This is business, not personal.
I was raised by a generation of entrepreneurs that thought this way. I thought that my beliefs were meant to be kept private from my clients.
Politics, religion, and personal life were all considered off limits.
But the world has changed, and now it’s actually a bigger business risk for you to NOT tell your customers what you believe in. Consumers want to support businesses that align with their values, so as entrepreneurs we need to do the work to have a values based business.
Especially over the last few months, I realized that I was doing the work intellectually to be an ally – reading books, listening to podcasts, going to workshops – but falling short in terms of my actions.
So I committed to being an imperfect ally, both in my business AND personal life.
Every quarter I do a quarterly review and I typically share it on the show. I still did that review for Q3, and encourage you to do the same, but I’m sharing a different review with you this quarter.
*If you want to do your quarterly review, check out this episode about my Q1 Review and this episode about my Mid-Year Review to get the process.*
I’m reviewing my allyship over the last three months.
I’m getting transparent about what I did behind the scenes to be an imperfect ally – and what I’m going to do to keep improving moving forward.
On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:
1:37 Why I’m sharing my allyship review of Q3 instead of my typical quarterly review, and why it’s such a massive priority to me.
4:05 How I worked with my Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion coach Erica Courdae and my marketing strategist India Jackson – cohosts of the DEI podcast Pause on the Play – starting with getting crystal clear about the core values of my business and how to be more EXPLICIT in sharing them in all aspects of my business.
4:14 Erica was previously on the podcast talking about how to lead with your values and be an imperfect ally – you can find that episode right here.
8:30 How social media can limit us to those who share our same beliefs and create increased separation of people – and the impact that can make when it comes to building a diverse and equitable business.
10:38 The economic impact that entrepreneurs have the power to make and how you can start voting with your dollars in a way that aligns with your values.
12:10 Rachel Rodgers hosted a Small Business Town Hall to discuss being Anti-Racist Businesses – which included a commitment to invest at least 30% back into Black Owned Businesses.
13:24 How simply asking for referrals or only tapping my network for new hires is perpetuating the problem and the steps we’ve taken in overhauling our hiring process to be more diverse and equitable.
15:42 Another way I can share the wealth – updating our Love List aka our list of recommended service providers and experts to ensure that it’s more diverse with at least 30% BIPOC businesses.
17:35 The steps we took with our amazing lawyer Raven Willis of New Millennial Legal to fully review our contracts and terms and conditions to make crystal clear our policies against hate speech and make crystal clear our commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
19:52 How I intentionally adjusted my content to amplify BIPOC voices, especially on Promote Yourself to CEO, by committing to a minimum of 30% of guests being minority women and only committing to speaking at events or summits that do the same.
23:05 A huge issue I realized my business was making when doing research around women in business, and how I’ve started to make a meaningful change to ensure that I’m not centering only white women in my research.
26:25 One of the biggest questions I get – what books I’ve been reading!
How to Be Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
* Also loved this episode of By the Book about So You Want to Talk About Race
More Than Enough by Elaine Welteroth
The Memo by Minda Harts
Overcoming Bias, Subtle Acts of Exclusion, and Erasing Institutional Bias by Dr. Tiffany Jana
Black Fortunes by Shomari Willis
31:27 Other content to expand the conversation –
Documentaries to check out:
13th
The Black Godfather
Becoming Michelle Obama
Podcasts to listen to:
Nice White Parents
1619
Pause on the Play
Michelle Obama Podcast
35:02 The trainings that I’ve done so far this year to improve my knowledge of diversity, equity, and inclusion practices for my business.
From Implicit to Explicit with Erica Courdae and India Jackson
Pause on the Play Community
Show Up & Serve with Trudi LeBron
Small Business Town Hall with Rachel Rodgers
35:24 What I’m doing with my kids to teach them more about anti-racism, including the books they are reading and their homeschool curriculum including Little Justice Leaders and Oh Freedom US History.
I would love to hear your thoughts about this episode and will continue to update my progress a couple of times a year.