There’s hope on the horizon. Hope for people to do better. Hope for America to do better. There’s also BS on the horizon. And well, that’s been there for as long as I can remember. Where do these two meet? And who wins?
It starts with accountability. With so much talking and not enough doing, who’s holding professionals accountable? Who’s monitoring what’s taking place behind company doors? How are their measurements being verified? It’s effortless to make a public statement, especially when you know no one will follow up.
That's where the “do better” comes in. We aren’t Talking about who’s bringing potato salad to the company picnic type of accountability. We’re talking about who’s making sure equality and inclusion are being prioritized inside of an organization. That’s an entirely different type of accountability.
That’s the type of accountability that will make people lie.
That’s the type of accountability that people will pretend they never made such a commitment. That’s the type of accountability that can change everything about corporate America.
It’s the type of accountability that should excite everyone. And also terrify them. Everything is at stake here. If we don’t take this seriously, we end up back here in 20, 30, or 40 years. I don’t know about you, but I can go without seeing another man put his knee on the neck of a human being and drain his life in front of the entire world. We don’t need another situation like that before we take things seriously and enforce equality.
So how do we accomplish this? Sadly many of you reading this are wondering how we can achieve this. It’s everyone’s responsibility to hold each other accountable. There’s no more black and white, boss-employee. Now there’s only right and wrong. We treat this like we would a life or death situation and fight like hell to live! And we treat our word like it’s our bond.
Let’s break down what it looks like. When an executive of a well-known bank makes a public statement stating the reason they didn’t have more blacks in executive or leadership positions is that they can’t find the talent. That is a blatant lie. And we all know it’s a lie. It’s everyone’s responsibility to call him out on this lie. That kind of BS can no longer be tolerated. We are responsible for making him, and people like him accountable for their words, actions, or lack of action and, more importantly, for his excuses.
We need to strip away the comfort of lying.
We need to strip away the comfort of not being held accountable.
Once people know they’ll be accountable for their words and actions, things will start to change in corporations; things will begin to change in our legal system. America will begin to change. There will be no other choice. Admit it that sounds pretty dope.
We shouldn’t have to worry whether or not someone will do what they say they’re going to do. But because we’ve seen it all before, we do have to worry. I call BS on that. We stop with the worrying, and we start with the accountability, and collectively we will change things.
Read my next post for three actionable steps to take and to enforce.
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