๐ Let's talk about showing up confidently to work. This is a skill. This is also something that if you happen to be the wrong race or gender, can be a problem.
Let's just call that what it is. My entire professional career in the corporate world, I was mislabeled. I was considered angry because I would speak up and I was never cheerleading when I had something to say.
I was very direct to the point. This was never a problem for men, particularly white men. But when TaChelle did it, she was considered angry. When I pushed back based on data, I was arrogant.
When I didn't conform to an idea or thought that we could level up and do something better, I was challenging. All of these aren't bad, right?
These terms are like, all right, they're forcing us to step up. However, they are labels and labels have the potential to do real damage.
So you don't always have the luxury of showing up confident if you are dealing with people that don't recognize it as confidence. If you are one of those people who cannot accept someone who thinks differently, which is what diversity is all about, it is diversity of thought.
If you fall into that category, I challenge you to think differently. I challenge you to say, is this person really being difficult? Is this person an angry black woman? Do I want to label this person that? Because once you do, you could potentially change the trajectory of that person's career. Think about that.
If youโre interested in hearing more about what TaChelle has to say about DEI, you can book her as a speaker here. If you want to learn more about diversity, equity, and inclusion in 2023, you can download our FREE white paper here.
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