Black Lives Matter. Here are some commitments our small team is making.
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Show Notes
Kevin here from People & Company.
Our work revolves around researching, spotlighting and coaching people who bring other people together.
After the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police just over a week ago, we’ve witnessed an extraordinary movement of people coming together. Tens of thousands in my own city (NYC) and many others are protesting the abuse of Black people and years of systemic racism within the US and beyond.
Bailey, Kai, and I, each in our own ways, are supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. We support this stand against police brutality and racist systems that have stolen lives like those of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery and Tamir Rice just to name a few, as well as the livelihoods of countless Black people and other people of color.
What has stood out to me over the past few days is that anti-Blackness has been present my entire life. Yet it is only in this past week where I have felt the necessary urgency to do something about it. That complacency is a result of my privilege, and this new-found urgency is a direct result of Black leaders who have persisted in rallying others around this cause through hundreds of years of suffering.
A community is only a community when people keep showing up. I’m now reflecting on what communities my company and I should have been showing up for long before this week and now for the years to come.
As journalist Jamil Smith said recently,
Whether or not [this] will result in any concrete change is really up to people who may be least involved with the trauma. It matters whether or not the people who are not affected by this do something.
P&C’s Commitments
Our small team is working on what long term changes we make to take a more anti-racist stance and start dismantling white supremacy that we have been complicit with in the past.
Below are a few immediate People & Company commitments and asks where you can plug in. (And, at the very bottom of this email we’ve included a shortlist of resources and opportunities to support the Black Lives Matter movement.)
Finally, I acknowledge that the people receiving this email are spread across the world 🌎. We ask that, wherever you are, you take more urgent action to understand and demolish systems that marginalize, deprive, and take the lives of others because of the color of their skin.
Alone we are limited, but together we magnify our impact.
1. Refocus our office hours
We’ve set aside 5 office hours per week, every week, over the next quarter for current and aspiring Black leaders to talk through community projects (of any type) as well as non-Black leaders to strategize around bringing people together to combat racism (in small and big ways). If this is you, contact us here.
Note: We have a backlog of office hour requests. If you already applied and haven’t heard back, we’ll review shortly and prioritize office hours with folks who fit this criteria.
2. Shift who we interview on our Podcast
So far ~13% of interviewees on the Get Together podcast have been Black leaders. Shout out to these inspiring friends 📣! Going forward, we are committed to amplifying more Black voices and their stories. Over the next six months, a minimum of 30% of who we feature will be Black leaders.
We’re working on how we adapt our process for sourcing stories. But immediately, if you know someone who would make a great podcast guest, we want to hear about them! Please tell us about them here, and share the form with your friends.
3. Dedicate a Get Together podcast correspondent to signal boost Black leaders
You may have noticed that we just started to bring on podcast “correspondents.” One of our first new correspondents will focus on spotlighting Black leaders building all types of communities.
If you’re keen, or you know someone who would be excellent at telling these stories (no podcasting experience necessary!), please send us their name.
4. Up the diversity among our collaborators
Finally, we’ll work actively to increase the diversity in our pipeline of contractors who form the small nucleus we started building with this year.
For now, if you’re an audio engineer/editor, workshop facilitator, or anyone else reading this email and would like to collaborate with us, please reach out.
Thanks for listening. Thanks for speaking up. Take care of each other 🙌.
— Kevin
Get Together is produced by the team at People & Company.
We published a book and we’ve worked with organizations like Nike, Porsche, Substack and Surfrider as strategy partners, bringing confidence to how they’re building communities.
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