Leading for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Bridging the Personal and the Professional to be a Mindful Agency of Change:
Guiding Ideas for our session:
We’re doing the most difficult work during our session – instead of externalizing the material (e.g. talking about racism, immigration, etc. as concepts or externalized problems) we are looking at ourselves and having a live, critical conversation about how we are showing up – as human beings and at work and we are seeking to make the unconscious conscious. We encourage an attitude of awareness and mindfulness to guide how we move through the world in this space
We want to encourage people away from the idea of “safe spaces” in favor of “brave spaces”, per the Arao/Clemens article – we can’t guarantee comfort but we can encourage that we speak from a place of sincerity and curiosity
We want to encourage people not just to aspire to be better, but to examine what stops them from being brave? What stops them from being mindful?
We will be erring on the side of heightening our awareness, having an experience versus an intellectual exercise (often a defense), and trusting that from that place of awareness and experience, what to DO as a leader becomes more evident and clear when it’s grounded in your own authentic, honest, and earnest effort to be honest with yourself and others