I had the pleasure of meeting Wes Hall last week at a leadership conference.
We had over 350 healthcare leaders attend a one-day conference to learn more about and unpack a vital topic – how to have necessary conversations about racism and discrimination.
Months of planning with more meetings than I can remember. .. 😁. But man ohhhh man …. what an absolute blast it was leading the planning efforts and working with everyone who helped support this powerful full-day experience.
From logistics support, on-site help, tech/I.T., media services, approvals, content/curriculum development, admin management, emcees, facilitators and guest speaker coordination – THANK YOU!
There was a buzz in the air – you could feel it!
Wes Hall – the founder of Black North Initiative, and one of the Dragons on Dragon’s Den was the keynote speaker. Wes had a quiet yet loud presence. He didn’t need to yell or use a lot of movement as he addressed leaders. Yet his message was LOUD and CLEAR!
Representation needs to be improved in board rooms, leadership teams and across all organizations. While there are many who are doing incredible work in creating inclusive and equitable workplaces, much more work is needed to remove unconscious bias from policies, rules, standard operating procedures and more.
Trillium Health Partners is embracing cultural change and is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. This isn’t something that will start and finish overnight. We’re in it for the long haul. A smashing leader address by CEO and President of THP, Karli Farrow, who touched on a lot! Including some brands who are doing representation right!
It was an absolute privilege and pleasure to play a small part in this NECESSARY undertaking.
👉🏽 To help fix a system that’s been broken from the beginning!
Insights that I took away from this day:
💥 Always stay connected to the WHY – personal and organizational.
💥 Representation at EVERY level in an organization matters – people are watching including employees, colleagues, clients/customers, the market, and future leaders.
💥 Unconscious bias exists for all of us. Let’s not condemn ourselves but be mindful of when it shows up. It starts and ends with you.
💥 Leverage your position, power and privilege to be allies for others, and pull them up.
💥 To serve the market, hire the market (this is a throwback insight from my Master of Communications capstone project. It came to the surface for me as I was drawn in by Wes’ stories).
These insights can be sliced and diced in many ways with a variety of perspectives to consider. I’m curious, which one of these insights lands with you the most?
As we continue to break down barriers, I ask that we live, lead and include others with kindness in mind … because we have long way to go on this intentional equity path!
CONQUER YOUR POTENTIAL!
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