we want the activity to show how much we care, and too often we do too little to sustain the impact that matters to those we are proclaiming to care about. Sitting in the dark with only questions is uncomfortably hopeful.
For leaders to learn and to open up learning for others we have to embrace discomfort and fuel hopeful learning – not just in us, but around us. This pride month, I am embracing my own discomfort and am going deeper into accountability and how I want to explore, challenging everyone around me to own the spaces that do not invite belonging.
I challenge the leaders I interact with to break down the barriers that they control and influence and to be bold about those challenges. We need boldness. We need impact. Now. Leading cannot wait. Find your darkest corner and go sit in it. Take a friend if you want but go there and see what uncomfortable curiosity emerges.
